Shelter is an embarrassment

I was a volunteer at both the Irvine and Laguna Beach animal shelters

years ago, and I recently visited the Orange County Humane Society

shelter twice and was appalled at the conditions there.

I stopped volunteering at Irvine and Laguna Beach because paid

staff at shelters treat volunteers very badly. But despite my opinion

of poor treatment to the human volunteers, both the Irvine and Laguna

Beach shelters are fantastic examples of how it should be. Shame on

the powers that be in Costa Mesa who have awarded a contract to this

shelter in Huntington Beach. Everyone involved should be embarrassed.

The conditions of the Orange County Humane Society shelter in

Huntington Beach are worse than I have ever seen this side of Mexico.

I work with a group to send supplies to a shelter in Baja that also

puts this shelter to shame.

The cities of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach need to fund to rebuild

or rethink this contract. Has one person from our City Council

visited this shelter? Would they want their pets to spend one night

there? Or was this contract awarded because they were the low-ball

bid? I recommend they visit Irvine to see how a shelter should be

run. But I guess the city of Irvine just outclasses my city of Costa

Mesa and Newport Beach. How depressing. How shameful.

While the fact that this shelter is a no-kill shelter is a

positive, the less-than-humane conditions I have observed are a huge

negative to all involved, and the ones we pledge to protect are

housed in internment camp-type conditions there.

Shame on all involved who are too busy talking on their

cellphones, getting their hair and nails done and making deals to

allow this to continue.

Volunteers do not mutiny without cause. They work for free,

remember?

DARLENE LAVENDER

Costa Mesa