On Valentine's Day of 2022, a Good Samaritan found a friendly, dirty, lost cat, running for its life through a busy intersection. When she called San Francisco Animal Care and Control to help reunite him with his owners, she was refused any service and told to “put the cat back”. This was a result of SFACC’s new policy refusing to accept any healthy cats found outside. 

On May 5th 2022, a Good Samaritan found a stray friendly cat who had given birth to a litter of kittens in her yard. She cared for them and found the kittens good homes, but when she brought the unfixed and still lactating mother to SFACC to be put up for adoption she was told at the door that the cat was “likely a lost owned cat” and to “put the cat back where you found it.” This was a result of SFACC’s new policy refusing to accept any healthy cats found outside. 

On July 12th 2022, a San Francisco Animal Care and Control officer responded to a call about a kitten that was stranded in a long pipe in a construction zone. After she successfully rescued the kitten from its plight, she then released the kitten into a neighboring yard without any medical attention or chance at a safe second life adopted into a home. Instead leaving it to a continued perilous life on the streets, producing more unwanted kittens. This was a result of SFACC’s new policy refusing to accept any healthy cats found outside. 

San Francisco Animal Care & Control (SFACC), the city’s only “open-door” animal shelter, is now refusing to accept healthy cats and kittens that are lost, abandoned and/or homeless.

SFACC staff now encourage members of the public to either leave the animals where they found them, or to help the animals they find themselves by taking them into their home while attempting to locate the owner.

To add insult to injury, if a member of the public agrees to house the animal but is not able to locate an owner after a few weeks, SFACC will deem the Good Samaritan the owner and charge an owner surrender fee to bring the animal to SFACC.

Many of these new policies are published on their website and have been put into place by shelter management even though SFACC is not an overcrowded city shelter and does not euthanize for space.

If asked about their new intake policies for cats and kittens, SFACC will tell you that the policies are based on national guidelines for animal shelters. It is true that this guidance exists from organizations such as the National Animal Control Association (NACA). However, these guidelines of limiting intake are overgeneralized and meant for communities that have shelters that are overcrowded and are euthanizing for space. That is not the situation in San Francisco. The facts are this in San Francisco:

1.  SFACC has not euthanized for space for many years.

2.  SFACC has a brand new $76.4 million, 65,000 square foot, state of the art facility, paid for by taxpayers.

3.  SFACC’s 2021-2022 fiscal year annual budget is $9.5 million, more than double the national average, both on a per capita and per animal basis.

4. SFACC has a full-time veterinary staff and a well-equipped on-site medical facility.

5.  SFACC has an abundance of foster homes at their disposal, including a special foster program specifically for cats.

6.  SFACC has an abundance of rescue partners at their disposal.

7.  SFACC has a robust adoption program and social media presence.

These changes violate the San Francisco Municipal Code (Section 41.6), the California Penal Code (597(b)), and the California Food & Agricultural Code (Article 31752 (c)(1)). Since San Francisco does not enforce these laws, ACC gets away with breaking them with impunity. The only way to get the shelter back on track is through public pressure on Mayor London Breed, City Administrators, and representatives.

As taxpayers, we expect SFACC to use their abundance of resources to expand services to help more populations of animals in need, not create barriers to services and transfer responsibility onto members of the public. SFACC has specific training, resources, and space which makes them qualified to shelter lost and stray animals, whereas members of the public without these qualifications may be put into dangerous situations for themselves, their families and their own pets, thus opening up the City of San Francisco to liability. 

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION:

To find out more please visit https://www.sfanimalsvoice.org/

We demand that ACC honor its Mission Statement and its legal mandates by accepting ALL cats and dogs in need brought in by members of the public for sheltering, regardless of where they are found in our city.

cc: Mayor London Breed; Carmen Chu, City Administrator; Brooke Jenkins, District Attorney