One of my biggest priorities during the past 16 months has been increasing the quality of life for shelter animals. I wanted to quickly fix some major concerns that rescues and volunteers have been telling me. The shelter needs to be fully open. We need to know what is happening there and data is key.

The upgrades bring a pre-COVID era back to the shelter, which had been more accessible and transparent to the public. Orange County was the last major municipal shelter to open their public visitation last year.

Last year in the California State Senate, I wrote a law that sets a standard for medical chart reporting in shelters. I also wrote a bill that requires monthly website data reporting. It passed the Legislature but was not signed by the governor. Now I brought this back to the Board.

Within four months, the shelter will be open to the public 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and have website postings of intakes, outtakes, adoptions and euthanasia statistics. We will also have a community resources liaison to interface with the community and address any problems. Current visitation hours are 2 - 5 p.m. weekdays, 12 - 5 p.m. weekends.

County staff has been asked to study the feasibility of resurrecting the County’s Trap, Neuter and Release program.