County Shelter Hurries Plans for Neutering Dogs

In a last-ditch effort to comply with a state law that goes into effect Jan. 1, Orange County Animal Shelter managers Wednesday unveiled ambitious plans to sterilize more than 4,000 dogs a year.

“Our goal is to make sure that we are in compliance,” Mike Spurgeon, interim director of county Health Care Regulatory Services, said regarding the new law requiring dogs and cats to be neutered before being put up for adoption. “Any resources required to make this work will be available. It will be done.”

Critics have charged that the county is dragging its feet on putting a plan in place and would not be ready by January.

On Wednesday, however, shelter officials said the agency will hire a full-time staff veterinarian and two animal health technicians, and will be ready to begin the mandatory sterilizations in January.

In addition, Spurgeon said, the shelter will lease a mobile surgical unit to increase the space available at the shelter for the surgeries. Any additional work required will be done by local veterinarians under contract with the county.

“We are already in . . . discussions,” Spurgeon said. “We are very close [to agreement] with one individual in particular, who can come in prior to Jan. 1.”

Officials estimate that the sterilization program will cost about $236,000 annually--money they say will be offset by the $36 fee each adopter will pay to have a pet sterilized and by the $36 fine the new law imposes on owners whose unsterilized pets are impounded.

At an emergency meeting Wednesday night, the shelter’s advisory board postponed acting on the plan until Nov. 22, the day before the county Board of Supervisors is expected to take up the issue. Members said they wanted time to study the plan further.

The new law, approved a year ago by state legislators, is intended to reduce the number of strays in California as well as the number of animals killed each year at shelters because they are not adopted.

An estimated 600,000 animals are euthanized statewide each year. Of the 19,000 stray or abandoned dogs that will be brought to the Orange County shelter this year, fewer than 12,000 are expected to make it out alive.

In March 1998, the county began having cats neutered by outside veterinarians before putting them up for adoption. But the shelter has weathered a wave of criticism in recent weeks because it has no similar plan in place for dogs with the Jan. 1 deadline approaching.

Without a plan, the county could be left with a painful choice.

If the shelter is forced to suspend dog adoptions because it is not prepared to sterilize the animals, the facility could become overcrowded and be targeted by lawsuits from animal rights groups.

On the other hand, the county could be subject to civil action by the state if it allows unsterilized dogs to be adopted.