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By LORI A. CARTER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Animal advocates are rallying behind the Petaluma shelter after the police chief’s budget-cutting plan includes the elimination of both of the city’s animal control officers.
Lt. Danny Fish is the current interim chief of the Petaluma Police Department. (PD File)
Interim Chief Danny Fish’s recommendation also includes eliminating “most responses to the public” for animal-related calls, such as sick or injured animals, strays and abuse reports.
The cuts, Fish said, would reduce the focus of the animal services division to only care and adoption. Only the highest priority complaints would be handled by police.
The suggestion comes as a possible solution to Fish’s task of cutting 5 percent from his department, which includes police and animal services.
That amount equals $720,000, of which $176,000 of it would come from animal services, mostly by eliminating the jobs of two animal control officers. The remaining $545,000 would come from the police budget, mostly from the freezing of two vacant jobs and the elimination of a temporary officer position.
Several angry animal lovers urged the City Council this week to spare the animal control officers.
“It’s a serious error in judgment,” said Valerie Fausone, a shelter volunteer who took in an abused dog named Boomer last year whose abuser was tracked down by an animal control officer and prosecuted. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail.
Critics of Fish’s plan say that such rescues and prosecutions likely wouldn’t happen without an animal control officer.
Sheri Cardo, the former chairwoman of the city’s animal services committee and ex-director of the Marin Humane Society, said the cuts would mean the shelter budget would be cut 55 percent in the past three years.
That’s “way more than any other department,” she said. “And this is a department responsible or life and death. That really doesn’t seem fair and I do not believe this will be countenanced by our community … Petalumans are not complacent when it comes to animal services.”
Almost a year ago, animal advocates took very public sides when the current shelter director, also in the context of budget reductions, proposed turning the shelter over to a nonprofit he and a couple of paid staff members would operate. The other employees would have been laid off.
The proposal was set aside last year. The city currently has eight full-time animal services employees who handle more than 1,000 animals and 2,000 animal-related calls for service each year.
Shelter manager Jeff Charter didn’t return calls this week seeking more information.
Cutting animal control officers and expecting police officers untrained to handle sick, injured or scared animals is asking for trouble, several residents said.
Animal control officers also are specially trained in animal behavior while police officers are not, although Fish dismissed the idea that his officers couldn’t handle such calls.
Cardo said four dogs were shot by police last year when animal control officers likely could have contained them without killing them.
Fish said his goal is to preserve the “core mission” of the shelter, which he said has been defined by the community as the care of animals, not the enforcement of animal-related laws like licensing and leash laws.
He also is trying to protect staffing at the police department, which has lost 30 positions in the past four years, although no one has actually been laid off in the process.
“These cuts are not easy to make,” Fish said.
He said he was open to suggestions about how to make the cuts. Other department heads also were directed to submit options for trimming 5 percent of their budgets in an effort to cut another $1.6 million from next year’s general fund budget.
City Manager John Brown also has been in talks with Novato officials about Petaluma taking over that city’s animal services, which could become a revenue source for Petaluma.
Brown also said city officials would be receptive to a renewed plan to convert the shelter to nonprofit status.
“This is just a proposal,” he said, adding that a budget workshop likely would be held in April for the community to comment on specific budget cutting proposals.
Staff Writer Lori A. Carter can be reached at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.
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I have never been on Petaluma 360 before. This is amazing. Pack of dogs stories are real. There was a pack running free many times both day & night all around my neighborhood. The last time we saw them the 5 dogs were circling a young child on a bicycle on Sunrise Parkwway. The poor child did not speak English, so he did not understand me when I tried to give him instructions to get inside. This story is long & detailed. Bottom line: The police dispatcher was absolutely awful to us on the phone. After 20 minutes there still was not a police officer on site. Thankfully a very overworked fantastic animal control officer showed up to help. He had been across town on another call. In the meantime still no police presence. Kids everywhere. 5 scary dogs. The Animal Control Officer had been on plenty of calls with these dogs before. Apparently, the owners were “regulars” . Known criminals he would have to regularly risk his safety ( no gun) for whenever a citation was to be given. Please get to know the awesome people who work for the Petaluma Animal Shelter. They might come to your rescue some day. You might even come to appreciate volunteers like Valerie Fausone. Surprise yourself.
Either way, fight for, not against the folks in Public Safety.
