Years ago, Flynn had owned a cocker spaniel, and when it came time to put the animal down, Flynn went to the Humane Society Silicon Valley. "They were really tremendous," Flynn says.

The 76-year-old Flynn returned to the Humane Society in September 2003—this time to find a dog to take home. And right away he met Elvis, an 8-year-old Siberian husky/German shepherd mix.

Elvis had been at the Humane Society for 77 days by then, a stray who had had no luck in finding a home. He'd been picked up in Milpitas by police officers who found him tied to a post. At the time, he was wearing a collar with a phone number, but when Humane Society staff called, the number had been disconnected.

It didn't take long for Flynn to decide that Elvis was the companion for him. In the months since, the dog has had to have an abscessed tooth removed and endured two operations. Under the policy of the Humane Society, Flynn could have taken him back—but he declined. "He's quite a dog," Flynn says.

Flynn says Elvis is recognized whenever the duo goes out. At the Humane Society's fundraising "Fur Ball" in March, Flynn was honored for adopting Elvis, receiving a year's supply of dog food and a bowl engraved with the name "Elvis."

An empty nest

The Humane Society Silicon Valley is where, for the past few decades, most of the cities in Santa Clara County have housed their strays and where they've gone for their animal-control services.

All that's about to change, however, as early as this summer, when the city of San Jose is scheduled to open its new animal-care center on Monterey Highway. The cities of Milpitas, Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga will join in the effort, a move approved by the San Jose City Council on April 6.

About 90 percent of the animals at the Humane Society will move to the new facility; only strays from Santa Clara, Campbell, Monte Sereno and Sunnyvale will be housed at the old location.

And within two years, those animals should also be gone: Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority—an independent joint agency—hopes to have its own shelter open by spring 2006. Originally formed by seven cities, SVACA will be operated by just three cities—Santa Clara, Campbell and Monte Sereno—starting July 1, 2004.

That means the Humane Society will finally be able to focus on its primary goal—something it's been trying to do for the past six years.

"The core of our mission is adoption, spay/neutering and education," says Christine Benninger, president of the Humane Society Silicon Valley. "The basic mission of animal control is to protect people from animals. The mission of the Humane Society is essentially the opposite."

Losing the battle

The Humane Society's struggle to separate itself from animal-control services goes back to late 1998, when the state of California approved Senate Bill 1785, a "No-Kill" bill sponsored by then-Sen. Tom Hayden that changed the way animal-care providers would operate.

"The new policy is to maximize efforts at saving the lives of lost and stray animals," Hayden said. "It includes partnerships with activist adoption groups, and mandates longer, flexible times for keeping animals before killing them ... It has become a lightning rod in a culture war over the commitment and resources we give to the abandoned animals in society's care."

Jon Cicirelli, San Jose's deputy director of animal care and services, says the key component of SB 1785 was to increase the amount of time organizations were required to hold strays before euthanizing them. Before the bill took effect, strays had to be held for 72 hours; after the bill took effect, the requirement was four days plus the day of surrender—essentially five or up to six days, depending on the hours of the facility. The holding requirement also applied to owner-surrendered animals. Previously there was no holding requirement for those animals.

An important element of the bill was a requirement that facilities provide nutrition, shelter and prompt veterinary care, including spaying and neutering prior to adoption.

The idea for the bill originated in 1996, when Hayden unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Los Angeles and was exposed to animal-care issues in the city.

"I was shocked by the figure of 65,000 dogs and cats killed by shelters in L.A. yearly," Hayden says.

According to a case study of the bill, by Sarah Balcom from Tufts University's Center for Animals and Public Policy, the bill faced strong opposition, and no one expected it to pass because of its high costs. Most animal-care organizations—including the California Animal Control Directors Association—opposed the bill, as did the League of California Cities and California State Association of Counties.

"As a result, shelters assembled very little active opposition to the bill and contributed very little to it," Balcom wrote. Balcom says, "Many legislators voted for SB 1785 as a way of showing their concern for animal-welfare issues, believing that the governor would not sign it ... SB 1785 virtually sailed through the California Legislature."

But the bill's passage proved problematic.

Benninger says the law forced the local Humane Society to spend more of its resources on unadoptable animals and less on adoptable animals. "Many more adoptable animals have to be euthanized to make space for the unadoptable animals," she says. The end result was that more, not fewer, animals were euthanized.

Cicirelli says Hayden's bill also led to other problems, such as overcrowding and doubling dogs up in kennels. He remembers constantly breaking up dog fights at his Southern California shelter.

Dan Soszynski, executive director of SVACA, was with the Santa Cruz SPCA at the time and says the SPCA had to euthanize adoptable dogs because of injuries suffered in fights.

Cicirelli also points out that more animals crowding the shelters led to higher overhead.

"Had this bill given out money and time to improve infrastructure, I think you would find a more accepting animal-control, animal-welfare community," he says.

And as Balcom says, many shelters resented the implications of the bill. "One lobbyist against the bill explained, 'We don't enjoy having to euthanize animals. The proponents think we want to be able to line up little animals and shoot them.' "

Local animal-care workers agree.

"Of course, nobody gets into this field because they think, 'Oh, I want to kill an animal,'" Soszynski says.

Shelter workers take pleasure in finding homes for animals, Cicirelli says, and in cases where euthanasia is the only option, they try to make the animal's last days as comfortable as possible. "I doubt you can find anyone to tell you that they like killing animals," Cicirelli says.

Going in different directions

The Humane Society Silicon Valley announced in December 1998 that it would terminate its contracts with cities—due in part to SB 1785, but also because it wanted to move away from animal control to focus on a more humane purpose.

