Riverside County animal services pleads for help with over capacity shelters

Riverside County supervisors have addressed the crisis facing many animal shelters that are not only over capacity but also dealing with a lawsuit over their euthanasia policies. 

During a meeting on Tuesday, they signaled that municipalities that contract with the county's Department of Animal Services must begin finding their own solutions to stray pet overpopulation at shelters instead of relying on the county. 

"It's time to tell contract cities, 'You need to go on your own and build your own shelters,'" said Supervisor Kevin Jeffires. "We're going to have to do something different. We cannot continue to be your punching bag. Because your city has hundreds, if not thousands, of animals being turned into our county shelters, nationally and internationally, we receive the criticism."

Part of that criticism is the recent lawsuit filed by activists over the county's euthanasia rates last week. The lawsuit is being led by Rancho Mirage-based Walter Clark Law Group and was filed in Riverside County Superior Court. They're seeking a permanent injunction against the animal services department for their euthanasia programs. 

Clark called the lawsuit a "groundbreaking case" predicated on the Hayden Act of 1998. That legislation, which was authored by then-Senator Tom Hayden, states that "no adoptable animal shall be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home."

It continues to further restrict euthanasia even if a pet lacks the qualities that make the animal suitable for immediate adoption, "but could become adoptable with reasonable efforts."

Plaintiffs used data taken from a reported produced by the nonprofit organization Best Friends Animal Society in 2022, which says that the Riverside County Department of Animal Services shelters "killed more animals than any other reporting shelter in the United States."

Between 2022 and 2023, an estimated 24,000 cats and dogs were euthanized in county shelters, the organization said. 

Supervisors say that they're dealing with the same issue that many municipalities are throughout the nation in terms of an extremely high amount of animals coming into shelters at the same time. So far in 2024 hundreds of animals have been impounded in Riverside County in several cases of neglect where residents were unable to provide legitimate care to the pets they were hoarding on their properties. 

"The overcrowding that we're seeing is not just something happening here," said Erin Gettis, the Director of Riverside County Animal Services. "Southern California is seeing overcrowding throughout all of the municipal shelters."

Supervisors are searching for an answer, suggesting during Tuesday's meeting that some of the larger cities create their own animal shelters or at least find services elsewhere. 

"Right now, today, with our shelters overflowing it puts a lot of animals in harm's way of being on the kill list," Supervisor Jeffries said while speaking with KCAL News. "Our shelters are not that big, the cities are bringing in more animals than we anticipated. Families are not keeping their animals like we hoped they would."

The Best Friends Animal Society's report states that 11% of adoptable pets were euthanized in 2022, while another 22% were put down at their previous owner's request because they could not afford to go to a veterinarian or because animals were "untreatable."

As it stands, the county contracts with 20 municipalities and has already decided not to renew three of their contracts. They're considering upping the fees or canceling more contracts in the future.