KCACC Failures Endanger Community
BY: Co-chairs, KCACC Exposed 9/12/2009
Yet again, the reckless policies and irresponsible behavior of King County Animal Care and Control have resulted in tragedy.
Last week, KCACC’s failure to respond to multiple complaints about free-roaming aggressive dogs resulted in the death of two horses at an animal sanctuary, leaving two foals orphaned. Last year, the same failure resulted in the severe mauling of an elderly SeaTac woman. In that case, neighbors had complained multiple times to KCACC about free-roaming dogs terrorizing a SeaTac neighborhood – causing people to be afraid to leave their homes or allow their children to play in their backyards. Yet KCACC ignored these pleas for help, and did not respond until after a woman had nearly been killed.
There is no question about who is at fault for these tragedies:
Not the dogs. They are just being dogs. Allowing packs of dogs to roam the streets is asking for trouble; even an otherwise harmless dog may become aggressive in such a situation. That is the reason that animal control exists. KCACC’s negligence not only endangers people and other animals, it also results in the unnecessary death of dogs who might have stayed out of trouble if they had been picked up by animal control, and either returned to their owners or taken to a humane shelter. Nor are these incidents the fault of any particular breed of dog – one of the dogs involved in the latest mauling was reportedly a Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix.
Obviously, the owners are at fault. But sadly, irresponsible owners will always exist. The point of animal control is to protect animals, and people, from these irresponsible owners. Blaming them brings us no closer to a solution.
Most of all, the blame lands squarely at the feet of KCACC. King County has a legal and moral responsibility to provide animal control services to keep roaming packs of aggressive dogs off the streets. When people call animal control to report that they are afraid of dogs following them home, threatening their children, and chasing their livestock, they expect and deserve a response. There is no excuse for the county’s failure to provide one.
The only question now is how long King County will allow this dangerous situation to continue. Because if KCACC continues to ignore complaints of aggressive dogs terrorizing King County’s neighborhoods, it is only a matter of time until there is a human fatality.
KCACC has to know this. So does the King County Executive. And the King County Council.
And yet, just as in October 2008 when the SeaTac woman was nearly killed, KCACC concedes that only prioritizes animal control calls that report “attacks in progress.”
In other words, if you want animal control to help you, you better already be bleeding.
Defending this practice, a King County spokeswoman told the Seattle Times that KCACC “expects dog owners to be responsible for their pets and does respond quickly to attacks in progress in its service area.”
The spokeswoman continued: "When dogs are vicious and are currently attacking, we are there quickly. . . When dogs are just loose ... that may not be a Priority 1 case."
There are so many disturbing facets of this statement that it is difficult to know where to begin:
1) The Times reported that KCACC responded to the attack at Serenity Equine Rescue & Rehabilitation in 40 minutes. Apparently that is “quickly” in King County’s estimation, but it is an eternity for a person, or an animal, who is being attacked.
2) Animal control exists, in large part, because some dog owners are not “responsible,” and never will be. The authorities are supposed to protect the public, and the dogs, from irresponsible owners who neglect their dogs, abuse them, and allow them to roam the streets. Merely blaming these owners does not let King County off the hook for failing to fulfill its responsibilities.
3) KCACC does not simply fail to respond to reports of “loose” dogs. As the Seattle Times stories indicate, it fails to respond to reports from citizens who are afraid of aggressive dogs that are terrorizing neighborhoods, threatening both people and animals. Public documents show that KCACC routinely has a backlog of hundreds of animal control calls, going back months. Many of these calls simply never receive a response.
What is the solution to this dangerous situation?
First, we must emphasize what the solution is not. The solution is not to pour more money into failed management and a failed agency. It is also not to demand that KCACC staff members be pulled away from providing animal care in KCACC’s shelters – as it is, they can barely provide minimal care to the animals, and fall far short of humane standards. The answer is also not to pass knee-jerk legislation to impose more restrictions on either dogs or their owners, when the real problem is the county’s failure to enforce existing laws.
As with every other problem at KCACC, the solution must start with either new leadership, or the transfer of these responsibilities to a county agency or outside organization that can perform these duties competently and humanely.
Then, King County must spend enough money to hire an adequate number of animal control officers – both to care for the animals at the KCACC shelter, and to respond to calls about free-roaming and aggressive dogs – or transfer these duties to another agency or organization that can perform them more efficiently. Budget deficit or no, there is no other option, unless King County officials are willing to continue to see the county’s people and animals put in jeopardy by free-roaming dogs.
Finally, King County must adopt a rational policy toward free-roaming dogs. One good example is found in Washoe County, Nevada, where animal control officers respond immediately to all calls complaining about free-roaming dogs. However, once they pick up these dogs, Washoe County animal control officers do everything possible in the field to reunite them with their owners, and at the same time, educate the owners about how to be more responsible. With a little legwork in the field, Washoe County officers reunite more dogs with their owners than any other animal control department in the country, keeping these dogs out of the county animal shelter whenever possible, while still keeping the community safe. Animal control officers are not the bad guys in Washoe County: they help protect citizens from free-roaming dogs; they help the dogs to return to their homes; and they help the owners to avoid further trouble with their animals.
In other words, Washoe County animal control prevents tragedies from occurring. Tragedies that, all too often, result in the death of the dogs, death and injury to other pets or livestock, or the severe injury or death of people.
Can’t we all agree that this is what KCACC should be doing?