In a special committee session held Wednesday, City Council members voted unanimously to bring four new ordinances before the full council that they hope will combat a rising crisis in Bakersfield’s animal shelter.
The meeting, organized by the city’s Legislation and Litigation committee, began with officials hearing a staff report on four ordinances that were formerly proposed in 2019, but were subsequently halted.
These include language changes around dog licensing, new commercial kennel rules, revised breeder permits, and spay and neuter requirements.
Upon approval, the ordinances would reduce the age for required licensing from four to three months; require all impounded animals be spayed or neutered before an owner can retrieve or “redeem” them; establish a permit for commercial kennels that would create rules on sanitation and size; require that breeders get a permit to sell dogs and establish rules on how to care for them; and require all dogs over six months of age to be fixed, unless the owner purchases an unaltered license.
Since spay and neuter ordinances are typically controversial, and often draw out the ire of some residents over concerns about personal freedoms, Ashley Zambrano, the city’s deputy attorney, said “there’s ways to modify the provision” that don't totally infringe on people.
“For example, allowing a first-time freebie,” Zambrano said, adding the option of graduated offenses.
The topic was one of many lost as a result of the pandemic, as many of the city’s ambitions were deferred while officials focused on combating COVID-19. Officials explained that only two of the ordinances were brought to the council in 2019, before then-Ward 7 Councilman Chris Parlier pulled them from the consent agenda.
“I did rewatch this meeting to see if I could share any insight,” Zambrano said. “There was no discussion about pulling it from consent… COVID hit and I think the topic kind of got lost in the mix.”
Now that COVID-19 has long waned, issues such as the city's chronic homeless and abandoned animal population are again taking the forefront.
Currently, the city has some regulations that dogs need to be licensed and vaccinated once they’re four months old. Female dogs in heat are to be kept indoors and dogs are not allowed to run astray on any public property, among other requirements regarding breeding and sales. But the rules in place are clearly not enough to curb a growing population.
Tammy Davis, an animal control supervisor, said the city shelter is tapping into an allotted $500,000 capital improvement fund to pay for a block wall and iron cage due to a spike in break-ins by owners attempting to steal back their dogs, as opposed to paying the necessary fees.
So far in 2023, city animal service officials are seeing 20% more service calls, 10% more animals impounded, 75% more owners surrendering their pets and in the last six years, the shelter intake has almost doubled. The city shelter’s live release rate, which was at 84% in 2020, is now projected to drop to 62%.
“And in the last three years, it’s actually started to trend downward,” said Matthew Buck, who manages the city’s Animal Care Center. “And six years ago, we had half the dogs we’re seeing today.”
Meanwhile, Buck continued, staffing shortages and a 418% rise in food costs have made it difficult to shelter the chronic overpopulation of dogs in Bakersfield — nearly 1,000 more dogs in the shelter than last October.
Ward 2 Councilman and Vice Mayor Andrae Gonzales, who originally made the referral in May, felt the crisis impacting the city shelter requires equivalent action.
“This problem is not going away,” Gonzales said. “It’s not getting better. It’s getting worse. Doing nothing is not the answer.”
By unanimous vote, he and the other council members — Ward 5 Councilman Bruce Freeman and Ward 7 Councilwoman Manpreet Kaur — agreed to bring the four ordinances before the City Council for deliberation at a later date.
