“It’s time to tell contract cities, ‘You need to go on your own and build your own shelters,”‘ Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said. “We’re going to have to do something different. We cannot continue to be your punching bag. Because your city has hundreds, if not thousands, of animals being turned into our (four) county shelters, nationally and internationally, we receive the criticism.”

Jeffries vented his frustrations during an otherwise routine series of contract rate adjustments for the cities of Desert Hot Springs, Hemet and Palm Desert.

The adjustments were required under the 2024-25 fiscal year budget to contend with unforeseen higher operational costs impacting the Department of Animal Services, resulting in 5% across-the-board hikes in rates, totaling roughly $1.58 million in total obligations for all three municipalities until June 30, 2025.

Most of Jeffries’ displeasure seemed to stem from last week’s announcement of a lawsuit against the county filed by four animal welfare activists in the Coachella Valley.

The suit, spearheaded by the Rancho Mirage-based Walter Clark Law Group and filed in Riverside County Superior Court, seeks a permanent injunction against the Department of Animal Services’ humane euthanasia programs.

Clark called it a “groundbreaking case” that’s predicated on the Hayden Act of 1998. That legislation, authored by then-state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, states, in part, “no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home.”

The measure further bars euthanization even if a pet lacks qualities that make the animal suited to immediate adoption, “but could become adoptable with reasonable efforts.”

The plaintiffs, based on data gleaned and produced by the nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society, contend that in 2022, county Department of Animal Services shelters “killed more animals than any other reporting shelter in the United States.”

Altogether, in 2022 and 2023, an estimated 24,000 canines and felines were euthanized in county shelters, according to the organization.

“We’ve been asking all these different groups that keep quoting ‘we’re the worst in the nation (for kill rates)’ where are you getting that? And it’s one group on the internet — Best Friends,” Supervisor Karen Spiegel said. “Many municipalities have the same challenges. We have had a severe amount of animals, hundreds at a time, coming into the shelters. Municipalities cannot take these animals. It’s very challenging.”

To date in 2024, she said, there have been five major seizures by animal control officers countywide, during which hundreds of dogs and cats have been impounded due to neglect, malnutrition and related factors, largely attributable to hoarding by residents ill-equipped to provide care.

Spiegel said in spite of the county now refusing to dedicate resources for contract animal control services in cities within neighboring San Bernardino County, the Department of Animal Services remains under pressure handling unincorporated communities and servicing municipalities in Riverside County.

“People need to know, not everything that’s spewed out is accurate,” the supervisor said. “And it’s not fair to continue to bad-mouth our staff.”

Jeffries said he recognized the issue of cities constructing their own shelter space “won’t be fixed overnight.”

“But how much longer can we ask our staff to take the abuse they’ve been taking on a daily basis before they finally say, ‘take my (employee) badge, I’m done’? What we’re doing now is not working.”

A few municipalities in the county maintain independent animal control services, either through city-paid personnel or contracts with nongovernmental organizations. Examples include the cities of Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, Temecula and Wildomar that contract with Wildomar-based nonprofit Animals Friends of the Valleys. The city of Palm Springs has its own animal services department.

Last month, the board approved formation of an Ad Hoc Committee for Continuous Improvement of Animal Services, headed by Supervisors Manuel Perez and Yxstian Gutierrez.

The pair pledged to delve into the “high kill rate” allegations, as well as analyze the department’s adoption policies, data banking and distribution.

“There are a lot of issues we’ve prioritized, but this hasn’t been one of them,” Perez said. “You’re right about the cities. Eventually I think they’ll get there. Every city needs to pay their fair share. We are way behind. There is misinformation out there, partly because we have not updated our data. We need to clear up the misinformation for the public. We can all win. But we have to be willing to come together to collaborate.”

The committee is slated to hold its first meeting in the next two months.

If you are interested in adopting a pet from the Riverside County Department of Animal Services, click here.

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The snake bite was reported just after 2 p.m. in the area of Highway 371 and Lakeshore Boulevard, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.

