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Date:2/2/2025 6:48:24 PM
From:"Alex Brown"
To:"Public Comment" publiccomment@anaheim.net
Subject:[EXTERNAL] city council PUBLIC COMMENT on county ANIMAL SHELTER
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sender and are expecting the message.
Ed Boks is a former Executive Director of the New York City, Los Angeles, and Maricopa County Animal Care &
Control Departments. His work has been published in the LA T imes, New York T imes, Newsweek, Real Clear P olicy,
Sentient Media, and now on Animal P olitics with Ed Boks.
Here is what he published just a few days ago:
Animal P olitics with Ed Boks, Substack, January 24, 2025
Vanished Witho ut a Trace: The Mystery o f the Disappearing Animals at Orange Co unty Animal Care
https://animalpolitics.substack.com/p/vanished-without-a-trace-the-mystery
T his scandal erupted over a year ago with an article in the OC Register, which was followed by an article in the Fullerton
Observer, two opinion pieces in Voice of OC, and a second article in the OC Register:
OC Register, October 14, 2023
Advocates horrified over mysterious fate of small animals
https://ww w.ocregister.c om/2023/10/13/advoc ates-horrified-over-mysterious-fate-of-small-animals/?share=saaeotysc ec mamsaw 1ie
Voice of OC, November 14, 2023
OC Animal Care Gave Hundreds of Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, and Birds to a Reptile Group. What Happened to Them?
https://voic eofoc .org/2023/11/yamashiro-oc -animal-care-gave-hundreds-of-rabbits-guinea-pigs-and-birds -to-a-reptile-group-w hat-happened-to-them/
OC Register, December 2, 2023
OC Animal Care sought to avoid optics of sending bunnies to local reptile rescue group
https://ww w.ocregister.c om/2023/12/01/oc -animal-care-sought-to-avoid-optics-of-sending-bunnies-to-loc al-reptile-resc ue-group/
Fullerton Observer, January 2, 2024
Animal Advocates Call for Independent Investigation of OC Animal Care
https://fullertonobserver.com/2024/01/02/animal-advoc ates-c all-for-independent-investigation-of-oc -animal-c are/
Excerpts w ith added w eb links to supporting documents (the published piec e didn’t inc orporate the links).
In just 20 months, OC Animal Care (OCAC) gav e 273 rodents, 200 rabbits, and other small pets to a reptile group.
On a recent similar case inv olv ing animals f rom San Diego, the Sacramento Bee reports that: “Inf ormation clearly indicates (the reptile breeder’s)
intention to use these animals as f eed instead of f inding them adoptive homes.”
Snapshots of email correspondence obtained via Public Record requests show that the OC shelter typically of f ered many small pets at once. The reptile
group then took rodents and rabbits in bulk without asking f or precise numbers and types of animals. That’s highly unusual.
OC Animal Care made this reptile group its primary destination f or small pets.
In the past, [the reptile group] has advertised the availability of “f eeder” rodents, including liv e ones.
An independent outside investigator must be appointed directly by the Board of Supervisors to get a v erif iable paper trail f or ev ery animal the OC shelter
handed ov er to the reptile group.
Voice of OC, May 16, 2024
OC Animal Care – Mismanagement and Public Deception Regarding Small Pets
https://voic eofoc .org/2024/05/yamashiro-oc -animal-care-mismanagement-and-public -deception-regarding-small-pets/
OC Animal Care has been involved in transferring small pets to a reptile organization, whic h subsequently transported them to Arizona. In a related
situation, it w as reported that small pets from San Diego Humane Soc iety were likely sold in Arizona as s nake food. OCAC has not provided c lear
explanations regarding the fate of these animals, and support from County Supervisors Wagner and Foley has been lac king.