What’s next for animal issues, ideas?

Bigger, better animal facilities. More animal control officers. Teaching responsible pet ownership. Animal abusers held accountable for their crimes.

If our three-day series on animal issues showed me anything, it’s that locals really care about their pets, and more important, what becomes of other people’s pets, abandoned, lost or abused.

This was a package of stories people really seemed to get behind. It makes me think the stakeholders involved in finding solutions could come at them more aggressively. At least the county officials or the governmental entities, which communicated in a lot of generalities and addressed the needs and concerns in very noncommittal ways.

To some extent, I can understand that. The county health department, the lead agency driving the needs assessment that studied what is best for doggies and kitties around here, has to make sure the city of El Centro is on board, which has to make sure the city of Brawley feels included, which has to ensure the city of Calexico doesn’t get its toes stepped on … and so on and so on.

The needs assessment put together by a county-contracted third party has some incredible meat to it, and some ideas really worth exploring, if not duplicating outright. But money and in-fighting will be those factors that put the brakes on a wholesale cure to what ails the animals.

This month, the county will bring together the various cities and animal agencies to move the conversation forward on animal care, sheltering and animal control, using the assessment as their guide and blueprint.

One thing I wish those pushing the assessment would be more vocal about is the funding of a plan that takes care of the entire county. In a very small way, one county official was paraphrased in one of our stories mentioning a Measure D-style sales tax increase approved by the voters and dedicated to funding a new state-of-the-art animal shelter, services and staff, which would likely include funding more animal control officers throughout the Valley.

Buy-in among local government, including figuring out a way the various cities and the county could work as one without anyone getting their feelings hurt, is essential from the start. But getting support for this tax initiative is also important, and I’d like to see that happen sooner than later, because it is the smartest way to do this.

People are scared to death of taxes, and governments are probably scared to ask for them, but I could see this plan getting little opposition. I wouldn’t be opposed to a quarter- to half-cent countywide sales tax increase if it did some very specific things.

It would have to build that state-of-the-art facility. It would have to help fund a more responsive animal control system in the county and cities, including more officers. It would have to fund education, outreach, and maybe even further offset the cost of spaying and neutering. And it would have to fund some level of animal abuse prosecution.

In terms of the facility, I know there’s talk about moving it north of El Centro, but why not rebuild right where it is, on the back of the Imperial County jail?

As nutty as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is, his idea to take over the operation of the county animal shelter in 2009 and have it staffed by trained trusties of the jail, saved the Arizona county almost $15 million a year in operational costs.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much written on the idea that it was likely great therapy for his inmates. Still, it’s been documented in psychological and criminological journals for years about the benefits of having inmates work with animals, in some cases lowering recidivism rates, teaching a different set of job skills and newfound social and coping skills.

The tax idea funding prosecutions is an idea worth thinking about, too, because that strange explanation of realignment funding being the difference between a felony that has to play out in court and a misdemeanor that can be pushed to another venue might make sense to the District Attorney’s Office but not to many others.

If it’s funding, then let’s make sure a percentage of that money goes to the DA to prosecute animal abusers and not simply sweep a perceived felony under the misdemeanor rug.

For the first time in a while, people are talking about this, and many of the parties that weren’t always on the same page are at least now reading the same book. Don’t just get them with lofty generalities; hit them with gut-level specifics.

The time is right for buy-in for collective action, animal lover or otherwise.

This column first appeared in the Imperial Valley Press, Jan. 10, 2014.