Benninger told the cities, however, that the termination of the contracts was not immediate but was an eventual goal. She asked the cities to help facilitate the transition. Today, all of the cities still house their animals at the Humane Society.

After the Humane Society's announcement, the nine cities started discussions about forming their own agency.

The talks failed when San Jose insisted on having more than 50 percent of the vote because it would produce most of the animals in the proposed shelter and fund a majority of the costs. "San Jose as just one city is so much larger than the other cities," Benninger says. "It got down to a political situation."

San Jose left the partnership, forming its own animal-care division and planning its own shelter together with the city of Milpitas.

Meanwhile, the other seven cities formed the Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority. The board hired a staff and took over animal-control services for the cities in July 2001.

Soszynski says that at first, the board was amenable to a shelter with a projected $8 million to $8.5 million price tag.

"And that's when the economy started to tank," he says. "As the economy started to change, everybody really started to reevaluate their animal-service needs." In 2003 and earlier this year, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga pulled out; all four cited financial reasons.

Three cities remain with SVACA: Campbell, Monte Sereno and Santa Clara. Soszynski says the agency is reworking its shelter plan based on capacity from three cities instead of seven, but SVACA has gone ahead and purchased a building in Santa Clara.

New accommodations

Soszynski's plan for SVACA to open a shelter in March 2006 coincides with the Humane Society's vision to open a new facility in Milpitas by April of the same year.

Benninger says the current shelter doesn't fit the values of the Humane Society. She envisions a place that people want to visit on a regular basis and one where they can share experiences.

"You won't see chain link, you won't see cement, because all of that communicates 'backyard,'" she says. "We want to break the mold of a traditional animal shelter." The animal community center will have a dog park, performance stage, areas for education on pet training and gallerias for people to visit with the animals.

Instead of accepting all animals that are turned in, the Humane Society will have a selective process in taking strays and will go to SVACA and San Jose to pick out adoptable animals.

The fundraising process is in its "silent phase." Benninger is working with target individuals to solicit investments in a Founders Fund and has raised about a third of the $25 million needed for construction and for endowment. Some of the money will also be raised through the sale of the Humane Society's Santa Clara facility.

San Jose is close to finishing its 52,000-square-foot animal-care center. The $18 million project will see approximately 20,000 animals each year and be an open-door facility, accepting all animals that the public turns in, Cicirelli says. "That shelter is the largest single shelter in California, which puts it in the running as one of the largest shelters in the United States."

Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga's additional funding have provided for a spay/neuter clinic that will be made available to rescue groups, an expanded surgery space and more cat-holding spaces.

Shelters tend to see more cats than any other animals, especially feral cats. The numbers skyrocket during the breeding season of each year, Cicirelli says. "When we open our facility, hopefully July, we'll be filled to capacity with cats. We'll be hurting."

According to Kerrie Watkins, operations supervisor for the San Jose shelter, the new building is a far cry from the old dog-pound design.

With the shelter's courtyard, classrooms and cat-socializing rooms, Watkins says she hopes to eventually provide obedience courses and agility training. "Primarily, it's a city shelter, so we've got to focus on our job, but I want to focus on education as well," she says. "We've got to get the basics first and do it well."

Cicirelli says the shelter will start by offering spay/neuter procedures to rescue groups at a fraction of normal costs, and in the future do pet vaccinations.

It may sound like the goals compete with the Humane Society's goals, Cicirelli says. "In the sense that the Humane Society does fundraising? Yes. In the sense that the Humane Society does pet adoptions? Yes. In the sense that the Humane Society does pet behavior programs? Yes."

But, Cicirelli emphasizes a sameness of purpose with the animal-care groups—putting animals first. "This isn't about you and me. It's about us as leaders in the animal-welfare organizations in the community," he says.

"It's very, very important that we communicate together," Watkins says. "It used to be shelters versus nonprofits. We can't have that anymore. That has to go out the window. It's important that we develop relationships and communication."

Undoing the law

With major changes happening in the local animal-care scene, a twist has entered the equation: the "No-Kill" bill may be suspended for the next fiscal year.

According to Cicirelli, when the state passes a mandate, it also must provide funding for it. Cities across California have submitted claims to the state for SB 1785, asking for reimbursement. "Our contract fees with the Humane Society went up as a result of this law. That's a claim against the state," he says. "All of these claims go into a pile and the state doesn't pay them."

San Jose's claim for 2001­02 was $1 million; "2002­03 would be higher because that was when our construction started," Cicirelli says.

As a result of the budget crisis in California, the proposed state budget for 2004­05 could slash funding for SB 1785. "When the state suspends funding on something, local governments are no longer required to follow it," says Nancy Patton, staff services manager for the Commission on State Mandates.

A special committee, chaired by Assemblyman John Laird, examined the Hayden bill but couldn't recommend suspending funding because of some unanswered questions. "It's a big mess," Laird says. "But if the governor proposed no money, that would effectively suspend the mandate for year."

What would happen, then, if SB 1785 were suspended for a year?

Cicirelli says animal services would probably not decrease the holding period for strays. However, San Jose would most likely not hold owner-surrendered animals; instead it would make a quick decision to either euthanize the surrendered animal or put it up for adoption.

San Jose would also probably not hold feral cats before euthanizing them, Cicirelli says, since feral cats do not survive being in an animal shelter.

Benninger says some good has come of the Hayden bill.

"We have created more holding space in the state of California," she says, pointing to the state's new shelters. Benninger has also seen cities fund more medical care for animal treatment.

"In hindsight, has it really made a difference in the state? Are the animals better off? I can't really say," Benninger says. "Our commitment has always been to find homes for 100 percent of our adoptable animals. What Hayden did is make that job more difficult."