The culture of King County\u2019s animal services system is so far beyond repair that the County should get out of that line of business, according to three Metropolitan King County Councilmembers who on Sunday announced their support for the idea of partnering with a community agency to provide shelter services.<\/p>\n
One of the county’s two shelters operates out of Kent.<\/p>\n
The organizational model backed by Council Chair Julia Patterson and Vice Chairs Dow Constantine and Reagan Dunn is one of three options presented in the final report of the King County Animal Services Interbranch Work Group released today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe current model isn\u2019t working, and frankly hasn\u2019t worked for years,\u201d said Councilmember Patterson.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes no sense to try to prop up a system that has proven time to be incapable of the dramatic change needed,\u201d said Councilmember Dow Constantine. \u201cIf King County is holding itself out as providing shelter, it has an absolute obligation to provide the animals with humane care, medical treatment, and the best chance to be adopted into a loving home. Nothing less is acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to find a better solution for sheltering animals in King County,\u201d said Councilmember Dunn. \u201cThe citizens of King County can be assured I will closely monitor how a model program would affect our rural areas and make sure that what is developed is fiscally sound.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Council\u2019s Committee of the Whole will be briefed Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. on the \u201cKing County Animal Services Strategic Plan and Operational Master Plan 2009-2011\u201d developed over the past four months by an Interbranch Work Group with representatives from the County Executive, County Council, Public Health, Sheriff and Prosecuting Attorney. A Community Stakeholder Group provided comments on the final report.<\/p>\n
Under the Work Group option backed by Patterson, Constantine and Dunn, the County Council would examine moving King County from a county-based model to a community-based services model for operating animal shelters:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 King County would seek a community partner, under a structure to be determined, who could deliver a model program for the animals within King County.<\/p>\n
\u00b7 King County would retain many of the county\u2019s current responsibilities and seek to divide them among the branches of county government with the appropriate skills and level of authority in those areas:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 For example, the King County Sheriff\u2019s Office could investigate animal cruelty cases and animal attacks.<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Public Health \u2013 Seattle & King County could take over inspection and licensing of pet shops and kennels in the unincorporated areas and contract cities, a service it already provides inside the city of Seattle. Public Health would retain responsibility for control of communicable disease and oversight of rabies quarantine. The Records and Licensing Services Division could take over pet licensing.<\/p>\n
The cost for creating such a community partnership would be determined through negotiation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many details to be worked out, including the effect that moving to a community-based system will have on our valued county employees,\u201d said Constantine. \u201cOur employees and their representatives will certainly be part of our discussions as part of a transition plan to a new organizational model.\u201d<\/p>\n
King County as a local government to the unincorporated areas does not have a statutory requirement to provide animal control or animal sheltering services. Under state law the county\u2019s four mandates are:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Confiscation of dangerous dogs,<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Pickup of animals abandoned in veterinarian offices and kennels,<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Rabies control, and<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Zoonotic disease investigation and quarantine.<\/p>\n
King County currently provides animal services to 34 cities by contract. Under any transition framework, the county would negotiate on behalf of cities interested in a collective agreement with a community partner agency. Cities are also free to provide their own animal services.<\/p>\n
Four independent outside entities have previously issued critical reports or statements about King County Animal Care and Control:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 The King County Animal Care and Control Citizens Advisory Committee was unanimous in what it called the \u201cdeplorable state of King County shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00b7 The consultant report commissioned by the Council from Nathan Winograd of No-Kill Solutions said, \u201cThe same problems that plagued the shelter 10 years ago plague the shelter today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00b7 The shelter evaluation commissioned by Animal Care and Control from the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program said, \u201cIt was evident that the capacity of both staff and facility was exceeded in almost every area of animal housing and care.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Veterinarians who volunteered at the shelter this summer but later quit said they \u201cdid not want to act as enablers to the proven failed procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The culture of King County\u2019s animal services system is so far beyond repair that the County should get out of that line of business, according to three Metropolitan King County Councilmembers who on Sunday announced their support for the idea of partnering with a community agency to provide shelter services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-6932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6932"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}