The dog stood in front of a used tire shop in an industrial section of town. His gait was slow and weary over dirt and gravel. A cardboard box on a cement pad by the front door was his makeshift doghouse.
Filth gripped his ratty black and white fur. Twisted mats hung from his torso.
A passerby called 311 to report a loose dog in poor condition. A city animal control officer went out. He spoke to the dog’s owner and left—without the dog.
“We did go out and while it’s not the best setup for him, he does have access to the back area of the shop,” says Phillip Zimmerman, manager at the city’s Front Street Animal Shelter.
Scattered auto parts, stacks of used tires, grease and grime make up the “back area of the shop.” A cement floor is the dog’s bed. He lives there.
When animal control refused to act, private citizens stepped in. With the owner’s cooperation, they took the dog to a local clinic. Staff found thick mats on his underside soaked in urine, nails with years of growth, tangled fur infested with fleas.
California Penal Code states, “… whoever, having the charge or custody of an animal, either as owner or otherwise, subjects an animal to needless suffering, or inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon the animal, … is, for each offense, guilty of a crime.”
Yet, Front Street’s animal control officer walked away.
City ordinances ban dogs from roaming loose. The law says pets must be restrained by leashes, tethers or enclosures.
Yet, Front Street’s animal control officer walked away.
The dog was four years behind on vaccinations, including rabies, and not licensed. Yet, Front Street’s animal control officer walked away.
Front Street Animal Shelter has more than 1,500 pending calls for animal control services. “We have calls that are pending all the way back to April of 2023,” Zimmerman says.
An inconceivable number¬—1,500.
The county’s Bradshaw Animal Shelter has around 100 pending calls at any given time.
Front Street covers 98 square miles within the city limits. Bradshaw covers 776 square miles in the county.
Despite these differences, the two shelters each have 12 to 15 animal control officers, depending on hiring status. They both average 65 to 70 calls a day.
Urgent calls include active dog attacks and sick or injured animals. Non-urgent calls are barking complaints and requests to pick up dead animals.
Zimmerman reports Front Street has no pending active urgent calls. Officers respond to urgent calls “as quickly as we can,” he says.
But “there are hundreds of other urgent calls pending, they just aren’t active.” For example, a neighbor’s dog attacks another neighbor’s dog, but the attacking dog is now confined.
Delayed response—or no response—is common.
City Councilmember-elect Phil Pluckebaum, whose district includes Front Street, calls this “unacceptable.” He adds, “Do we need more resources? Do we need to make policy changes? We need to have that discussion so folks can get the level of service they expect.”
Reports of cruelty and neglect fall somewhere between urgent and non-urgent.
“People have differing opinions of what a bad condition is,” Zimmerman says. “Animals are considered property, and we cannot just take animals without probable cause.”
Matted fur pulling at his skin. Trapped urine causing a rash on his underside. Uncut nails crippling his paws. Fleas crawling over every inch of his body.
If that’s not probable cause, what is?
Zimmerman adds, “Helping owners and animals is a better option, especially when they are willing to accept help, as was the case in this situation, keeping the pets and their people together.”
Yet it was concerned citizens, not the city’s animal control, who took action.
The dog is back with his owners. But sometimes “keeping pets and their people together” is not the best option for the animal.
Cathryn Rakich can be reached at crakich@surewest.net. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
