What’s happening to stray animals after the closing of Merced SPCA?

After the closing last month of the Merced Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals the fate of many stray and abandoned animals in Merced County is in the hands of a county shelter and a nonprofit animal transportation organization.

Merced County Animal Services is the place where residents from Merced Atwater and Livingston go to take their animals, said Kristi Caseri, facility supervisor for the shelter. Although Gustine has a small shelter, Gustine Police Department Animal Services, they only hold animals for a few days until they transport them to the county shelter.

The closing of the Merced SPCA has “absolutely” affected the Gustine shelter, said Sabrina Weightman, community service officer for the Gustine Shelter.

In the past, Weightman said, the Gustine shelter has worked with the Merced SPCA because they do everything they can to find a no-kill shelter for the animals they take in.

“We used to be able to refer to the SPCA and that option is gone,” she said. “For us, it hurts.”

Although the county shelter does everything in its power to avoid euthanizing animals, Caseri said, sometimes that’s what happens.

“We don’t like to euthanize any animal, what decides that is behavior,” Caseri said.

Euthanization can happen when an animal is aggressive, considered dangerous, too sick to be healed or if there isn’t any space, Caseri said.

During the 2014-15 fiscal year, the county shelter euthanized about 40 percent of their animals, according to data on their website. In 2013-14, about 45 percent of animals were euthanized.

Caseri said she isn’t sure what impact the Merced SPCA closing will have but so far it hasn’t made a difference in the number of animals brought it, which averages between 10 to 20 a day.

“I think that a lot of people aren't going to want to bring animals here as opposed to an SPCA because they are a no kill facility,” Caseri said. “They don’t euthanize for any reason. We work as hard as we can to get every animal out of the front door.”

New Beginnings for Merced County Animals, a nonprofit that transports animals to other shelters, worked with the Merced SPCA to place animals from 2004 until they closed, according to Sharon Lohman, president of New Beginnings.

The Merced SPCA would help foster some animals for New Beginnings, Lohman said. Lately they have been receiving more emergency calls since the Merced SPCA closed especially with medical help.

“We don’t have that ability anymore which is tough,” Lohman said. “We’ve worked with them for quite some time and that’s been wonderful to have that.”

“It really hasn't impacted us that much,” she added. “Once the facility is full it’s not like they can continue to take animals anyways.”

The Dos Palos and Los Banos Animal Shelters both have no affiliation with the Merced SPCA and officials said they won’t be impacted by their closure.

According to Merced SPCA social media posts although they don’t have a shelter they are remaining an “open society.” They asked for Merced SPCA members to hold onto the membership to help them with animal emergencies.

Former Merced SPCA board members did not respond to Merced Sun-Star requests for comment.

The former property of the facility was sold to Richard and Ivy Tanaka on Feb. 23, according to documents obtained by the Merced Sun-Star.

This story was originally published March 17, 2017 at 2:41 PM with the headline "What’s happening to stray animals after the closing of Merced SPCA?."