Video: King County Council gets earful about its animal shelters

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BURIEN, Wash. – The public got a chance Monday night to tell King County how it should reform its animal shelter system.

Members of the King County Council expected to get an earful after some harsh criticism in a consultant's report on animal control operations.

"In 2005, we euthanized more than 61,000 in this state alone. Kittens and cats and dogs, the majority being kittens and cats. This is a huge problem," said Missy Young of Animal Talks Rescue.

Hundreds of pet lovers gathered in Burien to figure out how to fix the shelters. Some placed the blame on lack of money, others said animal control officers needed more training. But all parties seemed to agree on one thing - that healthy, treatable animals don't deserve to die.

There's a bit of chaos in the county animal shelters right now. Citizen and consultant reports have recently blasted the county for its operations and called for substantial changes.

"We're not here to have an easy time of it. What we're here to do is fix problems that we've identified," said council member Dow Constantine.

Short-term fixes have been proposed. New staff will be hired, new cages and dog runs will be built and the spaying and neutering program will be expanded.

For long-term fixes, the county needs help from private organizations and citizens.

"We need the insights and the participation of everybody who cares about animals in this county," said Constantine.

Meanwhile, the county and private animal outreach organizations are trying to figure out how to handle the load.

"There's not enough of us out there and there's not enough funding for us to do as efficient a job as we want to do," said Young.

Constantine says the short-term fixes for animal control could be in place by this summer, after little details like written legislation from the executive's office and full funding get worked out.

King County Council promised to move toward a no-kill shelter.

The meeting took place at the Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien. The county used the meeting earlier in the day as a backdrop for a pet adoption clinic in the parking lot.

The Council is hoping ot put together a long-term plan by August 15 and then decide if it will continue to run the shelters as they are or outsource some of the responsibilities.

KING 5's Allen Schauffler and Elisa Hahn contributed to this report.