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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

San Jose Animal Care and Services Killed My Cat

Pie was a healthy, neutered and was missing a left eye. He was then taken to the City of San Jose Animal Care Center.

We were so relieved when we found his picture and called leaving messages and finally spoke to a real person. We gave her the information and said we would be in Tuesday to pick Pie up, but on Tuesday his website image was missing and so was Pie.
The shelter only keeps their lost animals for about four days, that is the minimum, and then they become the property of the City of San Jose. However we could not pick up Pie on Monday, his fifth day at the shelter, because they were closed.

In consequence, Pie was euthanized, despite the fact there was no way to retrieve him from the shelter on Monday and we called telling them his identification number and the fact he was our cat. Obviously, someone did not do their job, otherwise our cat would be home.

The policy gives little hope for a pet owner, especially for cats, because cats tend to wander and can be missing for a day for two. By the time you realize your cat is truly missing half your time was gone.

Then, you have to look in different shelters. Pie was not at the normal Campbell shelter, the Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority, but at the San Jose one. This was also time consuming.
Fist off, change the waiting period for lost animals to seven days, so owners can search more ground and have a change to actually find their pet.

Second, no euthanizations on days the shelter will be closed and do not count the days of closing as days of holding. If the family cannot pick up their beloved pet, then the shelter shouldn’t have the right to exterminate it.

Lastly, make the fines cheaper. It would have cost over 150$ to release Pie. It costs about 100$ for adopting a new kitten.

No wonder why people decide to abandon their animals, they cannot afford to bail them out of kitty jail.

We spoke to Staceey Dains about or detrimental situation and she attempted to blame us for Pie’s death, but it was her staff who either forgot or never bothered to write down the desperate pleas of a family for their cat’s life.

Policy needs to be changed, these shelters are supposed to be a safety net for our lost pets, not an execution chamber.

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