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Becerra, Alexis From: Michael Mavrovouniotis < Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2026 11:45 AM To: eComment Subject: public comment for city council - regarding OC animal shelter Attention: This email originated from outside of City of Santa Ana.Use caution when opening attachments or links. See article below. The article refers to an OC Board of Supervisors meeting. You can watch the video here: http://ocgov.granicus.com/plaver/clip/5593?view id=8&redirect=true Click on item 4 in the agenda... or use the slider to get to 38:05 into the meeting. Voice of OC, March 11, 2026 Advocates Demand Reform at California Animal Shelters, Including Orange County https://voiceofoc.org/2026/03/california-animal-shelters-reform/ Excerpts: I...] One of the major concerns mentioned in the cease and desist letters is the concept of"reduced/managed intake" that minimizes the overall number of animals coming into the shelter in an attempt to reduce euthanasia. Managed intake often involves shelters turning away animals or encouraging members of the public to keep the animal themselves, put it back where it was found or contact a rescue organization. (...] OC Animal Care, the county-run animal shelter in Orange County, received a cease and desist letter dated Feb. 13. The county shelter— which has been the subject of numerous grand jury investigations and resident protests over the past several years—practices managed intake for stray cats. (Read: Grand Jury: OC Animal Shelter Needs Updated Policies to Stop Killing More Animalsl The shelter does not accept healthy stray cats. Instead, it only accepts sick, injured or underage cats. Virga said this could be a violation of the Hayden Act, a 1998 state law that outlines certain requirements for animal shelters like mandatory veterinary care and holding periods for stray animals. I...I To read the cease and desist letter sent to OC Animal Care, click here. Orange County Supervisors also weighed in on the shelter's conditions during their Feb. 24 meeting. Supervisor Janet Nguyen said the shelter has made improvements over the past year, but it's a work in progress. "Please know that we appreciate you, but there is still some work to be done,"she said at that meeting. Nguyen said animal shelter staff are working on a report regarding the 2018 strategic plan and asked for an update within the next 30 days. Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento thanked residents for pushing for improvements at the shelter and said staff should issue regular updates to make sure OC Animal Care is meeting goals laid out in the strategic plan. "I think we need to do something on a periodic basis, almost as a dashboard, and make sure we're able to see how we're doing on these different concerns that we have that are outlined in the strategic plan,"he said. (...] "Shelters should be learning from their mistakes and moving forward and adopting the more enlightened approaches that some of the other shelters in other areas are adopting,"Dales said. "We're not seeing that in California on the whole." i