South County residents and animals are getting the short end of
the stick for no good reason when it comes to services.
Yet again the question arises: When will South County, and Morgan Hill in particular, begin to receive the benefits of our tax dollars at work in the area of animal control services from the County of Santa Clara?In spite of a $100,000 study, the services the animal shelter provides to Morgan Hill residents remain at exactly the same level – zero. Incredibly, a county-run facility refuses to provide services to those who reside in a city within that county as a matter of policy. This is an obvious example of taxation without representation and it should not be tolerated.
Additionally, our city’s animal control officer, charged with the care of sick, injured or stray animals, is forced to make the 58-mile round trip to the San Jose Shelter to drop off animals impounded within our city.
This, of course, forces a huge waste of officer time and city resources (including gasoline) when a short trip to the San Martin shelter would pass any test of common sense, including a much shorter trip for our residents to pick up their pets when they are recovered.
And it’s not just about funds, it’s about the animals themselves. Our pets get sick, or injured, and stray, and sometimes we’re not around when that happens. As an electorate, we have voted to fund services for those who can’t help themselves, and yet those who voted for the funding cannot avail themselves of those services. Is that fair?
Additional inequities abound. According to one source, 70 percent of the pets adopted at the county’s San Martin Animal Shelter go to South County residents.
Wouldn’t it make sense that the shelter accept unwanted stray or feral animals from those same people who provide their customer base?
Let’s give unwanted South County animals at least a chance to be adopted, because it’s the absolute best solution.
It’s worth taking a moment to wonder what the Friends of the San Martin Animal Shelter, a dedicated group of volunteers who donate time and money to the shelter, might have done with the $100,000 blatantly wasted on the above-mentioned study.
How many more adopt-an-animal days might have been showcased at local pet-friendly businesses like Petco? How many volunteers might have been able to be reimbursed for items like pet food and travel expense to the adopt-a-pet days that they currently pay out of their own pockets? How many more adoptable, loving animals might have found a home?
Though Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage has wrestled with this problem for years, a resolution would be a worthy result of a redoubled effort on his part.
The current situation is not only riddled with inequities, it is quickly becoming intolerable.
