In the long-running controversy over how best to care for its unwanted pets, Virginia Beach needs to stop the cat fights and use common sense.
Right now, a police lieutenant is managing the city's bureau of animal control. She's overseeing not just criminal complaints about animal cruelty or neglect, she's managing a shelter that takes in hundreds of stray, injured or nuisance dogs and cats each year, deals with licenses and vaccinations, and euthanizes the animals that aren't, or can't be, adopted. And she's doing it all in a creepy facility that turns off prospective pet owners.
Two remedies seem obvious:
First, the city needs a professional shelter manager, not a police officer, for the animal control bureau. That's one of the few things on which both the Police Department and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals agree. The manager should have the autonomy to assess the bureau's shortcomings and get them fixed.
Then, Virginia Beach must replace the deplorable animal control facility on Leroy Drive. It doesn't matter where the new one is built; if it's clean, professionally run and has enough space for the animals, people will find it and use it.
The bigger issue, the one city leaders have been loath to face, is whether the police should be running an animal shelter at all when there is a more-than-capable nonprofit, like the Virginia Beach SPCA, to do the job right. But that's easier said than done. Relations have turned so sour that the SPCA says the animal control bureau is "cruelty tolerant."
The only direction from the City Council is to declare that the city shelter be "adoption-friendly," a description neutered of any meaning and laughable given the dreadful condition of its Leroy Drive depository. "Adoption-friendly" could mean "no-kill," or then again, it might not. A more explicit policy would be a good starting point. This is where an expert could help.
Police officials outlined the options last week to the City Council and said they're open to talk about ways to make the shelter work better, including separating enforcement from sheltering. SPCA leaders say they're also open to discussions. Unfortunately, they're not talking to each other and the council's stuck in the middle.
Virginia Beach has enough money from its licensing fees to hire a manager, which it should do immediately. Then it should build a shelter. Once the bleeding is stopped, the city can turn to the future and think about whether it makes sense for the Police Department, responsible for catching criminals, to have to worry about caring for dogs and cats.
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Facts from continued:
Department and Deputy Chief of Police to not issue that summons . I am ordered to not hold any police department member to the same minimum standards of care that every citizen in Virginia Beach is held accountable to. The officer that was involved in that particular incident was also not accountable because her explanation of a puppy with an injured leg, swollen three times the size of the other one, and baring no weight on that particular leg was a "bug bite". While other officers did provide written complaints of inadequate care they were held accountable to insubordination for making complaints.
As far as your comment about me enjoying conducting large number animal seizures I can assure everyone that it takes a lot out of a person to go into a situation where large numbers of animals are being kept in very unsanitary conditions. The animals suffer a great deal, they get very little human
Talk is cheap
You made statements "as far back as 2004 about the deplorable municipal animal shelter"? What actions did YOU take? Yet you criticize Sharon Adams for not only expressing concerns (years earlier) but for actually putting forth suggestions/solutions, backed up by the offer of both direct/indirect assistance from VBSPCA.
The role of ALL ACOs includes protecting/removing animals when they encounter neglect or cruelty. Those animals MUST be taken to VBAC. Are you suggesting another option? Please provide evidence that Strickland and other officers never attempted to address conditions with their superiors.
The success of any program is greatly dependent on the attendance by its membership. Did the T-PAWS partner (VBAC) you referenced attend? (no) Change/progess does require actually showing up to meetings.
Where are you getting your facts from?
100 percent agree that the City needs an updated Animal Control shelter, however a new building will not correct the treatment or living conditions of the thousands of animals that are unfortunate enough to find themselves without a home. You need a properly trained professional to manage the Bureau, and staff that's held accountable, and properly trained as well.
You can put the current management in the White House and you will still have animals in need of veterinarian care, a sanitary and clean environment, unweaned animals not receiving the necessary nutrition and everything else I have already addressed in prior comments. I did stand up for the animals to the point of writing a summons to the Supervisor responsible for allowing a puppy to lay in the shelter for over 2 days with a broken femur without medical treatment, only to be ordered by the Captain of the Police Department and De
I find it ironic....
How ironic it is to have the Virginian Pilot agree with statements I made as far back as 2004 about the deplorable municipal animal shelter and the conditions to which the animals there are subjected.
I also find it irnoic that former Animal Control Officer Strickland lamented the horrible conditions and yet remained silent about it for over 13 years, never once exposing what she knew to anyone who could bring the issue to light.
It's also ironic that Ms. Strickland seemed to fancy conducting large-number animal seizures, accusing pet owners of cruelty and neglect while forcing the animals to the cruelty and neglect she, by her own admission knew about at the Virginia Beach Animal Control shelter.
I also find it ironic that Sharon Adams of the VBSPCA is now attacking her one-time T-PAWS partner and by the way whatever happened to the great things that organization was supposed to accomplish? More importantly, why hasn't the Pilot examined WHY none of these things were ever accomplished?