General (08)Date:3/12/2026 11:45:19 AM
From:"Michael Mavrovouniotis" michaelmavrovouniotis@gmail.com
To:"Public Comment" publiccomment@anaheim.net
Subject:[EXTERNAL] public comment for city council - regarding OC animal she lter
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See artic le below. The artic le refers to an OC Board of Supervisors meeting. You can watc h the video here:
http://oc gov.granic us.c om/player/clip/5593?view_id=8&redirect=true
Click on item 4 in the agenda… or use the slider to get to 38:05 into the meeting.
Voice of OC, March 11, 2026
Advocates Demand Reform at California Animal Shelters, Including Orange County
https://voic eofoc .org/2026/03/c alifornia-animal-shelters-reform/
Excerpts:
[…]
One of the major concerns mentioned in the cease and desist letters is the concept of “reduced/managed intak e” that minimizes the overall number of
animals coming into the shelter in an attempt to reduce euthanasia.
Managed intake of ten inv olv es shelters turning away animals or encouraging members of the public to k eep the animal themselv es, put it back where it
was f ound or contact a rescue organization.
[…]
OC Animal Care, the county-run animal shelter in Orange County, received a cease and desist letter dated Feb. 13.
The county shelter — which has been the subject of numerous grand jury investigations and resident protests ov er the past sev eral years — practices
managed intake f or stray cats.
[Read: Grand Jury: OC Animal Shelter Needs Updated Policies to Stop Killing More Animals]
The shelter does not accept healthy stray cats. Instead, it only accepts sick , injured or underage cats.
Virga said this could be a v iolation of the Hayden Act, a 1998 state law that outlines certain requirements f or animal shelters lik e mandatory v eterinary
care and holding periods f or stray animals.
[…]
To read the cease and desist letter sent to OC Animal Care, click here.
Orange County Superv isors also weighed in on the shelter’s conditions during their Feb. 24 meeting.
Superv isor Janet Nguyen said the shelter has made improvements over the past year, but it’s a work in progress.
“Please know that we appreciate you, but there is still some work to be done,” she said at that meeting.
Nguyen said animal shelter staf f are work ing on a report regarding the 2018 strategic plan and ask ed f or an update within the next 30 days.
Superv isor Vicente Sarmiento thank ed residents f or pushing f or improv ements at the shelter and said staf f should issue regular updates to make sure OC
Animal Care is meeting goals laid out in the strategic plan.
“I think we need to do something on a periodic basis, almost as a dashboard, and make sure we’re able to see how we’re doing on these dif f erent concerns
that we have that are outlined in the strategic plan,” he said.
[…]
“Shelters should be learning f rom their mistak es and mov ing f orward and adopting the more enlightened approaches that some of the other shelters in
other areas are adopting,” Dales said. “We’re not seeing that in Calif ornia on the whole.”