Was Something Forgotten When The New Coronado Animal Care Facility Was Built?

 

The Coronado Animal Care Facility is located at 1395 First Street.

This past Tuesday's "Speak Out Coronado" (hosted by Councilwoman Barbara Denny) addressed the city's new Animal Care Facility, how it's working and any changes those in attendance would like to see implemented. There were at least thirty people present and many volunteered at the facility and were members of PAWS of Coronado—which stands for Pacific Animal Welfare Society.

 

PAWS (a private non-profit group) has been a staunch supporter of the cats and dogs of Coronado and donated a cool $800,000 toward the building of the state-of–the-art Animal Care Facility. When the previous facility was demolished to build subsidized affordable housing, the animals were moved to the basement in the parking lot of the Coronado Police Department. There they stayed for quite some time while the City Council decided if a new facility would be built or if the animals would be sent “over the bridge”. PAWS maintains a “no-kill policy by finding homes for stray, abandoned & surrendered animals in a timely manner" . . . not necessarily so when one is sent “over the bridge”. Coronado citizens were relieved when the City Council voted favorably for the construction of an Animal Care Facility at 1395 First Street.

 

So what are the duties of the ACF? The City of Coronado website states “Coronado Animal Services provides stray and nuisance animal pick-up, acceptance of lost and relinquished animals, assistance for injured and sick stray animals, control of biting, vicious or threatening animals, barking dog complaints, animal cruelty, fighting animals, animals in hot cars, lost and found assistance and dog licensing.”

 

The ACF employs one police officer (Animal Control Officer Diana Braddy) and three part-time kennel assistants who can work up to 1,000 hours per year. The facility is open seven days a week and Coronado Police Officers fill in on the weekends. The PAWS volunteers are an invaluable source of help and comfort for the animals.

 

Currently there is a need for foster families for six little 6-week-old kittens. The foster family would care for the kitten until an adoptive home could be found. It’s so much nicer for a kitten to spend time in a loving foster home than hanging out in the “orphanage”.  If you would be interested in info about fostering a cute little kitten, give them a call at (619) 522-7371 between 9am and 4pm.

 

When the location changed, the facility also changed from a private one to a place where dogs and cats could be dropped off. Rather than just being a location that stray and abandoned animals were taken to by the Animal Control Officer, now Coronado citizens could surrender their pets when the animal didn’t work out or deployment caused family stress or the family was moving . . . or a thousand other reasons. You can imagine how this increased the workload.

 

 

The canine population has remained pretty much the same, but the feline population is another story. The cat population has doubled (on a slow day) and on some days, quadrupled.

 

Shelters have Vet Techs on staff to assess animals as they come through the front door and enter a quarantine period. Animal Care Facilities do not. Fortunately, the PAWS group has found Dr. Valerie Cardeiro—a Vet Tech in Point Loma—who is willing to teach a program that will train the kennel assistants to do the assessments and basic medical care. The City is currently checking to see if there is a challenge with the Coronado insurance for the kennel assistants to perform medical care.

 

So what was forgotten?

 

When they moved from a 200SF storage room to a 3,400SF building and the population doubled, tripled, quadrupled . . . the budget remained the same. The facility had to be shut down not long ago because of a flea infestation. The year supply of Advantage Flea Control ran out in three months because of the increase in the cat population and the fleas ran amok. Sympathic volunteers pay most of the hidden costs they run across out of their own pocket for the “little” things. PAWS is covering the $500-600 extra cost (at a minimum) that occurs each month. In addition to this and all the gas money paid for trips to the vet, the organization paid over $28,000 in vet bills in 2010.

 

And then there’s the problem of under-staffing and the employees trying to take care of a double caseload, many times even heavier. A full-time kennel assistant would solve many of the staffing difficulties. The part-time KAs are working as hard as they possibly can but the workload has doubled with the increased population. Volunteers try to help with the work by cleaning litter boxes, washing windows and cleaning rooms along with their petting and attention-giving duties. The part-time KAs don’t always work consistently enough to notice that an animal is not eating or is not engaging as they should or is just plain “shutting down” until it’s too late. A full-time KA would provide consistency on a daily basis and would insure that the facility could remain open when the AC Officer needs to leave to pick up a stray pup or break up a catfight.

 

The new Animal Care Facility is beautiful and you should drop by to see it if you have not already. For more information about PAWS, go to the PAWS of Coronado  website.

Comments

[Gerta]

"...now Coronado citizens could surrender their pets when the animal didn’t work out or deployment caused family stress or the family was moving . . . or a thousand other reasons."

I certainly hope that people give a second thought before surrendering their dogs to PAWS. "Obvious pitbulls" or "aggressive-type" dogs (whatever that may mean) are no longer offered up for adoption by PAWS. If no other rescue takes them on, they are moved over the bridge where euthanasia is likely. So much for maintaining a no-kill shelter.
Please please find other alternatives rather than surrendering a dog to PAWS.

[Pat Cooley]

I am wondering how much the animal control officer gets paid and if that money is budgeted in with the KA's? Does she split her time chasing dogs and criminals? What are her duties?
If you build a facility meant for 20 dogs and 30 cats, you probably ought to have the staff to maintain that many animals. What is the capacity of the ACF with regards to numbers? Obviously there are many questions. How much money is budgeted for the ACF yearly? Since the facility is in its infancy, changes will have to be made within the city budget. Someone must be vigilant to see that the ACF gets the funding it needs to properly run the place.