2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 San Francisco Commission on
Animal Control and Welfare
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 10, 2005
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco , CA 94102-4689
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1. Call to Order and Roll Call
Present: Commissioners Laurie Kennedy (Chair), Sherri Franklin, Joanne Kipnis, Mara Weiss DVM, J.R. Yeager, William Hamilton, Richard Schulke, Vicky Guldbech, William Herndon
2. Public Comment - none
3. Approval of Draft Minutes from the September 8, 2005 minutes.
Commissioner Hamilton moved to accept the minutes with no changes
Seconded by Commissioner Franklin
Unanimous
4. Chairperson’s report and opening remarks
a. Outcome from 11/8/05 City Operations & Neighborhood meeting regarding the following items:
· Penalties related to dog licensing - increased $100
· Penalties related to vicious and dangerous dogs –registration increase to $250; adjusted hearing dates to 45 days after the dog is found; 2 violations could result in misdemeanor; fees collected will go directly to Animal Care and Control Dept.
· Dufty focused issues on irresponsible dog owners with regard to mandating spay and neuter surgery for pit bulls and prohibiting non-permitted breeding of pit bulls. Goals of the legislation is to reduce the number of unwanted pits in our shelter system and to see a 50% reduction of pit bulls
b. Movie recommendation – The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill – playing at the Red Vic movie theater on December 6 & 7.
c. Event announcement - Benefit for the Friends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control - "YAPPY HOUR" Cocktail Party, dogs welcome, Hotel Monaco, Tuesday, November 15th, 7:00-9:00pm, $50 admission.
Commissioner Franklin – Rome, Italy passed a massive animal welfare legislation which includes a $625 fine for dog owners that do not walk their dogs. bans display of pets for sale in store windows, gives legal recognition to the women of Rome who feed feral cats; forbids choke and electrical collars, declawing and clipping of tales and ears for cosmetic reasons.
Commissioner Schulke – Fund has been set up through the Northeast San Francisco conservancy for wild parrots habitat to ensure that the Monterey Cyprus trees that are still standing will be cared for and that the urban habitat will be enhanced.
5. Committee Reports/Commissioner’s Reports
Commission Kennedy introduced Daniel Crain, President of SPCA, who reported that the SPCA has contracted with Joanne Kipnis to further enhance the SF/SPCA’s Feral Cat Assistance Program. Kipnis will be concentrating in 4 areas; Data Management and Administrative Protocols; Expansion of Volunteer Program; Information Gathering Related to Positions on Feral Cat Issues from City, Organizational, and Local Community Representatives; and Sustainable and Cost Effective Aftercare.
Commissioner Kennedy informed the Commission that Commissioner Kipnis consulted with the city attorney to assure that there is no conflict of interest with her role on the Commission.
5. Public Comment – none
Commissioner Schulke requested a written response form the city attorney regarding the issue of conflict of interest.
6. New Business
a. An emergency request to the SF Board of Supervisors for an immediate injunction against the SF/SPCA Feral Cat Assistance Program relating to the illegal abandonment of animals under CA Penal Code597s. (Commissioner Yeager)
Commissioners Kennedy and Kipnis recused themselves from discussion and vote on this issue. Vice Chair Franklin chaired the meeting.
Commission Yeager presented the item for discussion:
· Cats are suffering and need our attention.
· SPCA is running a program with no guidelines and do not provide for the safety and long term sustainable care for the feral cats it returns to the streets.
· SPCA forces TNR on people to return cats to locations where the cats are not wanted.
· If the SPCA wants to save them all, then the SPCA needs to take care of them all.
· TNR stops the breeding not the suffering.
· No system in place to know when a caretaker no longer takes care of a colony.
· SPCA offers food, but not enough food to feed the animals.
· Tried to address this issue with the SPCA, ACC, and the Commission, as a member of the public. Northing has been done.
Commissioner Yeager moved to discuss this item
Seconded by Commissioner Schulke.
Commissioner Herndon – Requested clarification regarding the injunction; not sure the action is valid. The City Attorney handles internal city matters; District Attorney handles what, in this case, would be a misdemeanor - criminal prosecution. The courts issue an injunction, not the Board of Supervisors. Board can, however, request an injunction through the district attorney.
Commissioner Guldbech - Need to be more specific about what the injunction is. If this is an issue of abandonment, the complaint should come through ACC. ACC, however, cannot hold Daniel Crain responsible for abandonment if he hasn’t committed the abandonment.
