THOUSAND OAKS : Animal Shelter to Close on Fridays

The Agoura Hills Animal Shelter, which serves Thousand Oaks residents, will close to the public Fridays beginning this week.

The shelter’s new hours will be 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays.

The city saved almost $85,000 last year by switching from Ventura County to Los Angeles County, which offered more services at about half the price, according to Thousand Oaks management assistant Brenda Young. The council recently extended the contract for three years.

Despite the cutbacks at the Agoura Hills shelter, Young said she remained “extremely pleased” with the Los Angeles County operation. “Service is what it’s all about, and they’ll continue to have 24-hour service seven days a week” for emergencies such as injured strays, dangerous dogs or cats stuck in trees, she said.

Even with its reduced schedule, the Agoura Hills shelter will be open 47 1/2 hours a week--considerably more than Ventura County’s shelters in Camarillo and Simi Valley.

Thousand Oaks residents can still adopt animals from a Ventura County shelter. But for many, the Agoura Hills location is more convenient. Thousand Oaks residents adopted 736 animals from the Agoura Hills shelter last year, compared with 279 from the Camarillo site in 1991.

The Camarillo shelter is open 32 hours a week--from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays, 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The Simi Valley shelter is open from 4 to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The county’s animal regulation department also offers around-the-clock emergency service.