Mailbag: Animal shelter mistreats innocent creatures; city can do better
Animal shelter mistreats innocent creatures; city can do better
Broken fencing. Broken plumbing. A dark, shadowy building with minimal ventilation. It all describes the Orange County Humane Society shelter, where the city of Costa Mesa takes lost animals.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to use such a rundown facility if the animals were receiving high-quality, compassionate care. But here’s what I’ve seen: Animals without water; animals sitting in feces; animals sitting in vomit; more fastidious animals huddled in the corners of their crates or runs, seeking to avoid the mess.
Maybe I just happened to hit it on a bad day, or a few bad days, actually a whole lot of bad days. What do the numbers show?
Euthanasia rates for Costa Mesa’s dogs at the OCHS shelter are about 1 1/2 to 2 times those at the county shelter in Orange. Euthanasia rates for cats have approached 70%.
Additional animals are dying at the shelter from other causes. Last year, about 7% of our cats at OCHS died from “other causes,” several times the shelter death rate statewide
And that’s not all. Two thousand cats and dogs entering the Costa Mesa animal control system from 2009 to 2014 are not accounted for anywhere. Were they euthanized? Stolen? Adopted? Sold for other purposes? Nobody knows.
Citing numerous problems, the city of Newport Beach pulled out of its shelter services contract with OCHS. But a Costa Mesa staff report disparaged the Newport Beach report, claiming it wasn’t really accurate. A Costa Mesa staffer said OCHS was “good enough for Costa Mesa.”
Citing expenses, the Costa Mesa City Council majority refused to consider spending the dollars to participate in the new, state-of-the-art shelter to be built by Orange County on Red Hill. Minutes later they voted to spend over $1 million to redo about 1,200 feet of an existing, landscaped bike trail, but one of many similar expenditures.
They even refused to establish any sort of citizen oversight committee. The mayor pro tem said we already had all the oversight we needed, identifying the very people who’d overlooked problems at the shelter for years.
Is this really “good enough for Costa Mesa”? Good enough for the innocent creatures who continue to suffer?
Sandra Genis
Costa Mesa City Council member
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Museum tower does not need Greenlight
On this St. Patrick’s Day, I am reminded of a wonderful quote by former House Speaker Daniel Patrick Moynihan who said, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.”
In her March 17 letter to the editor, Melinda Seely talks about the Measure Y’s defeat, the Greenlight election of 2000 and a litany of exaggerations dealing with hotel rooms and transfers of development rights. All of this because the Orange County Museum of Art wants to continue lifting the cultural bar in our county.
How dare all those self-serving art people trying to expand our horizons by partnering with same company that built our senior housing project near the Dunes to come up with a building on the museum site that impacts no one’s views, reduces trips and creates quality housing for our neighbors. Shame on the art people.
Somehow Seely has confused Greenlight that requires a public vote for more than 100 residential units with Newport Coast hotel rooms, claiming the city is making a case for a developer. Wrong, Greenlight applies to projects seeking a General Plan amendment for 100 or more housing unit. It has nothing to do with hotel rooms, tennis courts or malaria outbreaks in Africa.
Melinda, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.”
Kathryn Carvelli
Newport Beach
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Give Merrick Garland a hearing
I see no reason whatsoever not to give Judge Merrick Garland a hearing for the Supreme Court. The ongoing GOP obstructionism is not only frightening but a real threat to whatever democracy we have that still remains.
Russell Symonds
Costa Mesa