Commissioner Yeager – Recommending the SPCA cease and desist the practice of TNR until certain conditions have been met.
Commissioner Franklin – This item, as originally stated. is not valid. Therefore, we cannot vote on it. However, the Commission will discuss this item and hear public comment.
Commissioner Yeager presented a slide show of cats being returned to what he considers to be inhumane, dangerous, and unhealthy areas including the central waterfront, China Basin, and India Basin.
Response from Daniel Crain – Mission of SPCA is to reduce the cat population through TNR. When someone walks away from a colony or drops off a cat, that is abandonment. There are holes in the system, but cats are taken care of as long as we know where they are. The SPCA does all it can for the cats. If they are in danger, they are moved. The intake rate has dropped by16% since 1993. Adoption has increased by 16%. The way to get ahead is not to stop the program, but to get people helping the situation. SPCA volunteers spend their lives to save the cats. This is a life time job.
7. Public Comment
Pinky Kushner, Sierra Club - Criticized Commissioner Kennedy and Kipnis for not paying attention to Yeager’s presentation. Sierra Club is interested in not the preservation of feral cats in San Francisco, but the preservation of the existing wildlife. Will get back to the Commission with the Club’s positions on this.
Arlene Gemmill –Glad that Yeager has brought this issue up; it is cruel to leave a domestic cat on the street, reservoir of disease, best thing to do is try to find them a home and if not able, then euthanize instead of putting them back in the street.
Stan Manazie – Animal Fund – to abandon, one must first have ownership; temporarily removing a cat from its environment to spay or neuter a cat can not be construed as ownership. There will be a legal challenge to the word abandonment.
Judy Miller – SPCA Cat Assistance Team (CAT) - SPCA has spayed/neutered over 15,000 cats; 3,000 participants in the program; Yaegar showed only 3 or 4 areas. To show abandonment, must identify those people who have specifically abandoned their colonies. Yeager has abandoned colonies; Ms. Miller ended up taken care of the colony.
Janet Cunningham – CAT – Teacher and Humane Educator – Allie Cat Allies nominated SPCA as leading TNR program of the year. Manages 10 colonies. Never returns a cat to any area unless there is a caretaker. Networks, educates within the community about TNR.
Robert____Business Owner – Used to have a warehouse at Pier 70; evicted from that area but still takes care of 12 cats. New owners allow him to continue to care for the cats. Spent a lot of money on these cats; committed to these cats.
Chris Powel – National Park Service - Worked with the Marin Humane Society on dealing with cats north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Keep this discussion going. Invite other agencies and businesses to continue the dialog and as a community, decide the best way to solve the problem. Would like to be a part of the discussion.
Michele Blunt – CAT – SPCA should not be the only organization that has to find homes for feral cats - the city should put the effort into this.
Brent Platter – Center for Biological Diversity – Return of feral cats into the community has unintended consequences for other species, specifically the seat otter. Sea otters are dying due to diseases transmitted through cat feecees. If we don’t better manage the feral cat reintroduction program, sea otters are at risk of going instinct.
Cindy Reuter – CAT - Managed public housing project. Trapped and relocated cats because the houses were going to be torn down – caretaker’s responsibility to take care of cats that are suffering and/or injured. Yeagaer has abandoned his cats and his anger is misplaced; SPCA program is very valuable.
Alan Hopkins – Golden Gate Audubon Society – Save the Quail Campaign is going well. Cat program needs to become an official program sanctioned by Board, as the Quail program did. Quail restoration program in process which includes many a variety of interested parties and groups. Can’t depend just on SPCA volunteers, need a group of stakeholders to discuss this issue and come up with a plan; not just the SPCA.
Paula Katakis – Caretaker in Golden Gate Park – caretakers spend a lot of money and time taking care of the colonies; there are contingency plans in place when caretakers can no longer take care of their colonies. Yeager’s reference to hording of animals in incorrect. Refer to Hording of Animals Research Consortium and find out what the scientists are doing about the hording of animals.
Lisa Wane – Director of the Natural Areas Program for Recreation and Park Dept. - Met with staff and volunteers about colonies. Monitoring and tracking of the colonies is critical; adopt policy that protects the wildlife. Location of colonies can be detrimental to wildlife. Willing to participate in a working group that the SPCA might put together.
Bob O’Brian - Set up a system so that a caretaker is identified with an animal to prevent abandonment in the future. Create a system to find out who abandoned the animals.
