By Victoria Chamberlin
Well it seems once again our elected leaders are making a decision that will negatively affect a city and all who live there. The Clearlake City Council has canceled their contract with the Animal Control as of Nov. 1.
Didn”t we just go through this in Lakeport and learned it was not a workable solution? We were so fortunate to have a police chief/city manager who actually knows how to think outside the box (and oh yes, who actually cares) and he worked out an agreement for all, to renew the Animal Control contract with some minor changes, unfortunately I don”t believe Clearlake will be, or is that lucky.
The system that is, so far, being put together allows one man, with no training, and one truck that has no air conditioning that works, to handle the whole city. And again, no cats will be part of this new arrangement. It”s past time the Lake County Board of Supervisors and all the cities they work with get on the same page and work together to realize animal care and control is not an option and is as much a part of running a city as having any municipal function.
It is not a choice we can make whether we can or want to maintain the care of our animals. They are an integral part of our society and of this country. More people have pets than children. The homeless animals at the shelters had homes at one time. The ones that are called feral come from the dumped cats to begin with. Most all babies at the shelter come from feral moms. To not deal with trapping, spaying and neutering it will continue to be a major problem and also the suffering increases.
This is our responsibility, we have made this problem of overpopulation and it is our responsibility to try and do the best we can to help. Just because they have no voice, does not lesson our responsibility to take care of them. Not only will the cat population become worse and the suffering increases, the dogs are pack animals, they need to be part of a family, either of humans or other dogs and if not found and taken someplace to find a new home, they will find others to be with. So safety becomes a factor also in the city and the rest of the county.
Please call your board of Supervisors and the Clear Lake City Council and tell them to find an alternative to the choice they have made, as it”s not acceptable to you the citizens of this community. These elected people can be unelected and should be if this is the best they can do for the ones they represent.
Victoria Chamberlin
