More than just a cleanliness issue

Heather Castillo

I am heartbroken that all of the focus from the newspapers and

officials regarding the Orange County Humane Society has centered on

the building and how clean it is.

Although this is a very important issue to ensure that animals are

kept healthy and comfortable this is not the only issue. An equally

important issue that I and other former volunteers have been trying

to bring attention to recently is the lack of exercise and

socialization for the animals.

If these animals are going to be kept at the shelter until they

find homes, which can be many, many months for some of them, then

they need to get out of their kennels. They need to be loved and

exercised. Otherwise they just go crazy being stuck in a kennel day

after day. National animal advocacy groups put out guidelines for

shelters to follow and they typically state that dogs need to be out

of their kennels with direct human contact for at least 20 minutes

daily and that they need to go on walks. Since there are only a

handful of volunteers allowed into the shelter there is no way this

can be happening. This results in dogs that become less adoptable

over time because of the lack of human contact and socialization.

Cats need socialization and exercise, too. Most of the cat cages

at the shelter are so small that by the time a litter box and

food/water bowls are added there is very little room for the cats to

move around or lay down. Many end up lying in their litter boxes.

This set-up is extremely unnatural for a cat, which is by nature a

very clean animal. They deserve to get out of their cages daily and

be allowed some freedom of movement and human contact.

There is lots of talk about a new shelter being built. That would

be wonderful; the problem is a new shelter doesn’t mean better care

for the animals. You still have the same people running the place.

Maybe, some of the employees that think the animals don’t need to get

out of their kennels should be put in one for a few days to see if

that changes their point of view.

* Heather Castillo is a Huntington Beach resident. To contribute

to “Sounding Off” e-mail us at hbindy@latimes.com or fax us at (714)

966-4667.