Some people held signs, some held their pets, some held both. Some were dressed as pets holding signs, one was locked in a cage next to a sign that read: “Walk me, don’t cage me.” Cars honked, people cheered—quite a bit of commotion for a Saturday morning in Buellton.
A protest rally against the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society on June 19 was organized by two volunteers that had been let go from the shelter. The volunteers claim being let go was the last in a string of grievances that included overcrowding of animals and the shelter’s euthanasia policy.
“Our problem is with the way [executive director Kathy Pierce] runs the kennel and the office. The shelter manager she hired, Barbara Burgess is, in our opinion, under qualified,” said Terry Romero, a former shelter volunteer and one of the protest organizers.
Romero also wondered why the Humane Society shelter, when faced with overcrowding, was taking an increased number of transfers from the county animal shelter in Santa Maria.
“The county shelter is in a bad situation; they’re required by law to take every animal; that’s why they’re overcrowded,” Romero explained. “We don’t; we’re afforded the luxury of picking and choosing. I don’t understand why we’ve become Santa Maria’s savior at the cost of turning away local animals from Santa Ynez Valley.”
When contacted by the Sun, Pierce referred all questions to Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society Board of Directors President Laurie Owens.
“As far as our staff goes, I think we have very well qualified, educated, compassionate people working for us. We stand behind them 100 percent,” Owens said.
She acknowledged that the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society does take animals from the county shelter in Santa Maria. Statistics she provided the Sun showed that the number of animals transferred to the shelter so far in 2010 was higher than those turned in directly by owners—74 animals transferred in versus 50 animals turned in by their owners—but denied it was at the expense of local animals.
“When we have space in our shelter, we do take animals from the county. We work together with them to get animals adopted,” she said.
What finally brought the situation to a head, according to Romero, was Charlie: a two-year-old dachshund who had been put up for adoption.
“Everybody loved Charlie,” Romero said, but noted that he, “didn’t like to be picked up, he was a fear biter.” Charlie, Romero said, ended up biting other shelter staff and volunteers.
“After that, he was taken off the adoption floor and we didn’t think anything of it. One day we came into work, and they had euthanized him after hours,” she said.
“We know the shelter is not a no-kill shelter, very few are,” said Jeanne Glover, one of the protest organizers and a former Humane Society volunteer, “but there were many dogs who I saw throughout the years that did what Charlie did, and we worked with them.”
After that incident, the volunteer program was temporarily suspended. Glover and Romero both said they were fired by Pierce shortly after.
“We’re volunteers; how do you fire volunteers?” Glover wondered.
Judy Johnson was one of the protesters at the rally. She said the nonprofit where she works, Animal Rescue, has seen an increase of donations because “people said they didn’t want to donate to the Humane Society,” adding that this has been happening ever since word spread of the volunteer program being ended.
“I run an organization, and let me tell you, your volunteers are your backbone. You do not let your volunteers go,” Johnson said.
In response to the suspension of the dog volunteer program—the cat volunteer program is still active—Owens said the decision is temporary and that the shelter staff are committed to bringing it back.
“It was suspended for mainly problems with safety. Volunteers having sufficient training to handle the animals, liability issues with walking the animals off property, and, yes, the incident where our volunteers were bitten. It was clear that it was time to step back,” she said.
Owens also noted that the shelter’s return rate so far this year was 8.8 percent, down from 17.2 percent in 2004.
“This means we are more successful than ever in placing animals in good homes,” she said.
Glover hoped that a meeting of the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society Board of Directors on June 21 would give her and other protesters a chance to address their concerns. They got their chance to speak: 90 seconds.
“How can anyone get their thoughts together in 90 seconds?” Glover said. “It was a real eye opening experience.”
Contact Staff Writer Nicholas Walter at nwalter@santamariasun.com
This article appears in Jun 24 – Jul 1, 2010.