The agency said that several engine crews were sent to the location and discovered the youth, whose identity was not disclosed, suffering from a bite and receiving aid from his mother.

A REACH Air ambulance was summoned to retrieve the victim from Lake Riverside Estates Airport, a private field that emergency personnel are free to use just north of the highway.

As of 2:45 p.m., the helicopter was en route.

There was no word regarding how the child was bitten, including whether it occurred close to a residence or elsewhere in the remote area.

Elevated temperatures and sunny spring weather draw rattlesnakes out of their winter beds between March and May every year.

Residents are advised to use caution and give rattlers wide space, never attempting to handle them. The snakes can use their full length — sometimes over five feet — to strike. Bites can be deadly.

The county Department of Animal Services provides information on snake encounters here: https://rcdas.org/sites/g/files/aldnop301/files/migrated/images-DOWNLOADS-WILDLIFE-FLYERS-Rattlesnake-2021-v1.pdf

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The Black Saturday Special gives would-be adopters the chance to find their perfect pet for free all week – the first time Animal Services has offered the post-Thanksgiving promotion for a full week. Participating shelters include the Coachella Valley Animal Campus in Thousand Palms and the Western Riverside County/City Animal Shelter in Jurupa Valley.

More than 100 pets were adopted on the promotion’s first day on Saturday (Nov. 27).

The COVID-19 pandemic forced most animal organizations to scale back large-scale events. But Riverside County’s shelters are becoming more populated and homeless pets need a loving home for the holidays, said Kim Youngberg, an Animal Services deputy director.

“This adoption promotion has been one of our most popular,” Youngberg said. “We really hope people without a pet at this time of year can find room in their hearts – and homes – for a four-legged friend.”

Although pets can be adopted for free, would-be adopters should be mindful that a dog license must be purchased if the adopter lives within the county’s jurisdictional areas. Dog license information/prices can be found here.

All adoptable pets can be viewed on the county’s official website.

Riverside County Animal Services | Contributed

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RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Riverside County supervisors signed off today on an Executive Office response to a grand jury report critical of the way the Department of Animal Services handles payments collected by its officers in the field, citing safety and efficiency concerns.

On a 5-0 vote without comment, the Board of Supervisors certified the county’s answer to the civil grand jury, which is near the end of the last fiscal year issued findings that focused on alleged deficiencies regarding how payments are collected and processed by animal control officers.

The county’s three-page answer to the panel stated that the issues which jurors found concerning have either been resolved or are close to resolution.

The 19-member grand jury, which has Superior Court authority to investigate almost any matter of concern in county government, said it could not identify a specific written policy establishing how animal control officers are supposed to manage receipt of payments for various services while in the field, including pet surrender fees, owner redemption fees, and euthanasia fees, all of which can run anywhere between $40 and $150.

The main concern pertained to cash handling and how officers secure cash to ensure it isn’t lost or stolen. According to Executive Office staff, a policy does exist, and it instructs officers to lock money inside a box bolted inside each animal control patrol vehicle. Accepting credit card payments in the field, which would likely eliminate cash transactions, remains a challenge because most of the county’s three-dozen animal control officers are not trained to use Internet-based software that can be loaded onto their tablet devices to process charge card payments.

Officials said the Department of Animal Services is working to have all officers trained in the mobile Converge credit processing system by Dec. 31.

The grand jury concluded that the cash-based system was “cumbersome and unsafe,” with many officers and supervisory personnel unhappy with managing and keeping track of dollar bills. Jurors also found how receipts are recorded in the department’s database to be “time-consuming and inefficient.”

Executive Office staff said that, even with full implementation of the mobile processing system in the field, all types of transactions will still need to be entered into the agency database.

“Without this information, no official record will exist of the transaction,” the staff wrote. “These records are vital to know the status of animals, such as if they are licensed, have bitten anyone in the past, or have violations of law pending against them.”

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Search: Board Approves Answer to Grand Jury

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