Pets matter to people. Over 80 percent of Americans see pets as part of their family. But when they need help with their companion animals, the people most affected are those struggling with poverty, homelessness, and crime. So when we help people with pets, we are helping our neighbors.
For many families, a pet is an emotional lifeline — especially for children. A dog may also be a protector. Losing a pet because of high rental costs or a pet-unfriendly landlord, or skyrocketing vet bills and food costs, can be crushing. Having to abandon a pet, skipping vaccines and basic vet care, or having too many litters because neutering is out of reach — these are family tragedies. This is why Santa Barbara County Animal Services is so important: They aren’t just running shelters that take care of lost or neglected animals. They keep pets with their families and prevent unwanted litters. In doing so they are saving people, too.
The work that Animal Services does has become massively harder in the past few years. Part of the problem is all those cute puppies that people bought during COVID lockdown that are now grown up and flooding the shelter system. Another is rapidly rising housing costs and a housing shortage. Many families have to pay high rents to landlords who won’t allow pets. It’s so hard to watch the sadness of these families as they are forced to leave their pet at a shelter. And for shelter staff and volunteers, it’s a mad scramble to care for the thousands of puppies, kittens, and adults pets coming in. Sometimes it feels like we are trying to plug a firehose with a Q-Tip! But we make the effort every day, because it matters.
After decades of wishing for a forward-thinking, creative, dedicated Animal Services Director, we finally have that in the form of Sarah Aguilar. Ms. Aguilar has worked tirelessly to create an animal- and people-centered culture at Animal Services. Her team approach engages and supports hundreds of foster homes and volunteers. Without this community involvement, we would see family pets like your own killed simply for lack of space.
Ms. Aguilar’s understanding of the human-animal connection led her to raise $200,000 in grant money to fund a program that interweaves human and animal needs. The Pawsitive Care Coordinator connects Animal Services with various human services agencies across the county. The coordinator works on principles of ACE-IT (Accessibility, Compassion, Equity, Innovation, and Teamwork) to provide comprehensive support for both pets and people facing homelessness, bringing together service providers so that those who need services are not prevented from receiving them because of their pets.
Ms. Aguilar has been enthusiastic about working with nonprofit rescue partner organizations and volunteers. We represent several of those groups. For many years, we have raised money, recruited volunteers, rehomed pets, assisted with emergency response (especially of large animals), and worked in the community to help meet the ever-growing need. We collaborate with Animal Services to host “pet pantries” that offer free food and other supplies. We provide low-cost vet services and free spay-neuter, to chip away at pet overpopulation. We educate children about responsible pet care and humane treatment of all living beings. And we raise money to help pay for the costs of animals in the county’s three shelters.
But nonprofit partners can only do so much. Last year we told the county that Animal Services funding was supported by money that would go away in two years.We are small local organizations, mostly volunteer run. We want to help our animal services agency as much as we can, but that agency needs to be adequately funded. Otherwise it can’t meet its obligation to enforce public health and safety and animal welfare laws and care for the people and animals of our community.
How underfunded is Animal Services? Animal Services has not been able to hire a veterinarian because the starting salary is too low to attract applicants. Without a vet, low-cost vaccine/spay-neuter clinics don’t happen, which hurts low income families most, and leads to the very pet overpopulation we are fighting to stop. And outsourced care for shelter animals ends up costing more, wasting money.
One solution is Project PetSafe, which works in neighborhoods to educate families and get pets licensed. A license and a microchip will bring lost pets home. The money from licenses helps pay for shelter, vaccines, and spay-neuter for family pets. Project PetSafe could be helping to fund Animal Services, but it needs a financial jump start from the Board of Supervisors. We asked last year. We ask again this year.
We understand that Animal Services is just one of many, many programs that the county has to fund. We also know that companion animals tend to take a back seat to those programs. But this underfunding is actually costing more than it saves, and harming people who are most in need of the county’s care — the lowest income, most stressed and at-risk families in a county that has the second highest poverty rate in the state.
At long last we have an Animal Services Director who is leveraging every resource she has to make this essential program work. We call on the Board of Supervisors to help her, and us, by providing additional funding to close these key gaps. We all care about our pets. Let’s care about the people who need our help to care for their pets.
Signed,
Jill Anderson, Shadow’s Fund
Jen Curtis, Le Woof Rescue
Linda Greco, Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation
Isabelle Gullo, C.A.R.E.4Paws
Ronda Hathaway, Santa Barbara Equine Evacuation Team
Jan Kays, Companion Animal Placement Assistance (CAPA)
Jean Silva, Bunnies Urgently Needing Shelter (BUNS)
