Micah was on the kill list. Pit bull. Behavioral problems. Only 3 years old, but his days were numbered.
There was something about him, though. Eighty pounds of muscle, silvery gray coat, ears like “The Flying Nun’s” headpiece … rescuers snatched him from the jaws of death last month and held their breath, waiting for those behavior problems to surface.
They didn’t. Micah snuggles on the sofa with his new mama and falls fast asleep on his back, legs splayed — a sign of trust. He walks politely on a leash, despite being behavior-listed for “leash grabbing.” He’s fully potty-trained. Knows how to “sit down” and “lay down.” And the pièce de résistance: He has claimed his rightful spot on the parental bed.
“We know most vicious animals are the byproduct of bad training,” said Micah’s new mama, Adriana Taylor. “We were willing to take the risk to train him out of that, but he ended up being the best dog ever. There’s not a mean bone in his body. He was just stressed in there.”
Critics of Orange County Animal Care — where would-be adopters can no longer stroll kennels on solo searches for the perfect companion — asked the Orange County Board of Supervisors to return to its old open model of doing business on Tuesday, May 9. The new “concierge” policies are part of the reason why so many adult dogs are branded as behavioral problems, held back from play groups that help socialize, exercise and de-stress them, and ultimately euthanized, they said.
The kill rate for adult dogs at the state-of-the-art, $35 million shelter has nearly doubled since 2018, and the amount of time they spend behind bars has jumped 60%, according to a data analysis by erstwhile volunteer Michael Mavrovouniotis, who presented his research to the supervisors.
“I am the numbers guy that studied the animal shelter’s data and came to the conclusion that the shelter needs to make changes,” Mavrovouniotis said.
“One, allow the public to walk through the kennel area to view dogs, and two, restart playgroups for large dogs. These practices are not controversial. They are standard for good shelters. OC followed them in 2019, suspended them during the pandemic, and is still stuck in pandemic mode. …
“Sadly, without playgroups for large dogs, many of these hoarded animals stress out, develop behavior problems and don’t make it out alive.”
Margot Boyer, whose online petition to open the shelter has gotten more than 20,000 signatures, agrees. “It’s simply wrong that they’re not open,” she told the board. “In my opinion, you’re being a little negligent not looking at the facts and figures. My question to you is, what can we the taxpayers do to persuade you to act?”
We asked the supervisors that very question on Monday. But for Supervisor Katrina Foley’s office, we heard crickets.
Trying
Foley asked the shelter management to respond to Mavrovouniotis’ findings. They quarrel with the numbers and are preparing their own analysis.
That said, play groups for large dogs are, indeed, still in use — when temperament and staffing levels allow, they said.
Folks who want to adopt do have access to kennels with available animals — so long as they’re with a kennel attendant. That cuts down on people sticking their fingers in cages, and bites are down. It’s a persistent mischaracterization to say the shelter is closed, Foley said.
“I’m focused on, how do we do more to get more people to adopt?” Foley said. “They are trying to argue, which I do not believe, that the reason people aren’t adopting as much is because they can’t walk by the animal cages and have love at first sight. The reality is that, right now, this is happening across America. It’s not unique to the model we have. Across America, people are giving up animals because they can’t afford them or aren’t allowed to have them where they’re living.”
Last year, Foley used America Rescue Plan funds to waive adoption fees and was able to find 571 animals homes. Now, the shelter is waiving fees for dogs over 25 pounds.
“There is a lot of effort going into getting larger dogs adopted,” she said. “I will say, we are on this. We are keeping a lot of attention on the animal care shelter because we have so many people contact us every day. I’m not sure we’ll ever please everyone.”
As we were preparing a story about Mavrovouniotis’ data last week, he was fired as a shelter volunteer. That ticked off a lot of animal lovers. Shelter officials explained it like this:
“OC Animal Care welcomes volunteers at the shelter and have many roles they can play,” said spokeswoman Jackie Tran by email. “However, when behavior is disruptive to staff, we reserve the right to release the volunteer from the program. Employees are our priority and it is the County’s responsibility to provide a non-disruptive workplace. The County does not discuss specific details about release of individual volunteers.”
Rescue
Some would posit that disruption might not be a bad thing. The question that haunts Taylor, Micah’s mom, is simply: How many more Micahs are stuck in there, branded as behavior problems when all they need is love and exercise?
“If not for OC Shelter Partners and OC Pit Bull Rescue, we never would have known that Micah existed and he would have been euthanized,” said Taylor. “That just breaks my heart. This whole experience has really opened my eyes. This little boy with so much energy just wanted to be played with and loved.”
Who labels the dogs as behavior problems? What’s the protocol for determining that? What’s done to address it and save animals’ lives? That’s unclear to folks on the outside.
“Step in for Hunter, Lainey, Baylor, Nikki, Barry, Gambit, Barney, Bishop, Humphreys, Kayley, Toshi, Bella, Roxy, Ash, Bree, Logan, Lois, Lewis, Jeneau — ” the list went on and on, Mavrovouniotis told the supervisors, — “and all the other animals languishing at the OC shelter and all the adopters that could fall in love with them — but don’t get to see them.
“If your aspiration is to have a middling animal shelter — not too bad, but not top-tier — then you’re fine, don’t listen to me,” he said. “But if you want a top-tier shelter, then you need to act.”
