Manteca has no plans to start euthanizing unclaimed stray pets sooner just to save a few dollars.
The California Legislature slashed in half the previously mandated six-day holding period at animal shelters to three days as part of a compromise designed to cover the $26 billion state deficit. The previous hold could be as low as four days if the shelter was open for four straight days after the animal was picked up.
The state doesn’t subsidize animal shelters such as Manteca’s. The move was designed to provide cities and counties with some relief from state requirements to try and blunt criticism that the state keeps taking money from local jurisdictions during budget crisises while at the same time coming up with new mandates with no funding.
“We have no plans of changing how we operate,” said Manteca Police Chief Dave Bricker who oversees the animal control division.
Bricker noted, though if things get extremely tight that there is a possibility of changes in the city’s current operating rules concerning pets that are picked up or dropped off and the minimum time they have to be placed.
The new state requirement requires only a 72-hour hold. The law was changed to six days in 1997 in the Animal Adoption Mandate championed by then Assemblyman Tom Hayden. He wanted to give rescue groups and the general public more time to claim unwanted animals before they are put to death.
While Manteca has no plans to shorten the life expectancy of unclaimed animals at its shelter, it does intend to enforce a contractual agreement with Lathrop to provide that city with animal shelter space.
Lathrop contracts with the city for animal shelter services. Under the deal, Lathrop is entitled to 17.5 percent of the shelter capacity and is charged accordingly. That, however, is not reality. Lathrop is actually using 25 percent of the shelter and is getting a $15,000 plus a year free ride.
Manteca has two options. The city can enforce the Lathrop contract and refuse Lathrop animals after they reach their contracted quote and make room for more Manteca animals or else charge Lathrop more.
The Manteca Animal Shelter at 208 Wetmore St. was first constructed more than 40 years ago when Manteca was one-third its current population.
Dogs at the shelter have a 75 percent chance of making it out alive. Those are much better odds than for cats that have a 1 in 7 survival rate.
What doesn’t bode well for the animals isn’t the lack of a clean facility or caring workers and volunteers. Its space or, more precisely, the lack of space.
There are 16 dog runs — four were added 20 years ago when space for quarantined animals was built. That is what helps stack the odds of being adopted against dogs and cats that make their way to the shelter either by being picked up as a stray, being brought in by their owners or imported from Lathrop which does not have its own animal control facility.
The shelter staff does an almost Herculean job of squeezing in what time they can to make it to farmers markets, street fairs and to community events to show the public what dogs and cats are available. Each outreach effort typically nets three adopted animals.
But with 3,522 animals each year that is brought to the shelter — almost 10 a day — there just isn’t enough time and space to save more lives of dogs and cats.
Of the 3,522 animals, there were 529 brought in from Lathrop which contracts with Manteca for use of the animal shelter.
Not taking in Lathrop animals would reduce the dog and cat load each year by just one-seventh. Both Manteca and Lathrop saw a 10 percent hike in animals picked up and taken to the shelter in 2007 when compared with 2006 statistics.
The California Legislature slashed in half the previously mandated six-day holding period at animal shelters to three days as part of a compromise designed to cover the $26 billion state deficit. The previous hold could be as low as four days if the shelter was open for four straight days after the animal was picked up.
The state doesn’t subsidize animal shelters such as Manteca’s. The move was designed to provide cities and counties with some relief from state requirements to try and blunt criticism that the state keeps taking money from local jurisdictions during budget crisises while at the same time coming up with new mandates with no funding.
“We have no plans of changing how we operate,” said Manteca Police Chief Dave Bricker who oversees the animal control division.
Bricker noted, though if things get extremely tight that there is a possibility of changes in the city’s current operating rules concerning pets that are picked up or dropped off and the minimum time they have to be placed.
The new state requirement requires only a 72-hour hold. The law was changed to six days in 1997 in the Animal Adoption Mandate championed by then Assemblyman Tom Hayden. He wanted to give rescue groups and the general public more time to claim unwanted animals before they are put to death.
While Manteca has no plans to shorten the life expectancy of unclaimed animals at its shelter, it does intend to enforce a contractual agreement with Lathrop to provide that city with animal shelter space.
Lathrop contracts with the city for animal shelter services. Under the deal, Lathrop is entitled to 17.5 percent of the shelter capacity and is charged accordingly. That, however, is not reality. Lathrop is actually using 25 percent of the shelter and is getting a $15,000 plus a year free ride.
Manteca has two options. The city can enforce the Lathrop contract and refuse Lathrop animals after they reach their contracted quote and make room for more Manteca animals or else charge Lathrop more.
The Manteca Animal Shelter at 208 Wetmore St. was first constructed more than 40 years ago when Manteca was one-third its current population.
Dogs at the shelter have a 75 percent chance of making it out alive. Those are much better odds than for cats that have a 1 in 7 survival rate.
What doesn’t bode well for the animals isn’t the lack of a clean facility or caring workers and volunteers. Its space or, more precisely, the lack of space.
There are 16 dog runs — four were added 20 years ago when space for quarantined animals was built. That is what helps stack the odds of being adopted against dogs and cats that make their way to the shelter either by being picked up as a stray, being brought in by their owners or imported from Lathrop which does not have its own animal control facility.
The shelter staff does an almost Herculean job of squeezing in what time they can to make it to farmers markets, street fairs and to community events to show the public what dogs and cats are available. Each outreach effort typically nets three adopted animals.
But with 3,522 animals each year that is brought to the shelter — almost 10 a day — there just isn’t enough time and space to save more lives of dogs and cats.
Of the 3,522 animals, there were 529 brought in from Lathrop which contracts with Manteca for use of the animal shelter.
Not taking in Lathrop animals would reduce the dog and cat load each year by just one-seventh. Both Manteca and Lathrop saw a 10 percent hike in animals picked up and taken to the shelter in 2007 when compared with 2006 statistics.
