Yolo supervisors approve to expand county animal shelter veterinary space

The shelter’s current setup for veterinary services is a large rig they were able to receive for free from hurricane sandy. However, the need for shelter animals and community animals continues to grow and so must the space.

Leslie Linbo, Director of the department of community services, said that she was able to visit, as animal services is under the umbrella of community services instead of the sheriff’s department. Linbo made her way into the rig and noted how small it was.

“I don’t think it’s any wider than 10 feet wide,” Linbo said. “It’s barely enough space for two people to walk around comfortably. The surgical tables are large enough for a dog barely 40 pounds, so we have to outsource services for larger dogs.”

The current spay and neuter rig, according to Stephanie Amato, director of Animal Services only can fix 15 to 25 animals a day. 

With 15 to 25 animals a day, kitten season, 70 to 80 animals in the shelter at any time and a long list of animals on the low cost spay and neuter program, Amato is glad her team is continually chipping away.

In addition to the size constraints, the shelter has only recently hired enough veterinary staff to preform procedures. For Amato, she has found that getting an animal spayed and or neutered also helps as a preventative measure.

“Our spay neuter is going to get up and running really shortly,” Amato said. “That’s an opportunity for us to alter that animal, it’s an opportunity for us to make sure they’re licensed, rabies vaccinated.”

“Yolo County Animal Services operates out of an antiquated building,” Linbo said. “It lacks adequate space for employees, volunteers, sheltered animals, it also lacks adequate space for spay and neuter and other essential veterinary services.”

In the meeting Linbo explained that the approach was to work on repairs in pieces. Starting with a new HVAC system, fans in some evaluation yards and a new shelter roof.

One of the things that Lindo and the Yolo County Supervisors discussed at the meeting was that Yolo County is large and making the trek out to Woodland isn’t feasible for some -- For some Winters residents especially.

Shile law enforcement in Winters tries to assist with strays, for most animal services residents usually need to make the trip to Woodland.

“We need a complete business plan to make sure that we are addressing all the needs in our community,” Lindo said. “Especially those disadvantaged communities and the most vulnerable populations.” 

Some of the ideas floated during that discussion were possible spay and neuter vouchers as well as potential shuttle services.

“One of the great things about having animal services in community services is that we have fleet services within our department,” Lindo said. “We have found a surplus van that can be outfitted with kennels.” 

Mayor Bill Biasi, who also serves on the Joint Powers Association, explains that for Winters specifically they want to ideally get services in town.

“One of the other things that’s been brought up is having a mobile spay neuter (...) trailer and they can bring around to different cities and provide low cost spay neutering services to people who can’t get their animals to the shelter,” Biasi said.

As well, a partnership between the county and the UC Davis Veterinary School is in the works, and for Supervisor Lucas Frerichs it’s something to look forward to.

“Having increased collaboration in partnership with UC Davis, on this on this very important issue, makes perfect sense,” Frerichs said. “And so we are going to we really are so excited about sort of reinvigorating our relationship with the university.”

Frerichs has been hearing from a lot of residents and advocates, wanting to improve shelter services

“I think we’re gonna see a really positive sort of next steps in the not so distant future,” Frerichs said. “That is just going to be, just sort of a real win-win-win for all the parties involved.”

Amato agrees that the aging shelter will continue to need improvements, but wants to put funds and resources back into the community.

“I really feel strongly about animals coming here for people to reclaim, but they also need to know that we want to give them back,” Amato said. “And we want to give it back to the back vaccinated and want to give you back the resources that you need.”

Linbo cautioned however that while in the meeting they were looking for approval of funds to make repairs in the existing shelter, that didn’t change the long term goal of a new shelter.

“We haven’t lost hope for the long term to build a new animal shelter,” Linbo said. “The existing shelter is very old like I said and nearing the end of its useful life. Even after completing the deferred maintenance, it’s not adequate to provide shelter services.”