2000 calls per year / 2 resources / 365 days = 2.76 calls per day. The average police officer in Petaluma is likely doing 7 to 10 per day. That math won’t hold up, Dog’s Rule.
Most of the cities in the county are running their own standalone shelter / animal control programs. Then there are both Sonoma County Humane Society (a non-government org) and Sonoma County Animal Regulation (a government org) also in operation and providing varying degrees of service. This amounts to a ridiculously over resourced service, the level of which varies greatly from place to place, that could be operated far more efficiently under one agency or organization. Sonoma County is not big and not so heavily populated that this model wouldn’t work.
If Petaluma, and the other cities with their standalone shelter programs, is really serious about closing budget holes, they should be leading the charge toward consolidation of services into a single agency county wide. It has worked well for decades in Marin County, as Ms. Cardo (quoted in the article) should know all too well.
animal control officer
a dog living in my neighbors back yard lives outside 24/7 yes in the winter as well and the people don’t speak any english
it has lost a lot of weight, it had bark all night( i made a phone call at least this has stopped for now) but it has lost weight and the people don’t speak any english i did say that
I am a bit concern for the dog
but Government Knows best
Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.” — John Adams
Where is this wild pack of dogs that prefers to hang out at parks? Thats the problem with some people in Petaluma, it’s always the worst case scenario. How do you think these dogs will take over the parks because we no longer have these super trained dog catching super heros? Come on now. Quit with the canine armageddon already.
Dear Dogs Rule,
You may not be a public employee, but I wonder if you work for TV or the News. Scare Tactics like the stuff you are typing sound like one of our local news channels. How many “packs of strays” have you seen in Petaluma or Sonoma County? Or anywhere in the Bay Area? Why would you want to scare people to make a point. Instead of this drivel to make dogs look bad and violent, please come up with something intelligent and insightful.
Your name should not be “Dogs Rule”, it should be “Dogs terrify me”
“Dogs Rule” screams “all this blathering about pensions has nothing to do with this.”
Really?
Tax money isn’t surrendered by the taxpayer voluntarily. It is stolen from us through coercion. And using it to pay “public safety” pensions for dog catchers is a perfect example of how criminal the government has become.
Animal control officers make half of what police officers make and they’re on call 24/7 to answer 2000 calls a year between 2 people. I am not a public employee and all this blathering about pensions has nothing to do with this. The animals in Petaluma need to be handled in a humane way and if you want your kids going to a park when 5 stray dogs live in it – good for you. I don’t. Thus, I support the non-profit solution for the Petaluma Animal Shelter because it retains animal control and adds services at a cheaper rate. However, the problem is – if Petaluma leaders rejects that idea again- animal control is gone which is bad for our community as a whole and quality of life.
Richard, I have to comment on your post.
I fell victim to the modern day government speak and used the term “animal control officers.”
I should have called them what they are and what you reminded me that they were commonly called before given that juicy “Public Safety Pension” status with badge and all.
DOG CATCHERS.
Packs of wild dogs roaming the streets? Eating children? Really? Wow, this is about as “out there” as you can get. If a police officer can deal with a suicidal and distraught person, how is he/she unequipped to handle an animal? What “special training” do Dog Catchers have? I mean I like Ace Ventura as much as the next, but it’s just a movie. Alllrriigghhhttyyy then.
@MG
Not sure about Petaluma but County Dog Catchers are full blown Sheriff Officers complete with gun, badge & pension.
Ban Public Employee Unions.
Everyone should notice that “Dogs Rule” spews the public employee alarmist LIE that wild dog packs will be roaming our neighborhoods and victimizing our children.
Tell us about the animal control “officers” and how they qualify for the public safety pensions system. You know. Retiring at age 50 with 90% of pay.
Petaluma has 13 dog parks here. We have strays, injured animals and wildlife, dog bites, cruelty cases and a host of other animal related problems to solve. Petaluma doesn’t need to become a third world country with animals running in the streets. We need animal control. When your big dog gets out, and is startled, afraid,and defensive — you think the cops are going to handle that so you get your dog back, or shoot your dog? We need animal control – Petaluma is a pet loving place with tons of kids and families. Cutting animal control is a terrible idea. Inhumane and short sighted. Wait until our kids go to a park and there’s a pack of 5 stray dogs living there. Going to be a big problem.
I might be wrong but I do believe that the animal control “officers” fall under the public safety public pension system. They have that badge and gun, right?
Anyone know?