Our beaches are overflowing with people, our restaurants are packed, air travel at record highs, but Orange County and Los Angeles can’t open their animal shelters?! This seems disingenuous at best.

If the public is denied access to visit the animals to make a connection and bond, then the results are obvious: adoptions plummet and euthanasia skyrockets. It’s commonsense.

These shelters MUST fully open back up to the public. This will give more animals a chance at a forever home while also clearing space in shelters for stray or lost animals. It will also help with behavioral issues that crop up when animals are left alone in their cages for way too long without enrichment or appropriate interaction with people.

Over the last few months, animal shelter employees and volunteers in Orange and Los Angeles Counties have raised the alarm around conditions in the shelters. They describe lack of shelter space, animals not being let out of their cages for multiple days or even weeks at a time, filthy water bowls, and wet or unsanitary floors. In addition to eroding conditions, animals are being turned away and being euthanized due to lack of space. This should not be where we are at in 2022!

We are outraged to hear the animals in these shelters are suffering these conditions. The employees and volunteers cite lack of necessary staffing and overly burdensome Covid protocols which lead to many permanent or volunteer staff being unable to work even though they have tested negative.

We respect Covid protocols, but lockdown is in the rearview mirror. SCIL, our supporters, and pet lovers across the state demand that local governments immediately give the shelters the resources they need for adequate staffing in addition to amending Covid protocols so that current staff can return to work with a negative test. Shelters should resume normal operations while keeping their staff safe by mandating masks be worn inside the shelters and having staff test regularly. Enough is enough already.

We are encouraged that the L.A. City Council had an emergency meeting on the issues facing shelters and heard the concerns voiced by staff, volunteers, and the public, but it is time for immediate action in LA and OC needs to step up its game now.