I have been in humane shelters, no kill, that give the animals less room to move than the Tracy shelter does. My biggest problem with the Tracy Shelter is the cost to adopt. I understand that there is over head that has to be met but at 1 point I was looking for cats for my family and wound up going up to the Manteca shelter because it is less than $50 to adopt a male cat/kitten, and only $20 more for a female, which includes all of it shots, microchip and neutering.

I think that the Tracy Shelter needs to put a call out to our residents to step up! We need people to help foster the adoptable which would help ease the burden on the shelter and it is usually easier to find homes for an animal from a home than it is from a cage. As a lady said earlier in the comments, that the animals are scared in those cages and when an animal is scared they don't seem as friendly and loving as they probably are.

The majority of adoptable animals don't go to shelters. Instead they go to foster families and animal advocacy groups in our area.

By the way, the idea that the animals "suffer horribly" raised eyebrows about where the author got her info.

If you go to the shelter you see dogs can go in and out. If the dogs go outside people complain the dogs are cold and shivering.

If the dogs were cold they would go inside.

At least they have an option and more room. If you visit other shelters you see they are more like a 3' by 4' jail cell.

Not a penthouse suite.

The letter writer is making a huge to-do about nothing. An animal shelter is a luxury item. Whatever care the strays are getting we are spending too much on. I would argue that we cant afford one at all right now and should shut it down. A wild animal problem might crop up but to deal with that I would just allow the residents to shoot feral dogs/cats. The writer might be happier too then since the animals would not be in the horrible shelter.

TommyB

Stalkin. That's a good one. Feel uncomfortable or afraid?

What a ridiculous notion. If I had th inclination ta stalk ya, which means that I must have some intent on doin ya some type of physical harm, I shore wouldn't do it here so that law enforcement could easily track me down.

That is a foolish statement ta make, even in jest, an don't exactly garner support by others on some of yer absurd thankin.

Of course ya know that Supervisor Ornellas is a COUNTY supervisor, meaning that he deals with thangs at th county level? And hopefully ya comprehend that a REGIONAL shelter also includes people in th county an frum other cities an communities nearby an not just th City of Tracy.

As such, when lookin at fundin an what th City may or may not do or desire ta do, ya really need ta consider th rest of th stake holders involved, yep I spelled stake right instead of usin steak an that is what happens when ya haven't eaten anythang since 5 AM.

Those stake holders, in a REGIONAL shelter are gonna include money commin frum th County, Tracy, an any other City/community in that REGION like Manteca, Brentwood, Byron, Mountain House, Old River an th like. It ain't all on th shoulders of th City, Mayor, City Manager or Chief of Police.

If th project has not been movin accordin ta yer perceived and rather short sighted time line, I would suggest ya go ask ALL of those people what th hangup is instead of just thankin that no one is doin anythang just ta irritate ya an others cus thair somehow bilkin th system an stealin other people's money.

Glad I don't live in yer world cus it seems ta me that ya don't trust anyone. If yer married ya probably have problems in th department of trust.

An still, through all of this conversation, ya allege thangs with no verifiable proof to substantiate em. When ya do that ya place yerself inta th category of a mindless complainer, commonly known as a crank, an relegate yerself inta a position where no intelligent, sensible an logical person would listen ta.

If thangs are as you say, where is th verifiable statistical data that proves yer correct? At least th City Manager, Chief of Police an members of City Council have something ta point ta in order ta support thair thankin. What do you point ta ta verify what is goin on other than what you an a precious people thank or believe ta be true?

So far all I have seen is "probably" an "may" without any verifiable proof that thangs are as ya say they are.

Why Ornley, I believe you're stalking me.

Here's the facts: The city manager announced that Supervisor Ornellas had found money to build a new regional shelter, at one of the animal shelter round table meetings he held last fall. This happened just prior to the election and the city manager mentioned that the mayor was in favor of this. He also said the committee would be meeting soon after the elections were over to begin discussing how best to proceed.

He also said operation of a regional shelter would require passage of Measure E so Tracy could fund its services there.

Now here we are in February, some two and a half months after the election and not a word from the mayor, city manager or police chief about the regional animal shelter. If you want to check those facts ask your friend the city manager, he's the one who made the statements. I'm just trying to hold them accountable for their promises.

By the way, shouldn't the city manager stay out of the campaign rhetoric business, specially durin' lection season?

My other point is this Ornley; If what I'm saying is wrong or is causing you discomfort; then why do you feel the need to respond? Could it be you're on a campaign to try and discredit me and anyone else who knows the truth and your just attempting to discredit our opinions?

My guess would be, it's got to do with your relationship to the city manager, the police chief, the mayor and the city council; right?

So why don't we get back to the facts. I'm still waiting for you to bring some facts to the table.

tommybahama

Gonna start callin ya Clair Voyant. Ya seem ta know everythang that everyone's thankin. At least that's what I get frum yer comments that take yer suppositions an twistin em inta facts.

