SEATTLE — Dogs and cats in animal shelters in Kent and Bellevue experience high rates of disease, are kept in cages that are too small and don’t get enough exercise or social contact, an advisory panel has found.
Conditions at both shelters were branded “deplorable” in a report Thursday to the King County Council by the nine-member committee of animal welfare experts, who recommended immediate renovation of the two shelters, new policies and additional employees, including a shelter operations director and an animal behavior expert.
The larger shelter, in Kent, “has been badly neglected for many years, and is plainly inadequate to provide for the animals’ most basic needs,” the smaller one, in Bellevue, is “unsuitable for the sheltering of animals” and employees at both are overworked and lack sufficient training and supervision, according to the report.
Al Dams, the county’s acting manager for animal services, praised the panel’s work but disagreed with the word “deplorable” and said renovations already are being made to the 32-year-old shelter in Kent.
The larger shelter is “old, but functional,” Dams said. “It could use some upgrades. It’s tired, and it could use specialized additions. It needs some welcoming touches.”
The shelter in Kent has an uncovered sewer drain running through several dogs pens, and rates of canine parvovirus and feline upper respiratory infections are higher than at other Seattle-area shelters, according to the report.
The Bellevue shelter, which was opened in 1997 and was designed to be temporary, has little space for dogs and appears to be staffed by only one person at a time, the panel found.
County Council members Julia Patterson, Dow Constantine, Larry Phillips and Bob Ferguson wrote Executive Ron Sims to support many of the committee’s recommendations, including shelter renovations and new policies.
“We have an absolute obligation to the animals to provide humane care, medical care, give them food and shelter, and to do everything in our power to give them a chance to be reunited with their families or placed in a safe and loving home,” Constantine said in an interview. “We’re not meeting that obligation.”
The council voted in May to reduce the number of animals being euthanized at the shelters and asked Sims to devise a plan to implement a “no-kill” policy.
Carolyn Duncan, a spokeswoman for Sims, said efforts were being made to meet some of the concerns and noted that a “pet of the week” link featuring adoptable animals had been added to the county’s home Web site.
“We’re reaching out to people like we never had,” Duncan said. “We’re concerned and we want the best for those animals and we are working toward that.”
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