There are many ways to work around the law. Let’s start with the nearly 600 dogs and cats in “foster to adopt” at the city’s Front Street Animal Shelter, headed by Manager Phillip Zimmerman.
The concept is simple. California law requires shelters to spay or neuter animals prior to adoption. Under “foster to adopt,” animals are released to “adopters” as “foster pets.”
As foster pets, they don’t need to be altered before leaving the shelter.
The foster parent/adopter agrees to bring the animal back for spay or neuter when a surgery appointment is available. Then the official adoption can take place.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Front Street’s spay/neuter appointments are delayed up to six months. If you want to adopt today, the surgery date would likely be August.
The gestation period for a dog or cat is approximately two months. That’s the problem.
Zimmerman “is using ‘fostering’ like most shelter directors use the term ‘adoption’ so he can release without spay and neuter,” animal advocate and attorney Hilary Bagley Franzoia says.
“California shelter laws are designed to curtail the unwanted surplus by only releasing—via legal adoption where ownership changes hands—with alteration. Without this mandate, breeding and the surplus of unwanted pets increases,” Bagley Franzoia adds.
Yet Front Street sends out unaltered animals daily. If the “foster pet” is lost, dumped, rehomed or bred, there are no repercussions. What if the animal bites someone, attacks another dog or is injured?
“Legally, the city still owns those animals,” says Bagley Franzoia, who headed the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Animal Cruelty Unit and Animal Cruelty Task Force.
Front Street has one full-time employee to oversee both the dog and cat foster programs, including the hundreds of unaltered animals in so-called “foster to adopt.” Part-time interns pitch in. A former Front Street volunteer calls the tracking system “abysmal.”
The foster parent/adopter agrees to bring the animal back for spay or neuter when a surgery appointment is available. Then the official adoption can take place.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Front Street’s spay/neuter appointments are delayed up to six months. If you want to adopt today, the surgery date would likely be August.
The gestation period for a dog or cat is approximately two months. That’s the problem.
Zimmerman “is using ‘fostering’ like most shelter directors use the term ‘adoption’ so he can release without spay and neuter,” animal advocate and attorney Hilary Bagley Franzoia says.
“California shelter laws are designed to curtail the unwanted surplus by only releasing—via legal adoption where ownership changes hands—with alteration. Without this mandate, breeding and the surplus of unwanted pets increases,” Bagley Franzoia adds.
Yet Front Street sends out unaltered animals daily. If the “foster pet” is lost, dumped, rehomed or bred, there are no repercussions. What if the animal bites someone, attacks another dog or is injured?
“Legally, the city still owns those animals,” says Bagley Franzoia, who headed the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Animal Cruelty Unit and Animal Cruelty Task Force.
Front Street has one full-time employee to oversee both the dog and cat foster programs, including the hundreds of unaltered animals in so-called “foster to adopt.” Part-time interns pitch in. A former Front Street volunteer calls the tracking system “abysmal.”