Tell me, do ya actually know fer certain that th mayor has done all these things ya thank he's done or is it just some mindless carping?

With yer disqualifyin words, "probably" and "most likely" it seems that yer actually blowin off steam cus ya got some personal mad-on fer th mayor an City Staff. Try stickin ta th facts present instead of th myths ya obviously believe ta be truth.

Not very logical ta get rid of somethang ya really need even if it may be a dump, which it's not as bad as many people here say that it is.

Is it perfect? Nope! Will it ever be perfect? Is anythang?

So go ahead an close th shelter if ya must but before ya do ya really need ta consider what yer gonna do fer th community of people who leave thair animals thair. Ah it don't matter, let em turn em out on th street ta fend fer themselves.

If you recall, last year during the campaings for mayor and city council the city manager announced that the county had found money to build a regional animal shelter that would be a no-kill facility. He also said that Tracy would be working with other cities in the south county area to put a plan together.

Unfortunately, now that the election is over the city manager, probably at the request of the mayor, has most likely placed this project back on their back burner and completely forgotten about getting this matter addressed.

I agree with Ms. Scialabba, the Tracy shelter is a dump and should be closed.

I sure would like to see the animal lovers get in touch with other animal shelters and see if they could take the animals from the "horrible shelter" you described. I thought it inadequate when I adopted my dog from that shelter.

Animal lovers of Tracy could pool their resources to add a wing to the shelter to make it accomodating to animals.

Unfortunately, increasing number of animals equate to increasing number of jobs lost. Families sometimes, "dump" their domestic dogs into the wild, thinking they are able to survive in the wild, not true, they have to be pack dogs to survive. Domestic animals cannot do it. They get hit by cars, caught for tormenting purpose, and other unimaginable things.

If you love your pet, first thing, find a home, even through other relatives who has fondness for your pet... before dumping them at the shelter.

Make it into a community cause, if I were still in Tracy, that is what I would do!

Enroll the animal shelter into national database to get the animals adopted.

There are things people can do, but will they do it?

Organize.... is the key.

CN

Tracy Press, your crypto is hard to read....

Dorothy Scialabba

You should be ashamed of yourself for writin such a totally biased an untrue letter.

Th animals are put down by someone licensed ta do so in accordance with th standards an practices set forth by State law.

An while I don't like it I have seen th process hundreds of times not only here in Tracy but at other shelters across th nation an th way it's done here ain't any different than th way it's done thair.

Cold an foggy? Since th kennels of virtually all animal shelters are open ta th outside air all over th US includin those places whair th snow piles high every year, what else would ya expect?

An a lot of that shiverin ya see with these animals is fear frum bein placed in an enviroment they have never experienced before an they don't know how ta handle it except ta be afraid.

Now if ya don't like what th animal shelter is doin, why don't ya take yer bleedin heart out ta th public an teach em how ta nuter an properly care fer thair animals instead of dumpin em off fer th city an county ta deal with after they have grown out of th cute puppy an kitten stage.

Then perhaps we wouldn't have th place overcrowded an wouldn't have ta euthanize so many.

Oh, an ya can also get more directly involved against th cretins in our society that abuse animals fer pleasure or profit. Then many of them animals wouldn't have ta be put down when th authorities take em away an prosecute th peole fer animal abuse.

I'm glad yer upset an won't go thair again. Th reason is because we don't need ya because it's apparent that yer a part of th problem and not th solution. It's as simple as that.

AGREE!!! I also was a volunteer and the place is just horrible...They rather spend the money on Downtown and the Mall, yet nothing has been a positive change. I still urge people to donate food for these beautiful animals and give them some comfort :)

I admit the conditions at the animal shelter are not ideal, but I think this person has lost touch with reality. Unless shelter staffed euthanized an animal in front of her (which I'm guessing did not happen) how does she know the animals die a horrible death?! From what I understand, the shelter has the same practice used at vet hospitals for euthanizing animals. An injection in the vein that puts them (literally) to sleep. Look up the word "euthanasia" and you will see that essentially it means "good death." Yes, it's upsetting. Yes, no one wants to see animals die. But put this energy in fighting for laws to spay and neuter animals. Take it out on people who move away and leave "fido" or "fluffy" behind. I actually visited the animal shelter 2 weeks ago to renew my dog license. (yes, your dog needs to be licensed with the city and I was not aware of this) I walked through and noticed that all the animals had a blanket, toys, and some smaller dogs even had beds! I was very suprised to see small heaters in the indoor portion of the encloser on the ceiling. They also had access to an outdoor encloser. It did not appear that the dogs are locked out or forced to stay outside with no shelter. If the dogs were wet, it was probably because they chose to be. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see the City budget some money for a new shelter that is desparetely in need of some updating and better location, but lets not forget the real problem lies with society. The real saddness is the fact that there is such a thing as an "animal shelter" and "animal control".