Nadine Mae – CAT –thanked the CAT for all the work they have done; took cats out of an unsafe place. Like the idea of territories for wildlife. No one should trap a cat just to have it euthanized unless it is ill.
Mark _____ - Supports Yeager’s motion for an injunction. Well documented affect that feral cats have on birds. When subcommittee meets, should have greater emphasis on separate areas where there are no wildlife.
Scott Anderson – PETA – This issue was brought up at the Commission meeting last year, but nothing has happened in that year. SPCA needs to spend more money on the feral cat program. Lack of commitment to spay /neuter. Why is there no low cost or free mobile spay/ neuter clinic for everyone; suggests promotion of mandatory differential licensing fees for companion animals and mandatory sterilization of adopted animals.
Ron Cole – There is a lack of communication between feral cat caretakers and the SPCA. Develop a caretaker evaluation form to assess colonies and gather information about the status of the colonies.
Jane Greenwald – Agrees with SPCA that the top priority is spay/ neuter. Success of spay/ neuter which allows the numbers to come down and now can address other issues. Many of the cats are on public property. Contracts would help identify those who are monitoring the colonies, as staff will change. Need a public group working on approaches to get the monitoring and care.
Nancy Wuerfel – CAT – Concerned that the attack on the SPCA is about hate. What is the positive that would happen if the SPCA shut down the program. SPCA is the only organization taking care of these cats. Yeager has no right to make the judgment call which cats live or die.
Eric Mills- Don’t shoot the messenger – problems with TNR; criminal what is going on and the public is unaware. The city should be spending a lot of money on this problem. Decrease in quail due to feral cats.
L’Danielle Yacabucci- Cats establish colonies, not us. Who are we to decide who should live and who should die. Trap and removal does not work. Where cats are is where cats live. Yeager needs to work towards a solution instead of complaining.
Sharon Beals – Supports Kipnis in her role with the SPCA. Gather information from all parties involved so that we can develop plan to go forwarded.
Silvia Ortize - Take in a feral cat from Pier 70. Able to get a cooperative partner with the recycle company at the Pier. Community needs to know more about feral cats and the work that the SCPA is doing – would be able to gain more support if the public is more educated.
Kelly Kasmersic – Supports TNR. SPCA needs to create guidelines for what constitutes a proper location for retuning feral cats – to be followed by ACC and the SPCA. Commission promised a year ago to make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors regarding the feral cats and that has never happened.
Martha Hoffman – CAT – infuriated by Yeager’s presentation; inaccurate. 99% of the colonies are well cared for. Should not just trash the SPCA, but do something about it. Colonies are being reduced significantly. TNR works.
Mary Ann Buxton – SPCA Feral Cat Coordinator - Receive calls about abandoned cats. How do we better educate our community about spay /neuter? San Francisco is the safest place for homeless cats. SPCA offers free spay/ neuter for ferals, low cost for people’s pets, partnership with ACC, dedicated volunteers. Feels like a personal attack on the SPCA which is destructive not constructive. SPCA does not abandoned cats.
Mary Huber – CAT - Number of cats has gone down drastically due to TNR.
Jill Cooney – IDA – Supports TNR; focus energy on making most effective program and offer positive alternative to those who don’t want to euthanize.
8. Commission Discussion
Commissioner Franklin – the agenda item can’t be voted on, however the Commission should discuss this issues and see what future agenda items may result from this discussion.
Commissioner Yeager – Came with solutions, but did not get a chance to speak to those solutions. Not every volunteer wants to give up their lives to take care of the colonies. There needs to be a system in place. Issue with the SPCA is that cats are forced back to their colony. Anger of being ignored, not having a chance to discuss this problem with Daniel Crain. This program is not sustainable. You can’t expect volunteers to continue to feed these colonies.
Commissioner Schulke – Would not vote for the injunction, even if it were a valid motion. Suggests working with the SPCA and other groups and stakeholders to discuss voluntary guidelines that would assist the SPCA to assure a positive approach to bettering the TNR program.
Commissioner Franklin –Suggests that discussion include issues such as aftercare, health monitoring, colony requirements, guidelines for release, follow-up, vet low cost microchipping. Some of these are already happening, others may not…appears that the SPCA has stepped up to the plate and already begun working on this issue.
