Since 1998, animal shelters have been required by law to keep animals for six days, in most cases, before euthanizing them. In some cases, shelters can keep them for four or five days, but generally they have to stay open extra hours or remain open on some weekends.
In order to meet this state requirement, the state reimburses shelters for certain costs. Governor Jerry Brown wants to end that compensation.
Under his proposal, $23 million in state money paid to shelters to enable them to feed and house animals for four to six days, would be cut.
Additionally, instead of keeping the majority of animals for six days, shelters would be allowed to euthanize them after just half that time.
Kern County Animal Control spokesperson Maggie Kalar says that’s often not enough time for animals to be reclaimed by their owners or adopted by a new family. “If you think about it, if it happens during the middle of the week and your pet is missing, you may have to go to work. You may not be able to get that time off."
The proposal has already drawn criticism from former state senator Tom Hayden, who authored a 1998 law that introduced numerous protections for sheltered animals.
He released a video last week on YouTube, produced by an animal rights group. "I think governors including Jerry Brown have tried to, they say, save a few bucks,” Hayden says in the video. “But, the cost of that is to put countless dogs and cats to death."
Supporters of Governor Brown’s proposal point to a 2008 non-partisan study conducted by the Legislative Analyst’s Office that concluded extended stays in shelters do not significantly increase the demand for adoptions.
In fact, some argue that the extra funding the state provides shelters has the exact opposite effect it was intended to have.
"The way the counties are reimbursed for this mandate isn't based on the pets they get put up for adoption,” said H.D. Palmer, who works for the California Department of Finance. “It's actually based on the number they put down. So, counties actually get more money if they put down more strays. And, that seems to be a pretty perverse fiscal incentive."
Under Brown’s proposal, shelters would not be required to euthanize dogs after 72 hours. They are free to house and feed them as long as they possibly can. They would just have to do it without the state’s help.
Kalar told 17 News that Kern County Animal Control does not plan to decrease the number of days it houses and feeds animals, even if Brown’s proposal eventually becomes law.
