A Call to Strengthen the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter
The Issue
An Open Letter To:
Sven Stafford, Deputy CEO, County of Santa Cruz
Emillie Feenan, Director of Nursing, Santa Cruz County Public Health
Chief Deputy Dan Freitas, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office
Michelle Templeton, Assistant City Manager, City of Santa Cruz
Deputy Chief Wesley Morey, Santa Cruz Police Department
Chief Jayson Rutherford, Scotts Valley Police Department
Captain Donny Thul, Watsonville Police Department
Nathalie Manning, Assistant City Manager, City of Watsonville
Chief Sarah Ryan, Capitola Police Department
Dear Members of the Joint Powers Authority,
We write to you as staff, volunteers, and community members who care deeply about the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter and the animals entrusted to its care. Every day, dedicated employees, volunteers, foster families, rescue partners, and members of the public work together to protect vulnerable animals and serve our community. We are proud of that work.
This letter is not intended to assign blame. It is a request for your partnership in addressing long-standing systemic issues that affect animal welfare, employee safety, operational efficiency, and the responsible use of public resources. The challenges facing the shelter are not the result of a lack of dedication—they are the result of insufficient resources, inconsistent systems, and years of deferred investment.
The Current Reality
Over time, we have observed recurring operational issues that point to organizational shortcomings rather than isolated mistakes. These include inconsistent feeding and kennel setup, outdated or inaccurate animal records, communication breakdowns, and staff and volunteers performing the same tasks differently because there is no comprehensive, consistently implemented Standard Operating Procedure available to everyone.
These challenges are interconnected. Understaffing, inconsistent training, and deferred maintenance reinforce one another, creating preventable problems that no amount of individual dedication can solve.
The shelter needs clear, accessible Standard Operating Procedures supported by consistent onboarding, ongoing training, and regular refresher sessions. Establishing clear expectations would improve communication, increase accountability, reduce preventable mistakes, and create a more consistent experience for both animals and the people caring for them.
The shelter also needs additional funded Animal Care positions. Animal sheltering is unpredictable, requiring staff to balance cleaning, feeding, medical support, behavior observations, enrichment, intake, adoptions, emergencies, and customer service throughout every shift. Current staffing levels simply do not provide enough time to consistently perform all of these responsibilities to the standard that staff strive to achieve.
The Impact on Animals
The greatest consequence of these systemic issues is their impact on animal welfare.
When staffing is insufficient, employees are forced to prioritize the most urgent tasks, leaving less time for enrichment, exercise, behavioral observation, training, and individualized attention. Staff are not asking for easier jobs—they are asking for enough time to perform the jobs they were hired to do. Animal care should extend beyond meeting minimum survival needs. Every animal deserves opportunities to exercise, reduce stress, build positive human relationships, and receive the individualized care that improves both welfare and adoption outcomes.
In some cases, staffing shortages have resulted in dogs receiving less out-of-kennel time than the shelter’s own standards call for because there simply are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything required.
Deferred maintenance also directly affects animal care. During just a short period this spring, staff documented dozens of maintenance issues throughout the facility, including leaking plumbing, broken kennel hardware, failing water systems, deteriorating caulking and flooring, damaged fencing, rodent activity, and repeated lighting failures. Many problems remained unresolved for weeks or months, while temporary repairs such as duct tape and zip ties became routine despite requiring repeated staff time and attention.
One particularly concerning example involved kennel lighting that remained inoperable for more than a month. The lack of adequate lighting made it difficult for staff to properly clean kennels, monitor animal health, and safely perform daily husbandry while leaving dogs housed in a dimly lit area for an extended period. Problems like these are more than maintenance concerns—they directly affect both animal welfare and staff effectiveness.
The Impact on Staff
Animal shelter work is emotionally and physically demanding under the best of circumstances. Chronic understaffing leaves employees with insufficient time to complete essential daily responsibilities while contributing to burnout, compassion fatigue, and difficulty retaining experienced staff.
At the same time, Animal Care staff and supervisors are frequently expected to troubleshoot or perform temporary repairs on facility infrastructure despite not being trained or hired for maintenance work. Every hour spent searching for replacement parts, patching broken equipment, or revisiting recurring maintenance issues is an hour that cannot be spent caring for animals or assisting the public.
Many of us have worked to address these concerns through every avenue available. We have reported maintenance issues, documented concerns through internal systems, raised issues through our union, attended Joint Powers Authority meetings, spoken during public comment, and worked with local media to bring attention to ongoing challenges. Too often, meaningful action appears to occur only after concerns become public.
We believe these issues are solvable, but they require sustained leadership, investment, and accountability.