Commissioner Hamilton – Role of the Commission is not to form a subcommittee to advise or work with the SPCA, but to advise the Board of Supervisors. Current agenda item is not valid, therefore solution is to vote it down as is. Yeager may bring forth another type of proposal that would work at our next meeting. There will be positive fall out from this meeting and progress will be made in the direction that Yeager wants.
Commissioner Weiss – There are areas that can be improved, but it is not the Commission’s role to advise SPCA program on how it is working.
Commissioner Schulke - Stated that the Commission does have the authority to make recommendations to the Board regarding requirements for the maintenance of animals in public, private and commercial care.
Commissioner Guldbech – ACC has a great relationship with the SPCA and willing to support whatever needs to be done to develop some resolutions to the problem. Representatives from all organizations need to be present to move forward.
Commissioner Yeager – Need a way to find out why a cat has been brought in to ACC.
Commissioner Guldbech – ACC needs to be careful about what information they ask when a cat is turned in. Public does not want to be asked so many questions. Need to research how we can be better at gathering information without chasing the public away. Need a better way to handle those members of the public who bring in a cat and then call back angered that the cat has been returned to the areas from where it was found. Point of clarification; any individual who is surrendering a cat and who has fed that cat for more than 30 days, is designated as the owner and must sign an owner surrender form.
Need to ask the surrenderer if the cat can come back. Will take this back to Carl Friedman.
Daniel Crain – SPCA needs help to handle the volume; is open to having further discussion about these issues.
Commissioner Franklin – Table this discussion for the next few months. Suggested that the Commission, at its February meeting, discuss possible recommendations to the SPCA for aftercare guidelines. The SPCA will also present a report as to the work they have been doing with regard to colony aftercare. The Commission can then decide whether to make a formal recommendation to the Board of Supervisors regarding this issue. In the meantime, Commissioners can think about possible recommendations for guidelines, put together a list of stakeholders, etc. and bring those to the February Commission meeting.
Commissioner Yeager: would like to see the following come from this meeting.
a. Guidelines, which have been developed by a number of sources, that must be adhered to.
b. Reform of ACC adoptions to include gathering information about where the cat came from – gather the reasons for surrender
c. Sustainable aftercare program – how to pay for it.
9. Explore what the Board of Supervisors could do to get a California Department of Fish and Game warden assigned to San Francisco to address local animal issues that fall outside of the purview of our city’s Animal Care and Control Department. Determine how the Commission should proceed with a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors.
Commissioner Franklin moved to discuss item
Seconded by Commissioner Schulke
Commissioner Hamilton moved to withdraw the item based on his research, as follows:
a. Fish and Game indicated the budget will not allow it
b. Fish and Game work in other areas of the state and have more pressing needs
c. Two ongoing vacancies for wardens in San Fran, but the Fish and Game Dept. has found it hard to attract and retain wardens given the cost of living in San Fran even with an additional $100 each month.
d. Courts have ruled that San Fran enforcement agencies may enforce state laws regarding live animal markets sand the sale of illegal animal products, but political pressure has thwarted these efforts.
Commissioner Guldbech - this all seems to come back to budgetary issues. So why do we have a Fish and Game Attorney to prosecute these violations.
Commissioner Kennedy – research what cases are being addressed by the City Attorney for Fish and Game.
Commissioner Schulke - Commission can still recommend to the Board about being proactive to appoint a Fish and Game warden in San Fran.
Commissioner Guldbech – think of other solutions and in the meantime, continue to call in complaints on a regular basis and not get discouraged.
10. Public Comment
Ron Cole – two agencies- federal and state; one of them is located in Burlingame. Will send Commissioner Guldbech the information about these agencies.
Eric Mills – office in Burlingame is federal office. Used to have 13 people, now we have 7 in San Francisco. SPCA should hire a humane officer to address the live animal markets in China Town.
Commissioner Hamilton moved to withdraw the item
Unanimous
11. Public Comment
Nadine Mae - Get the word out to the public about feral fix, what services are available in San Francisco, who to call about what to do with an animal; people have not been referred to the feral fix program when they have called ACC.
Bob Obrian – Recommend to the Board of Supervisors, for ethical reasons, a ban on use of restraints on monkeys and the importation of wild monkeys for experimentation. 29 monkeys in restraints, 25 of the 29 are also on food restriction diets, all have recording mechanism in their head to record brain imaging.
Closing Review of Task Allotment and Next Steps
1. Commissioners, who are interested, will get people together to discuss recommendations for guidelines, prepare list of interested parties.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 8:50 pm.