San Bernardino Animal Services details distemper outbreak, staffing shortfalls and kennel expansion

San Bernardino Animal Services Director Chris Watson updated the Animal Services Commission at a recent meeting on a distemper outbreak, staffing shortages and progress on a modular kennel expansion.

Watson said the department used five per-diem veterinarians between April 1 and July 2 to address a surgical backlog and completed 330 surgeries on campus during that interval. "One of our per-diem vets is able to get through about 30 surgeries per day," Watson said, and the city is pursuing additional per-diem veterinary assistance while recruiting for a permanent staff veterinarian.

The department reported role-specific staffing gaps that limit operations. Watson said there are two registered veterinary technician (RVT) vacancies and two registered veterinary technician (RBT) vacancies; the shelter requires at least one RVT on site to run spay/neuter surgeries. To expand surgical capacity the city has requested HR approval to hire per-diem RBTs. Watson said the full-time animal shelter attendant classification has seen high turnover; the department has used temporary staff pools to cover basic feeding and cleaning tasks.

Watson described the distemper response: the shelter moved animals to limit spread, used SNAP screening tests as an initial screen and sent samples for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for confirmation. Watson said SNAP tests are "not a 100% accurate" and estimated they are accurate "maybe 50 to 60 percent of the time," while PCR testing gives definitive results and can distinguish vaccine reactions from true infections. The department arranged discounted PCR testing through a university laboratory and performed a batch of 127 PCR tests; Watson said the most recent kennel test results returned negative. She said roughly 300 dogs were on campus during the response and that many animals were treated with antibiotics twice daily as part of care and mitigation efforts. "Once [distemper] gets to a certain stage, humane euthanasia is honestly the most humane option for those animals," Watson said.

Watson told commissioners the city is constrained in using per-diem veterinarians to operate on privately owned animals because a veterinarian must establish a veterinary-client-patient relationship before treating members of the public, and because offering public surgeries implicates fee-waiver and budget decisions. She said staff plan to present a council item to set fees (or authorize waivers) before offering public surgeries from the mobile unit.

The department reported field activity numbers for April 1–June 30: 4,332 calls or actions, including one animal cruelty investigation, four dangerous-or-vicious investigations, 144 citations and three site cleanups in coordination with police and parks staff. Watson said the department handles calls only for the City of San Bernardino; neighboring cities manage their own animal-control calls.

Watson also reviewed shelter statistics: the combined dog-and-cat save rate was 87% for April, dipped to 81% in May as distemper cases appeared, and — as the shelter worked through the outbreak — improved in June. Watson said June's dog save rate rose to 91% while the combined dog-and-cat save rate for June was about 85%. For the first six months of 2025 the department reported a combined save rate of about 81% and a dog save rate near 86%.

On facilities, Watson said a contractor began site work and had poured two concrete pads within a week of breaking ground. The first three modular buildings were scheduled for delivery on Aug. 4, with nine additional buildings phased through December. When the full set of 12 buildings is online the site will have a total of 311 separate dog kennels; Watson said the contractor expects the facility work to be complete by October. Watson noted current on-site dog population figures were high (she reported 378 dogs at one point) and said the additional kennels will allow more single-kennel housing to reduce fights and better contain any future outbreaks.

The department also described the new satellite center: after a ribbon-cutting on May 7 it opened to the public on May 9; Watson said the site had 83 cats and 21 dogs as of July 3 and later exceeded 100 cats. Staff reported some dogs did not acclimate well to the satellite center and the site is being used primarily for seniors and small, quieter dogs.

Rescue and volunteer programs were highlighted as a key operational support. The department reported 38 new rescue partners in the year and a total of 1,821 animals pulled by rescues. In June, after a rescue request, partners pulled 133 cats (77 of them in two weeks following that request). The shelter logged about 2,500 volunteer hours in the first half of the year and said active volunteers numbered 72. Outreach initiatives include a pet-food pantry (the fourth Monday of each month), an Amazon wish list at sbcitypets and a doggy-day-out pilot program for volunteers and the public.

Watson said the department continues to seek applicants for a full-time staff veterinarian; she reported no qualified applicants to date and said some per-diem veterinarians prefer the flexibility of per-diem contracts rather than full-time roles.

Commissioners praised Watson's transparency and leadership; one commissioner said, "You're probably the best director that the animal services department has ever had," and multiple commissioners said they expect to support continuity as staff leadership changes. Watson announced she will retire later that week to attend to family needs and said she will assist in transition work. "It's been my pleasure to serve this community," Watson said.

Votes at a glance: the commission voted to approve draft minutes from the April 9, 2025 meeting with corrections; the motion passed unanimously (mover/second and roll-call names not specified in the transcript).