Editor;
There is an ongoing, onerous, and outrageous situation in Lafayette (maybe all of CoCo County), involving animal suffering & public safety. The latest situation was a young deer with its legs smashed by a car, dragging itself around a parking lot for at least 24 hours while its mother stood helplessly by, until someone apparently came by in the early morning hours and euthanized it, perhaps compelled by an online outcry on NextDoor and a local Facebook group.
Agencies that would not or could not help: Animal Control, the Lindsay Wildlife Hospital, Fish & Wildlife, the Sheriff Department, the Lafayette police, Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG). Often an agency tells the caller to call another agency, making the search for help fruitlessly circular. This happens on a regular basis. Nearby residents say they can’t walk their dogs without encountering dead animals in various stages of decomposition. One resident said her young son went to school that morning in tears over this.
In terms of public safety, aside from the possibility of an injured animal staggering into the road (injured deer can live for a surprisingly long time), this sure seems like it can attract coyotes and possibly mountain lions into the neighborhoods.
Animal Control in other counties will come out 24/7 and euthanize such animals with the same two injections the veterinarians use to put down pet dogs and cats. In Lafayette, apparently they won’t even shoot a mortally wounded deer to put it out of its misery. It’s not hard to see how awful this situation is. Lafayette is a pretty prosperous town, with a lot of civic pride. How did things get this way? Budget cuts? Was it worth it? Is it now up to residents to learn how to use a sharp knife? (Using a gun is illegal and the veterinarian drugs are controlled substances.)
Valerie May/Lafayette
It’s county wide and it’s embarrassing and cruel.
Found our elderly neighbor in tears outside his home last year. He said he had terminal cancer and he didn’t know who would take care of his dog. I’ll never forget the look on his face when we told him we’d take him and treat him like a member of the family.
Nice.
It’s your liberal county supervisors spending money on social justice programs vs. animal control. You voted for them.
Firestone 11R
Bla bla bla – libs did this, libs are responsible for that. So damn boring.
Something has changed. Animal Control was always very responsive here, although it’s been several years since I had to call them. Marin County not so much. My brother in law severely injured himself as a CHP officer when he tried to drag a dead dear out of the road, so there is that, too.
Interesting letter. I’d be interested to see what they come up with. If our government can’t do these things I guess we’ll have to.
My understanding is they have cut back on their number of animal control people in the field to the point where they do not respond to most cases any more.
Deeply concerning.
This was posted on the Lindsay Wildlife web site last year: “Due to staffing and budgeting issues, as of Oct. 5, Animal Services is unfortunately no longer responding to any calls about injured, sick or trapped wildlife. They are instead referring callers to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.”
Thank you for writing this. It is an important issue that needs to be addressed. As a wildlife rehabber, I am always dismayed when someone calls from Contra Costa as I know that there is no public agency there who will help.
Posted to the Lindsay Wildlife site last year: “Due to staffing and budgeting issues, as of Oct. 5, Animal Services is unfortunately no longer responding to any calls about injured, sick or trapped wildlife. They are instead referring callers to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.”
It is not just Lafayette, I see posts like this on Nextdoor all the time, about wildlife suffering and all agencies ignoring the pleas for help, all over Contra Costa County. Who should we be reaching out to about this? We should flood thier inboxes until they can provide a solution. It is disgusting to let these animals suffer. If the county won’t provide the money or resources to the agencies to help, then they should at least make laws to protect empathetic citizens who use a firearm to put the animal out of it’s misery.