Officials representing Orange County’s animal shelter say they’re making progress toward implementing an 8-year-old strategic plan that animal advocates have been telling staff to follow for years.
It’s a plan that lists goals and best practices that’s been in development since before the shelter’s current location in Tustin opened in 2018.
Orange County animal advocates have been calling on shelter leadership to follow their own strategic plan for years — asking them to make sure dogs and cats are properly cared for in order to increase adoptions and reduce euthanasia rates.
Shelter leaders published a progress report detailing how well they are implementing their 2018 strategic plan last month.
The progress report lists five main priorities outlined in the strategic plan and lists whether or not each item has been completed or not.
The first priority is about animal care, enrichment and placement.
According to the progress report, animal shelter leaders claim all dogs receive daily enrichment.
While the strategic plan originally called for daily playgroups for all dogs, shelter leaders deviated from this recommendation.
“Because playgroups are not the right answer for every dog approved for out of kennel enrichment, OCAC completes the goal in alternative ways which include but are not limited to playgroups,” reads the report.
“Playgroups are just one tool when it comes to out-of-kennel enrichment for dogs,” it continues. “OCAC provides varied, daily enrichment. Some examples include playgroups, dog walking, off leash yard time, fetch, tug, pack walks and lateral walks.”
It also mentions the Dog’s Day Out pilot program as another example of enrichment. Through this new program, volunteers can take certain shelter dogs on excursions off-site to nearly any place they want for a few hours.
Michael Mavrovouniotis, a former shelter volunteer, said these enrichment activities don’t measure up the same as playgroups.
“Volunteers report that less than 10% of the dogs are in playgroups,” he wrote in an email to Voice of OC. “Everybody knows the difference between socialization and plain exercise – except county management. Shelters everywhere are moving forward, but the county wants to roll back the clock.”
He said the shelter shouldn’t stray from the plan’s recommendations that were developed by leading experts in animal care.
“The plan was put together by renowned shelter veterinarians and other experts,” he wrote. “Now bureaucrats are telling us that they know better than the country’s best shelter veterinarians. County management just wants to declare any topic they’re failing as ‘no longer applicable’ or ‘completed differently.’ They should be honest and get to work.”
Alexa Pratt, county spokesperson, said changes that were made in the approach to implementing the strategic plan still kept the plan’s original intent.
She said a team of veterinary, dog behavior and animal shelter experts reviewed the 2018 plan and assessed changes in standards that have shifted over the past eight years.
“The Strategic Plan was implemented in a thoughtful and meaningful way, taking into account the transition to a new shelter campus, changes in leadership, and the impacts of COVID-19,” Pratt wrote in an email to Voice of OC.
“The focus remained on the intentional decision-making rather than adhering to rigid timelines, ensuring that the plan adapted to evolving needs and updated guidelines. Our adaptive approach ensured the intent of the original plan was preserved, even when implementation occurred in a different timeframe or manner.”
The progress report also boasts that the shelter maintains a dog release rate above 90% every year.
The report doesn’t mention euthanasia rates for dogs — the shelter euthanized 256 dogs and puppies last year, according to shelter statistics.
When the strategic plan was developed prior to 2018, it outlined a goal to reach an 85% live release rate for cats. That goal is listed as “no longer applicable” in the progress report since the shelter no longer offers catch-and-release services for feral and community cats.
For 2025, the shelter had a 75% save rate for cats, according to shelter statistics.
[Read: Why is There No Catch and Release Program for Orange County’s Cats?]
The strategic plan also outlined a goal to increase the trap, neuter and return rate for cats to 20%.
Shelter leaders have repeatedly claimed that, according to county counsel, catch-and-release services could be interpreted as illegal animal abandonment unless future legislation changes that.
The progress report says this item is “delayed or pending” and “pending future legislation.”
[Read: How Are Orange County Animal Nonprofits Curbing Cat Overpopulation?]
Yet cities like Garden Grove and Costa Mesa have adopted catch and release programs to help reduce feral cat populations.
[Read: Costa Mesa Looks to Permit Catch-And-Release Services For Community Cats]
The second priority from the OC Animal Care strategic plan is about stakeholder engagement and marketing.
Most of the goals are listed as “completed” and seek to improve customer service, relationships with adoption partners and the public, and levels of engagement from volunteers and community members.
The third priority from the strategic plan is about culture and organizational development.
Those goals seek to improve staff relations and department organization and are nearly all listed as “completed.”
The fourth priority from the strategic plan is about the shelter’s budget and seeks to increase revenues, fundraising and volunteer numbers.
The last priority from the strategic plan is about the shelter’s transition to its new location in Tustin, which has been fully completed.
During OC Animal Care’s community outreach committee meeting on April 22, board members unanimously approved the progress report.
Click here to read the cover page and summary of the progress report.
Click here to read the full progress report.
Orange County Supervisors also weighed in on the shelter’s conditions during a meeting in late February.
Supervisor Janet Nguyen said the shelter has made improvements over the past year, but it’s a work in progress.
“Please know that we appreciate you, but there is still some work to be done,” she said at that meeting.
[Read: Advocates Demand Reform at California Animal Shelters, Including Orange County]
Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento thanked residents for pushing for improvements at the shelter and said staff should issue regular updates to make sure OC Animal Care is meeting goals laid out in the strategic plan.
“I think we need to do something on a periodic basis, almost as a dashboard, and make sure we’re able to see how we’re doing on these different concerns that we have that are outlined in the strategic plan,” he said at the meeting.
[Read: Orange County’s Troubled Animal Shelter Slated for Overhauls]
Orange County residents and animal advocates have been telling leaders at the shelter to follow their strategic plan for years.
Mavrovouniotis, former shelter volunteer, said the shelter has improved over the past three years after leaders started paying more attention to the strategic plan.
“Progress happened thanks to the hard work of kennel staff and the support of Supervisors Nguyen and Sarmiento,” he wrote in an email. “But the county bureaucracy continues to have a transparency problem. They’re glossing over shortcomings.”
Jackie Lamirande, another former volunteer and animal advocate, said she’s not sensing real commitment from county leadership to implement improvements.
“From 2018 to now, shelters nationwide have increased socialization for dogs and cats to make them more adoptable,” she wrote in an email to Voice of OC. “Why is the county dodging the 2018 requirements and looking for a lower standard of care?”
Angelina Hicks is the Voice of OC Collegiate News Service Editor. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.