Does King County Executive Constantine's Regional Animal Services Plan represent progress for the animals and taxpayers of King County? Or is it just the same broken, expensive system dressed in different clothing? Read about our reasons for opposing this plan in our News and Blog sections

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Welcome to KCACC Exposed, the public education campaign aimed at stopping the taxpayer-funded suffering of animals at the hands of King County Animal Care & Control.

About 10-12,000 animals enter King County Animal Care & Control shelters each year. Three separate studies and numerous press reports have confirmed that these animals are subjected to ”inhumane” and “deplorable” conditions leading to “animal suffering,” with inadequate housing, spotty medical care, high rates of disease, extreme levels of fear and stress, alarming overcrowding, inconsistent provision of food and water, and a lack of even the most basic comforts and necessities. For the thousands of animals who die at the hands of KCACC each year, these are the last experiences they will ever have.

In addition to providing poor care for shelter animals, KCACC also fails to protect animals in the community, with lax and incompetent enforcement of laws against animal cruelty and neglect. Further, KCACC endangers the public by refusing to enforce laws against free-roaming and aggressive dogs until after people have already been injured.

These shortcomings are not the fault of the people who work at KCACC – many of whom care about the animals and struggle greatly within a system that dooms them to frustration and failure. The problems at KCACC are a failure of leadership, starting with former King County Executive Ron Sims, and continued by interim Executive Kurt Triplett. These administrations knowingly allowed inhumane conditions at KCACC to fester for more than a decade without taking any steps to correct them. Even though the horrors of KCACC have been well documented for nearly three years, tragically not much has changed during that time period except the rhetoric. Despite $1 million in extra funding allocated in April 2008, and the King County Council’s insistence upon reform, little improved for the animals at KCACC under these administrations. Now, with the election of King County Executive Dow Constantine, we have hope that the situation will rapidly change. As a King County councilmember, Mr. Constantine was one of the strongest voices for reform of KCACC, and he has indicated that as King County Executive he intends to shut down the cruel and regressive KCACC shelters, and replace them with a community-based sheltering system that will provide animals with humane care and the best chance at loving homes.

Join us in saying "enough is enough." Learn more about KCACC. Then use your voice to speak for the voiceless, and demand that the elected officials of King County put an immediate and permanent end to the suffering of animals at the hands of King County.