San Diego
A San Diego City Council committee Wednesday heard pleas from animal rights activists to put pressure on the county to stop turning over unclaimed pets for medical research at UC San Diego.
Members of several groups, including the San Diego Humane Society and Animal Ark, told members of the Public Services and Safety Committee that the city could exert the pressure on the county’s Department of Animal Control via its contract to turn over stray dogs within city limits. The city has agreed to pay the county $825,000 over the next year under the contract.
Animal rights groups want the city to insert a clause in the contract forbidding any animals picked up in San Diego from being turned over to UCSD. However, Stuart Zola-Morgan, of UCSD’s department of psychiatry, defended the practice of animal research and told council members that only 820 pets went to the school in the 1986-87 fiscal year, compared to the 25,000 that were destroyed by the pound.
Committee members voted to refer the matter to the city manager’s office, which it ordered to return with a report on Oct. 21.
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