So while sitting in the parking lot of the Carson shelter on 7/1 I noticed a few things that I really take issue with.
The first being that a few guys rolled up about 10 minutes after the shelter had officially closed for the day. The shelter’s closing is only relevant for public admittance and outgoing shelter business. Incoming dogs can be dropped off or impounded 24 hours a day. So these guys drive up in an old-style Chevrolet car with an open-air back. In the back they have 3 adult dogs that are clearly visible, 2 large dogs and 1 smaller dog. These dogs are tied to the back of the bumper with braided rope that is around their necks at the other end. The tailgate is shut on the rope, thus creating a barrier for the dogs between the back of the car and the street below. As I’m sitting there I overhear that there’s actually 6 puppies in the back as well. The guys claim that the dogs are not theirs, and that they found them in a neighbor’s backyard. I call bullshit, but whatever. So they are here to drop off these dogs. A few staff members from the shelter come out, and after a minute or two these guys are told that they cannot drop the dogs off at this shelter because the area in which the dogs were found falls outside of the established area that Carson covers. The guys are clearly agitated and they are told again that they must go to another shelter. They are directed to go to Downey, another L.A. County shelter.
Now, I realize that this is likely proper “protocol” per say, because the shelter impound system is normally based on the location of an animal’s prior home or where it is “found” or “caught” as a stray. But at some point you might need to evaluate what you are dealing with, and make a call that sometimes puts that aside if you ultimately feel that the safety of the animal may be in jeopardy. That’s my personal opinion at least. And as I’m watching this play out I’m having that exact feeling, so you’d think that staff would be as well.
Why? 1) These guys are not too thrilled with this news. 2) Based on that, you then don’t know if they will actually follow through and take them to Downey, or maybe opt to dump them somewhere more convenient instead. 3) See that the dogs are actually tied up with a rope that could easily hang them alive if they jumped or fell out of the back of the car. 4) Know that you are sending them out to get on multiple highways. To get from the Carson shelter to the Downey shelter you are either going to take the 91 to the 710 or you are going to take the 110 to the 105. What if a dog fell out the back of that car and hung itself on the freeway, unbeknownst to the driver? I know that I had that visual in my mind almost immediately. Yet off they were sent…
You mean to tell me that the shelter couldn’t hold those dogs, who’d probably need 1 or 2 spaces max (anywhere, general population, medical, clinic, wherever), overnight and then do the transfer the next day in one of their shiny new animal control trucks? I’m pretty sure that shelters do location-related transfers like this all the time.
The second thing was that about 20 minutes after closing a family pulled up in a jeep and proceeded to go into the shelter to look at the dogs. No one had flipped the sign on the gates, so they had no idea that the shelter was closed. It was still light out and plenty of people were standing around. This was 2 people who were probably in their mid-30’s and they had a daughter. So they’re walking around and looking at the dogs and after 5 minutes one of the staff members walks out as this family was between buildings, to where she could see them. Instead of politely walking up to them, engaging them about what they were looking for (while informing them that they were closed), telling them that they should definitely come back tomorrow and how critical it is to save a life, thanking them for wanting to potentially do so, any number of things… What does she do? She yells at them from where she was standing, which was about 40 yards away, “Hey, hey, we are closed!!!” After she sees that they’ve acknowledged her shout, she goes on about her business. The couple walks out the gate, gets in their car and leaves. Potential adopter lost.
Carson shelter: You suck.
As a further note to the first story, I did follow up online and match the 3 dogs that I saw with similar-looking dogs that were impounded at Downey on 7/1. Hopefully they (all 9 of them) made it there safely.