The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunlap Cupertino and Sunnyvale are two of the eight cities that will be affected by the Humane Society's new mission to become a 'no kill' shelter. Come July, both cities will have to find an alternative place to shelter homeless animals, like the cats pictured here. Humane Society gives up contract with city Nonprofit will focus on adoption and spay and neuter education By Michelle Ku Beginning in July, stray animals picked up by Cupertino's or Sunnyvale's animal control services will no longer have a place to go--the shelter in Santa Clara won't take them any longer. The Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley announced on Dec. 18 that it will phase out its shelter, code enforcement and animal control contracts with eight cities and the county. Cupertino and Sunnyvale are two of the eight cities that will be affected by the Humane Society's new mission to become a "no kill" shelter with a focus on adoptions, spay and neuter education, community outreach and cruelty investigation. "We have talked with both Cupertino and Sunnyvale to let them know that we will either cancel or not re-sign our sheltering contracts with those two cities," said Christine Arnold, shelter executive director. "Eventually we will be phasing out animal control services." Beginning July 1, Cupertino and Sunnyvale will have to use alternative methods to shelter animals. Cupertino will have an additional two years before the Humane Society phases out animal control services for the city. Sunnyvale handles its own animal control services. Cupertino is looking at a number of options and is not certain at this point what it will be doing, said Bill Woska, director of animal control services and human resources manager. The Humane Society has taken care of Cupertino's animal control needs for five years and has held the sheltering contract for a year and a half. "There are various things we need to consider in each of the cities because it affects more than just Cupertino," Woska said. "Are we going to individually run a shelter, do we get into some kind of joint powers agreement where collectively several cities have a shelter? If so, where will it be located, who has the physical capacity, who will manage it?" The Humane Society is holding a meeting with the eight cities affected by its new policy on Jan. 14 to help them decide what steps they will take. For the last fiscal year ending June 30, the Humane Society handled 1,600 stray animals from Sunnyvale and 560 strays from Cupertino, Arnold said. Due to the passage of Senate Bill 1785, authored by Senator Tom Hayden from Los Angeles, the Humane Society was forced to take these actions, Arnold said. The bill, which goes into effect on July 1, 1999, increases the mandatory holding requirements for all types of animals. The three-day mandatory holding period for strays waiting for reclaim has been increased to five days. Also, shelters must hold owner-surrendered dogs and cats, feral cats and other animals for up to four days--a new requirement. Because of increasing and creating mandatory holding periods, valuable kennel space will be used to house animals deemed unadoptable before they can be euthanized. "By extending the stay period, more animals would have more of a chance for adoption," Arnold said. "But by extending stays, you end up keeping unadoptable animals for a longer time and have less time for adoptable animals. So, unfortunately, more animals will end up euthanized unless more shelters are opened." The Humane Society deems an animal adoptable if the animal is healthy and temperamentally sound. Age and how the animal looks is not a factor. An animal is unadoptabable if it is unhealthy and shows signs of aggression. To help the cities and county in the establishment of their own sheltering program, the Humane Society has offered to help develop the shelters as well as to run and manage the shelters for a year before they are turned back to the cities and county. "I think what's important about splitting the programs between the Humane Society and the city in this manner is that, quite frankly, more animals will be adopted this way and fewer animals will be euthanized," Arnold said. "In the long run, we will see a drop in the number of strays." [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, December 30, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.