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Susana Barrios
From:Erika R <erishkigall@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday,
To:Public Comment
Cc:Ashleigh Aitken; Natalie Rubalcava; Jose Diaz; Carlos A. Leon; Norma C. Kurtz; Stephen
Faessel; Natalie Meeks
Subject:\[EXTERNAL\] Agenda item 16
Warning: This email originated from outside the City of Anaheim. Do not click links or open
attachments unless you recognize the sender and are expecting the message.
Thank you for your time Council Members
I was supposed to be here in person saying this to you, however, it was a different type of city council meeting
today and I had to leave in order to pick up my child in time. I had been waiting outside since 3:30 p.m. to get
into speak and watched hours take away with no clue when I'd be able to speak.
This is what I had prepared to say to you today:
I'm speaking today on agenda item number 16 which proposes the 22.85% increase requested by OC Animal
Care...
I highly recommend that the city not grant that increase in here is why:
I am uniquely qualified to talk about these issues as I am formally the return to feel coordinator of a non-profit
cat rescue contracted by OC Animal Care to return cats brought in by our citizens during that time I also
implemented the same program in the city of Garden Grove with their animal control which is still currently
running.
When the city of Anaheim was approached about buying into the new shelter being built it was promised that
one of the services rendered would be a TNR program That was a major buy-in for some of the cities including
ours as we and Santa Ana make up 50% of all intake at OC Animal Care.
The program was highly successful to the citizens and animals that recite an Anaheim and other communities.
Community and feral cats were sterilized, given flea treatment, microchipped, and vaccinated before being
returned to their homes.
Since OC Animal Care halted that program back in 2019 however, our city has seen a rise in cat noise
complaints, over population issues, lack of affordable spay neuter options, dead animal pickup, as well as an
uptick and coyote activity.
Ocean Animal Care is not accepting healthy cats at all. They only accept kittens up to 8 weeks of age, sick, or
injured cats.
Anaheim residents who've witnessed people in cars abandoning cats in their neighborhoods have tried to take
those cats to OC Animal Care only to be told to release them back to where they were found, or they're asked to
pay a $300 owner surrender fee for cats that don't belong to them. This is caused a big issue and cat
abandonment, and more kittens being born in our city!
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OC Animal Care doesn't house animals for long. Instead, they put them on OC rescue track following intake for
their non-profit rescue partners to be burdened with the cost and caring for the animals!
Even when private entities were willing to find a spay neuter clinic at OC Animal Care, they refused to work
with Anaheim citizens and it's non-profit rescues.
Could the city of Anaheim possibly exert pressure on OC Animal Care and the OC Board of Supervisors to
implement this program, or possibly spay/neuter services at no cost at its facility again? At Santa Ana's budget
meeting recently, Santa Ana City Council Members agreed to set aside $75,000 for TNR/spay/neuter. Could the
city of Anaheim not do the same should OC Animal Care still refuse a TNR program?
Either of these options would be beneficial to our Anaheim residents and animals for not only health reasons,
but also money reasons. Cat intake at OC Animal Care would dramatically drop if this were in place, and less
money would be spent by the city down the line.
It cost MORE to euthanize an animal than it does to fix one!
Sandra, the formal head of Code Enforcement, had spoke with myself And OC Community Cats Rescue about
doing a pilot program that we are still researching for.
If the council members have any questions about that talk with code enforcement, I would be happy to answer
any questions they may have.
Again, thank you for your time today Council Members.
Sincerely,
Erika L. Rasmussen
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