• NEW! An open letter to OC City managers and mayors:

How Negligent are OC Cities in Their Contract with the County Animal Shelter? 

• NEW! Peer-reviewed science study with examples from OC Animal Care published.  Download it here.  

The study is about the “length of stay” in animal shelters, which affects animal welfare and shelter resources. We all know that animals are stressed if they spend too long a period in the shelter. If a shelter doesn’t get animals adopted, or returned to the owner quickly enough, the shelter can get overcrowded, often leading to sub-standard animal care and euthanasia.  Some of the study's findings: 

In late 2019, 10% of OC Animal Care incoming dogs stayed more than 32 days in the shelter. In 2022, that grew to 42 days. That shows an accumulation of dogs with very long stays. An increase in length of stay translates proportionally to a change in shelter resident count, which in turn increases dog housing, staffing, and veterinary care.

OCAC kept some COVID-19-era restrictions into 2022–2023, particularly in visitor access and hours. These led to fewer adoptions and longer stays. The new study calculates that the higher length of stay in 2022-2023 translated to 73 additional dogs being at the shelter on any given day. Those 73 additional dogs require seven additional staff members just for kennel care. If housing and staffing fail to keep up with the need, the result is overcrowding and sub-standard care and increased euthanasia. The OCAC Strategic Plan includes length of stay targets, but OCAC has never showed any length of stay calculations. If used as a guide, the calculations in the study can assist OCAC management better plan for needed resources.

Other news: 

• OC Animal Care Faces Negligence Lawsuit After Dog Mauling 

• Is the County Working to Fix the Animal Shelter’s Problems? If so, Why Haven’t Any Progress Reports Been Released?

•  What’s Going On With the Cat Colonies at Cypress College?

• Owner of Woofy Acres dog rescue charged with 16 counts of animal cruelty (Woofy Acres was heavily used by Orange County Animal Care)

• Two Dogs Dead in Transport from OC Animal Care to Idaho

Significant progress in March-July 2025:

Supervisor Janet Nguyen's newsletter 

Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento's newsletter

Orange County’s Troubled Animal Shelter Slated for Overhauls (Voice of OC)

A Strategic Plan was approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in 2018.  

Read the 2-page Executive Summary or the complete Strategic Plan.  

To contact elected officials go to Local Government Info 

Letters sent by a group of experienced volunteers to county officials:

1st letter, 8/16/2023: Observations and recommendations by experienced OCAC volunteers

2nd letter, 9/22/2023: Follow-Up Letter by the same group of OC Animal Care volunteers

3rd letter, 7/2/2024: Urgent need for Animal Care Attendants

4th letter, 8/30/2024: Volunteers debunk statements made by OCAC director