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Experts urge Jefferson County to prioritize safety-net services over building new animal shelter
Summary
Animal-welfare consultants and local shelter directors told Jefferson County officials a new municipal shelter is not warranted by current intake data; they recommended a community-based 'safety net' approach, spay/neuter access and piloting a dedicated animal resource officer instead.
A trio of animal-welfare leaders urged Jefferson County leaders during a morning presentation to focus on community-based services and spay/neuter access rather than building and operating a full municipal shelter.
Amber Kostoff, executive director of Humane Society for Central Oregon (HSCO), and Taylor Campbell, executive director of Bright Side Animal Center, presented intake numbers and capacity information for Madras and Jefferson County. HSCO and Bright Side shared intake totals for jurisdictions served under their contracts and said dogs brought to HSCO have a high reunification rate with owners (presented as roughly 75–80% for stray dogs) while cats had lower return-to-owner rates.
Sarah (last name redacted), a consultant from Maddie’s Fund’s “Maddie’s Million Pet Challenge,” presented a written report and recommendations from a national review team. She said Jefferson County’s 911 “nature” call totals (a combined category) are not high per capita and, crucially, that a large municipal kennel would likely require 7-day staffing and substantial recurring operational costs. Based on the county’s data, she said, the community would gain more by investing in prevention and access-to-care services that keep pets in homes — including low-cost spay/neuter, crisis foster programs, targeted assistance for people in crisis, and a coordinated community resource officer to link people to services.
Recommendations included: - Prioritize a ‘safety-net’ system that provides short-term fosters, subsidized spay/neuter, and on-site help rather than routine shelter intake for free-roaming cats or low-risk animals; - Create or pilot a locally based animal resource officer (sometimes called an animal peace officer) to triage calls, coordinate fosters, and work with nonprofit partners; the role could be run by a nonprofit or county administration rather than law enforcement; and - Reserve shelter intake for injured animals, dangerous animals or those requiring enforcement or court cases.
Both HSCO and Bright Side said they will continue to accept contract animals and that they have reserved kennel capacity for jurisdictional partners. The presenters offered to support a one-year pilot of a locally based resource officer and stress-tested the idea using examples from other jurisdictions.
Commissioners and county staff discussed personnel options, whether a nonprofit or county employee should hold the resource-officer role, and how to finance a pilot. Sheriff and county staff noted field-response realities — deputies and dispatch sometimes receive calls where animals are no longer present — and also said some animal-related calls (aggressive animals, animal cruelty) still require law-enforcement response.
Ending: Presenters said they would support the county in a pilot and recommended investing in spay/neuter and a community-based resource officer before committing to the expense of a full shelter build-out.
