Mayor Margie L. Rice and City Council Mr. Ramon Silver, City Manager City of Westminster 8200 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CA 92683 June 25, 2007 RE: Agenda Item 6.1 – Animal Shelter Services, 6/27/07 Dear Mayor Rice, City Councilmembers, and Mr. Silver, I am writing to you on behalf of the animal services contract renewal with Dr. Samir Botros, the Orange County Humane Society and AAA Animal Hospital. Please reconsider the renewal of your city contract with these facilities and direct staff to further evaluate other alternative shelters such as Orange County Animal Control or the city of Irvine. Though I applaud the current remodeling effort of the Newland Avenue shelter in Huntington Beach, there is still prevalent consensus that animal care and management will not improve. As you know, there have been years of documented complaints against this shelter regarding inhumane conditions and mistreatment of the animals. Many of these complaints have come from the shelters own volunteers – who else would have a more accurate accounting of day to day activities? While city and county inspectors have investigated, the City of Costa Mesa has agreed to many of the allegations set forth by volunteers and the public. And while I agree that the media can sometimes be biased or misleading, the fact that these complaints and allegations continue to exist, is proof something is amiss at this shelter. The most recent article in the OC Register (dated June 25, 2007) contains a quote from Westminster Police Chief Andy Hall as saying there have been no complaints about this shelter by city residents in the past two years. But, there have been complaints to him by outside residents. And, I am one of them. I sent a letter to Council dated December 23, 2005 regarding the rancid dog food and received a response from Chief Hall dated January 12, 2006. That is certainly within the two year time frame. Have you ascertained the number of complaints sent to the OC Register, Orange County Animal Care Services, the cities of Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach? They may add up to a different story. Even Costa Mesa has agreed to replace shelter services with the city of Irvine due to poor conditions. I would hope the City Council of Westminster would want equally better services for their residents and pets. I have visited this shelter on several occasions and adopted a cat from them as well. I can speak firsthand of seeing such deplorable conditions. I’ve seen dogs without food and water – certainly no bedding or toys. I’ve seen dogs soaked from the rain sitting shivering in feces filled cages. I’ve seen cats with their eyes nearly shut from upper respiratory disease lying in filthy litter boxes. I’ve seen mice running throughout the facility, no hand sanitizer, dogs being hosed down during cold weather (the facility gets a lot of ocean moisture to worsen conditions), food in broken bags, moldy canned food not fit for any beast, no information available on the animals for adoption, lack of volunteers or staff, no quarantine area, feces in the parking lot, not to mention the all around disrepair of the buildings. On one particular visit, I was offered a very sick Husky-mix dog for free. Sadly, I feel confident he died soon after my visit. And these are only my accounts of this facility. You can imagine what the volunteers have seen through the years. If Dr. Botros took better care of the animals in his shelter – the animals of Westminster – I am certain the accusations against him would not exist. Before renewing this contract, I would recommend you have the City Attorney look into the proper legal designation for this shelter. California law defines a “humane society” as “comprising 20 or more citizens and residents”. I believe Dr. Botros solely owns this shelter. Per narrowly defined IRS rules regarding 501c nonprofit humane societies, they must have a written Conflict of Interest Policy and his privately owned AAA Animal Hospital could be at issue. I would also inquire why this humane societies taxes for 2006 reflect a property tax expense of $10,596 and salary of $112,358 when the OC Treasurer’s Office has a 2006 property tax bill of only $5,832 and no employees, including the veterinarian himself, are listed on the 2005 Federal return. In closing, I would hope you would reconsider this contract and actively seek other alternative shelters for animal control. Your residents may pay a bit more, but don’t these already homeless and unwanted animals deserve better care and our compassion? As population and pet ownership increases, so will shelter admissions. We need better facilities and this just could be the one small step to helping the ones in our own backyard. And while we’re at it: please spay and neuter your pets. Sincerely, Susan Wise President of Catnip & Carrots The following also wish to support non-renewal of the current contract: <snip> | 
