Audit calls for changes at overcrowded San Jose animal shelter
The San Jose City Council on Tuesday night spent hours discussing a report that found animals at the city's shelter are living in horribly unsanitary conditions largely due to rampant overcrowding.
Visitors and activists tell CBS News Bay Area they have been voicing their concerns about the conditions for months.
Chris Favero is a dog lover who wanted to adopt a companion for her 14-year-old bearded collie named Yogi.
She and her daughter went to the San Jose Animal Shelter last August. Both were appalled by what they saw and smelled.
"The first thing that hits you is the smell. It was just...shocking. We looked at each other and said, 'The smell is so bad,'" Favero said. "There was feces in the walkway, it had been tracked on people's feet. It was just so loud. You couldn't hear the instructions from the lady who took us back there. The pandemonium and the noise and smell were just pretty overwhelming."
As a person who has cared for animals her whole life, Favero was devastated.
"How is an organization that is supposed to be taking care of animals, allowing this to happen. If you're living in that much filth, the health issues have to be horrendous."
Concerns over the city-run shelter have been building, with animal rights groups pressuring San Jose officials to do something for years.
Some of them gathered at City Hall Tuesday to call for major reforms to prevent animals from being mistreated.
"We want to show that we're serious. We care for these animals. They can't talk for themselves, so we have to be here to speak for them," said Animal Rights Activist Rebekah Davis-Matthews.
The San Jose City Council is reviewing an internal 200-page audit of the shelter which includes pictures of dogs and cats living in dirty cages. The shelter, which was built to house 500 animals, now has over 700 with more arriving every day.
There is also a staffing shortage, exacerbating the problems at the shelter.
"The shelter is over capacity. We're not adhering to protocols such as data management and animal husbandry in part because we're over capacity," said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.
Among the report's 39 recommendations is to increase partnerships in the community to ease the workload for paid staff. But potential volunteers told the city council that the process for helping out is hard.
"You have an army of volunteers, people who can come in and help out with paperwork, vaccines, cleaning cages, socializing which is what the animals need. But for some reason you can't get to volunteer even if you want to," said prospective volunteer Tara Sims.
Favero's planned adoption did not go well. She took one dog home as a foster for a few days, but she says it seemed to be traumatized and was not a good match for her bearded collie.
"Unfortunately, we had to learn the hard way," she said.
But the little dog was adopted out by another family. Activists say so many other animals are not so lucky, and are waiting under adverse conditions to find a home.