Our Request
We respectfully ask the Joint Powers Authority to support:
• Comprehensive Standard Operating Procedures for staff and volunteers, with regular review and updates.
• Consistent onboarding, training, and refresher programs that establish clear expectations and accountability.
Additional funded Animal Care positions that reflect the shelter’s operational needs.
• Increased investment in facility maintenance, infrastructure, and timely replacement of aging equipment.
Assignment of facility maintenance to qualified maintenance personnel so Animal Care staff can focus on animal care.
• Staffing levels that allow employees sufficient time to provide appropriate husbandry, cleaning, medical observation, enrichment, exercise, behavioral support, and customer service.
• Greater transparency regarding staffing needs, facility maintenance, and progress toward corrective actions.
Moving Forward
The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is an essential public service, and we believe it has the potential to be a model for compassionate, effective municipal animal sheltering. Achieving that goal requires more than the extraordinary dedication of its employees and volunteers. It requires adequate staffing, standardized training, reliable infrastructure, and leadership that recognizes these investments are fundamental to animal welfare—not optional expenses.
Our request is simple: give the shelter the staffing, training, leadership, and resources necessary so employees can spend their time caring for animals instead of compensating for preventable operational failures. Doing so will improve outcomes for animals, better serve the public, make more effective use of taxpayer resources, and create a safer, more sustainable workplace for the people entrusted with this important work.
We also encourage community members who share these concerns or wish to support improvements at the shelter to attend Joint Powers Authority meetings or contact their representatives directly. Public engagement is essential to ensuring the shelter remains accountable to the community it serves.
Thank you for your time, your consideration, and your continued commitment to the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.
We respectfully write as current and former staff, volunteers, foster caregivers, rescue partners, and community members who care deeply about the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.
⸻
Joint Powers Authority Public Meeting Information
Meetings: Every other month at 11:00 a.m.
2026 Schedule
February 9 – Watsonville
April 13 – Santa Cruz
June 8 – Watsonville
August 10 – Watsonville
October 19 – Santa Cruz
December 7 – Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Meetings
Board of Supervisors Chambers
701 Ocean Street, 5th Floor
Santa Cruz, CA
Watsonville Meetings
City Council Chambers
275 Main Street, 4th Floor
Watsonville, CA
Contact info: https://www.scanimalshelter.org/board-of-director-meetings
144
The Issue
An Open Letter To:
Sven Stafford, Deputy CEO, County of Santa Cruz
Emillie Feenan, Director of Nursing, Santa Cruz County Public Health
Chief Deputy Dan Freitas, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office
Michelle Templeton, Assistant City Manager, City of Santa Cruz
Deputy Chief Wesley Morey, Santa Cruz Police Department
Chief Jayson Rutherford, Scotts Valley Police Department
Captain Donny Thul, Watsonville Police Department
Nathalie Manning, Assistant City Manager, City of Watsonville
Chief Sarah Ryan, Capitola Police Department
Dear Members of the Joint Powers Authority,
We write to you as staff, volunteers, and community members who care deeply about the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter and the animals entrusted to its care. Every day, dedicated employees, volunteers, foster families, rescue partners, and members of the public work together to protect vulnerable animals and serve our community. We are proud of that work.
This letter is not intended to assign blame. It is a request for your partnership in addressing long-standing systemic issues that affect animal welfare, employee safety, operational efficiency, and the responsible use of public resources. The challenges facing the shelter are not the result of a lack of dedication—they are the result of insufficient resources, inconsistent systems, and years of deferred investment.
The Current Reality
Over time, we have observed recurring operational issues that point to organizational shortcomings rather than isolated mistakes. These include inconsistent feeding and kennel setup, outdated or inaccurate animal records, communication breakdowns, and staff and volunteers performing the same tasks differently because there is no comprehensive, consistently implemented Standard Operating Procedure available to everyone.
These challenges are interconnected. Understaffing, inconsistent training, and deferred maintenance reinforce one another, creating preventable problems that no amount of individual dedication can solve.
The shelter needs clear, accessible Standard Operating Procedures supported by consistent onboarding, ongoing training, and regular refresher sessions. Establishing clear expectations would improve communication, increase accountability, reduce preventable mistakes, and create a more consistent experience for both animals and the people caring for them.
The shelter also needs additional funded Animal Care positions. Animal sheltering is unpredictable, requiring staff to balance cleaning, feeding, medical support, behavior observations, enrichment, intake, adoptions, emergencies, and customer service throughout every shift. Current staffing levels simply do not provide enough time to consistently perform all of these responsibilities to the standard that staff strive to achieve.
The Impact on Animals
The greatest consequence of these systemic issues is their impact on animal welfare.
