Strays look to head to H.B.

Barring an unforeseen turnaround in City Council sentiment, Costa Mesa appears to be headed toward taking its stray and confiscated animals to the Orange County Humane Society shelter in the near future.

At a study session Tuesday, all four of the council members present (Councilman Eric Bever was absent) said that they favor signing a contract with the Huntington Beach shelter.

Some local animal rights activists and former shelter volunteers have questioned the quality of care that animals get at the facility, but the council was convinced that the city staff was working with the owner, Dr. Samir Botros, to remedy most of the past problems.

“It looks like the most reasonable alternative when you look at all the facts,” Mayor Allan Mansoor said.

Cost was also a deciding factor. The only other reasonable alternative was the county’s shelter in Orange, but a contract with that shelter would have cost about $150,000 more a year and the city probably would have asked to chip in funds to help renovate its aging facilities.

“I think we’re saving a couple hundred thousand dollars, and considering the economy it seems like a good decision,” Councilman Gary Monahan said.

The Orange County Humane Society shelter is also much closer to Costa Mesa and much smaller, which means that Costa Mesa’s animal control officers would have more of a say in how the facility is run and could closely supervise the day-to-day operations, according to Animal Control Supervisor Sgt. Bryan Glass and Assistant City Manager Tom Hatch.

Hatch also talked about working with the shelter to install more cat cages to resolve what some people said was a lack of sufficient capacity to handle the extra roughly 1,100 live animals brought in from Costa Mesa each year.

One of the most vocal animal rights activists opposing the shelter, Lynn Copeland, was pleased with some of the ideas the city had for improving the shelter and monitoring it.

“If they’re going to do everything they’re saying they’re going to do, I’m for it,” Copeland said.

Former Councilwoman Sandra Genis said that she visited the shelter Monday and found the quality of the conditions and animal care fine.

The shelter could improve its outreach efforts to get members of the community to adopt animals by improving its website and working with local rescue charities among other things, she said.

Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece and Councilwoman Katrina Foley were also on board with signing a contract with the humane society, saying that the facilities have improved a great deal over the last few years and they trust staff to oversee the operations and point out any problems.

“We have a lot of checks and balances in place now,” Foley said.

The issue will come up for a formal vote of the council at an upcoming meeting.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.