Feces and multiple food bowls left in kennels. Dogs cooped inside for most the day. Kittens in clean storage bins poked with holes. Animals housed in office space. All disturbing red flags visible to the naked eye.
For years, animal activists, community members and volunteers have complained to the city about the problems festering at the San Jose Animal Care and Services Center, and pleaded for change.
A new and damning report about the conditions at the shelter has now confirmed their worst fears: hundreds of animals — far beyond capacity — crammed into the shelter in substandard conditions that increase the risk of spreading disease, including expired rabies certificates.
As a result, the city auditor is recommending a record number of changes, and city leaders are demanding improvements.
Nicholas De la Cerda-Echavarria (left) and Carlos Wagner try coaxing a scared Chihuahua mix named Dobby into eating at the San Jose Animal Care and Services Center, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
“The current performance at the shelter is obviously unacceptable,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said. “It’s not where we need it to be (and) we have to do better. The council has responded over the last two years by increasing the budget at the center substantially and calling for the audit that we just received today, it is time for results … We are expecting the administration to deliver on the recommendations in the audit and demonstrate outcomes for animals in our care.”
After a barrage of complaints and a rise in animal deaths that no longer allowed the shelter to be classified as no-kill, city officials last year asked for an objective assessment of the facility, including its service levels. The audit identified 39 areas for improvement.
Despite pumping millions of dollars into the facility and hiring additional staff, the animal shelter has taken in fewer animals due to trouble moving them on through adoption or rescue and taking in more sick and injured animals.
“We found that the on-site animal population has frequently exceeded the ACS housing capacity, which has impacted the shelter’s ability to provide daily care to shelter animals, as well as staff morale,” City Auditor Joe Rois said. “Point-in-time counts in July and August showed that there were nearly 700 animals on site, (while) shelter capacity was roughly 500 animals. At the same time, the average length of stay for animals has increased in recent years, and due to capacity constraints, ACS has lacked space to prevent disease spread and promote animal welfare.”
The audit found that the shelter has not expanded medical care, including trap-neuter-return services, to help stem the expanding pet population. It also found the organization has had a 68% decrease in engagement with rescue groups, many of whom said they did not have a positive relationship with the shelter.
“Rescue-specific participation as a percentage of rescue collapsed to 6.8%, and in 2024, it was 8.5% percent despite the pledge by your direct deputy director to re-engage with rescue,” animal advocate Mike Wagner said. “That clearly didn’t happen there. The audit clearly shows that this management team is in over their head (and) they have shown that they’re not even in compliance with basic (Association of Shelter Veterinarians) shelter guidelines.”
For many animal advocates, the audit’s findings confirmed what they had told the City Council for years, and they hoped it would spur the city to act before conditions deteriorated further.
“We need the city to stop ignoring the problem and making excuses and do something,” said Rebekah Davis-Matthews, co-founder of Sustain our Shelters.
In recent interviews with The Mercury News, shelter officials accepted the audit results and some of their shortcomings in dealing with the increased demand for services since the pandemic.
“As an organization, we will continue to evolve and improve,” Deputy Director Jay Terrado said. “There have been many changes in this industry, and we need to improve to better serve the community and animals.”
Deputy director Jay Terrado of the San Jose Animal Care and Services Center discusses the animal shelter’s challenges, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Like other shelters and rescues around the country, San Jose ACS has struggled to keep up with the number of surrenders due to rising veterinary costs, the increasing number of breed restrictions in rental agreements, and many owners no longer being able to take care of their pets.
“The topic that comes up over and over again is landlords not allowing especially large breeds, or specific breeds, or not at all, and that’s affecting the majority of rental people — a high population in the Bay Area,” said shelter coordinator Monty Kameda, who noted that the shelter’s kennels either contained a sizable number of older dogs or German Shepherds, pit bulls and huskies. “These landlords and these organizations have policies that prevent having pets and even cats in some circumstances.”
According to a report in the New York Times, veterinary costs have risen 60% in the last decade, far exceeding the inflation rate of other goods and services, as private equity firms have snatched up clinics and practices.
The Mercury News witnessed this firsthand on a ride-along with San Jose Animal Services, which received a report of potential neglect of a white poodle mix that showed signs of matted hair and an ear infection.
Upon arriving at the scene, Sgt. Ben Gunion observed that Toby, who was previously adopted from the shelter a few years ago was almost unrecognizable from his previous photo. It was clear he needed medical care because of the way he continued to shake his head. But rather than commit to taking Toby to the vet, the owners surrendered him on the spot because they said they could not afford the costs.
While city officials acknowledged the difficulties of the job, they have pushed the shelter to move faster on implementing the recommendations outlined in the audit.
In a memo signed by Mahan, Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei and Councilmembers Peter Ortiz and Bien Doan, city leaders called on the shelter to restore relationships with rescues and expand its trap-neuter-return services and low-cost spay-and-neuter services, including contracting with private providers, otherwise the animal population and stress on the system would continue to spiral out of control.
“They’re doing the best to provide care and services for the animals and our community despite constantly operating over capacity, and I want to acknowledge the immense pressure that they are under,” Ortiz said. “However, as the audit points out, we have significant work ahead of us. The findings reveal that despite our team’s unwavering dedication and hard work, the limitations in our shelters, resources, outdated protocols and capacity constraints are severely hindering our ability to deliver the high standard of care and operational efficiency that both our animals and our greater community.”
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City Manager Jennifer Maguire said she expected the shelter to implement the recommendations before the end of the fiscal year and committed to ensuring the city dedicated adequate resources to making the improvements.
“As soon as we see new needs, we are not going to be shy about bringing these forward because these are living animals that need us to speak for them,” Maguire said. “If we have to be a little bit later on mowing the grass or letting the weeds get a little higher, I’d much rather get that trade-off and give that to the animals.”