When staffing is insufficient, employees are forced to prioritize the most urgent tasks, leaving less time for enrichment, exercise, behavioral observation, training, and individualized attention. Staff are not asking for easier jobs—they are asking for enough time to perform the jobs they were hired to do. Animal care should extend beyond meeting minimum survival needs. Every animal deserves opportunities to exercise, reduce stress, build positive human relationships, and receive the individualized care that improves both welfare and adoption outcomes.
In some cases, staffing shortages have resulted in dogs receiving less out-of-kennel time than the shelter’s own standards call for because there simply are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything required.
Deferred maintenance also directly affects animal care. During just a short period this spring, staff documented dozens of maintenance issues throughout the facility, including leaking plumbing, broken kennel hardware, failing water systems, deteriorating caulking and flooring, damaged fencing, rodent activity, and repeated lighting failures. Many problems remained unresolved for weeks or months, while temporary repairs such as duct tape and zip ties became routine despite requiring repeated staff time and attention.
One particularly concerning example involved kennel lighting that remained inoperable for more than a month. The lack of adequate lighting made it difficult for staff to properly clean kennels, monitor animal health, and safely perform daily husbandry while leaving dogs housed in a dimly lit area for an extended period. Problems like these are more than maintenance concerns—they directly affect both animal welfare and staff effectiveness.
The Impact on Staff
Animal shelter work is emotionally and physically demanding under the best of circumstances. Chronic understaffing leaves employees with insufficient time to complete essential daily responsibilities while contributing to burnout, compassion fatigue, and difficulty retaining experienced staff.
At the same time, Animal Care staff and supervisors are frequently expected to troubleshoot or perform temporary repairs on facility infrastructure despite not being trained or hired for maintenance work. Every hour spent searching for replacement parts, patching broken equipment, or revisiting recurring maintenance issues is an hour that cannot be spent caring for animals or assisting the public.
Many of us have worked to address these concerns through every avenue available. We have reported maintenance issues, documented concerns through internal systems, raised issues through our union, attended Joint Powers Authority meetings, spoken during public comment, and worked with local media to bring attention to ongoing challenges. Too often, meaningful action appears to occur only after concerns become public.
We believe these issues are solvable, but they require sustained leadership, investment, and accountability.
Our Request
We respectfully ask the Joint Powers Authority to support:
• Comprehensive Standard Operating Procedures for staff and volunteers, with regular review and updates.
• Consistent onboarding, training, and refresher programs that establish clear expectations and accountability.
Additional funded Animal Care positions that reflect the shelter’s operational needs.
• Increased investment in facility maintenance, infrastructure, and timely replacement of aging equipment.
Assignment of facility maintenance to qualified maintenance personnel so Animal Care staff can focus on animal care.
• Staffing levels that allow employees sufficient time to provide appropriate husbandry, cleaning, medical observation, enrichment, exercise, behavioral support, and customer service.
• Greater transparency regarding staffing needs, facility maintenance, and progress toward corrective actions.
Moving Forward
The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is an essential public service, and we believe it has the potential to be a model for compassionate, effective municipal animal sheltering. Achieving that goal requires more than the extraordinary dedication of its employees and volunteers. It requires adequate staffing, standardized training, reliable infrastructure, and leadership that recognizes these investments are fundamental to animal welfare—not optional expenses.
Our request is simple: give the shelter the staffing, training, leadership, and resources necessary so employees can spend their time caring for animals instead of compensating for preventable operational failures. Doing so will improve outcomes for animals, better serve the public, make more effective use of taxpayer resources, and create a safer, more sustainable workplace for the people entrusted with this important work.
We also encourage community members who share these concerns or wish to support improvements at the shelter to attend Joint Powers Authority meetings or contact their representatives directly. Public engagement is essential to ensuring the shelter remains accountable to the community it serves.
Thank you for your time, your consideration, and your continued commitment to the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.
We respectfully write as current and former staff, volunteers, foster caregivers, rescue partners, and community members who care deeply about the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.
⸻
Joint Powers Authority Public Meeting Information
Meetings: Every other month at 11:00 a.m.
2026 Schedule
February 9 – Watsonville
April 13 – Santa Cruz
June 8 – Watsonville
August 10 – Watsonville
October 19 – Santa Cruz
December 7 – Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Meetings
Board of Supervisors Chambers
701 Ocean Street, 5th Floor
Santa Cruz, CA
Watsonville Meetings
City Council Chambers
275 Main Street, 4th Floor
Watsonville, CA
Contact info: https://www.scanimalshelter.org/board-of-director-meetings
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Petition created on July 12, 2026