"From conflict comes clarity."  That's what a good friend of mine old me recently.  "Wow," I thought.  "What a wise statement."  Recently, I was able to see first hand how that progression occurs.  Here was the conflict:

One day, the Coronado Animal Care Facility (ACF) received a call from a woman who stated she recognized her cat on the PAWS website, up for adoption, and wanted it back.  When something like this happens (and sadly it does from time to time), part of my job as your Chairman of the Board is to look into the matter and try to resolve it.  So, I pulled the cat's file, found out all I could about how the cat had come into our care and dialed what I knew was going to be a difficult call.   

The woman told me she and her family had received orders to vacate Navy Housing on the Strand and travel on to a new duty station in the Midwest.  During their pack out, their two cats escaped.  Only one returned.  I asked if she had called the police or the ACF when it happened to report the missing cat.  She said she had not.  I advised her that one of her neighbors had been feeding the cat after her family left the area.  I asked if she had put up fliers in the neighborhood, contacted any of her neighbors or put a free ad in the Coronado Eagle Lost and Found column about her lost pet.  She said she had not.  After feeding this cat for 10 days, the neighbor called the police. The cat was trapped and transported to the ACF.   

The cat stayed in the ACF for another 20 days.  While our facility is beautiful, clean and comfortable, any shelter is the worst place possible for pets to find themselves.  The animals are lost and confused; they wonder,  "Where is my family?  Why are they not coming for me?"  Any shelter is disorienting with constant noise, so many other animals, people coming and going, different food, different schedules, no natural light, little fresh air.  And no matter how nice the shelter, it causes every animal that enters profound emotional stress.   

I explained to the woman it had been over a month since she had relocated and that, just the day before, an adoption application had been received.  The cat was no longer in the ACF.  She got hot and said she wanted her cat back.  I explained we didn't know whose cat it was when it arrived at the ACF. It was not licensed and its microchip had not been registered with any contact information.  The cat had waited his required quarantine period (which PAWS lengthens from what is legally required to give an owner extra time to find a lost pet).  And, during all that time, neither the police, nor the ACF, nor PAWS received a call, email or post about this lost animal.  I told her we had done what was best for this pet; we found him a forever home with a new loving family.   

The conflict ended when the woman asked, "So you are going to be an a**hole and not return my cat?"  At that point, I knew I was getting nowhere.  But then the clarity came:

We at the ACF need YOUR help with the work we do, especially with lost animals.  Coronado has many safety nets for our lost pets: they can be licensed, they can be microchipped, there is a waiting period before they are made available for adoption, the Coronado Eagle will publish a "lost and found" ad free of charge, the Police Department has a 24/7 dispatcher where an owner can call to report a lost pet, the ACF is open 7 days a week, 9am-4pm. It has a 24-hour answering machine for a report of a lost pet and, most importantly, we have a community that cares.   But, if pet owners don't do their part, we can't do ours.   

Out of this sad and totally preventable situation has come the thought that maybe an internet-based directory for Coronado lost and found pets can be established.   Photographs of these pets could be arranged in a traceable order, the owner of a lost pet could post a plea to the community to be on the lookout.  This might work or someone might have a better suggestion.  No one wants this situation to happen ever again.  No one wants a family to lose their pet.   If any of our readers are interested in serving on a committee to discuss possible solutions, please call me directly at 619-435-2282.  Your

help would be greatly appreciated.

It would be hard to find a town more animal-friendly than Coronado. Dozens of restaurants welcome our pets to their patios; we have one of the finest dog beaches in the nation; you can't walk a block without seeing happy dogs (and sometimes cats!) on leashes enjoying the fine ocean air. Pets are not just accessories to our lives here on the island; they are part of our families and the very fabric of our community.

 

 

The animal services provided by the CPD include stray and nuisance animal pick-up, assistance for sick and injured stray animals, control of biting, vicious or threatening animals, follow up on barking dog complaints, enforcement of animal cruelty laws, confiscation of fighting animals and animals left in hot cars, and lost/found assistance. For these services, one should call the Coronado Police Department at 619-435-7350 at any time of the day or night, 24/7.

 

Animals picked up in the field by the police are transported to the Coronado Animal Care Facility where a full time paid staff receives them, tries to locate their owners and provides for their safe shelter and care. The CACF also provides lost/found assistance, licensing, a yearly rabies vaccination clinic and microchipping. The CACF is open to the pubic seven days a week, 9:00am-4:00pm. Staff can also be reached during these hours at 619-522-7371. When animals are voluntarily relinquished or found stray and not claimed, a dedicated group of PAWS of Coronado volunteers, who may be reached at 619-435-8247, goes about finding them forever homes.

 

Each year the Coronado police and PAWS process over 500 animals. That's a lot of dogs and cats. Each side of the City/PAWS partnership has its own specific responsibilities, but both sides of the partnership are equally dedicated to making sure these responsibilities are fulfilled. Sometimes it does "take a village." And our Village has gotten this one right. The partnership of the City of Coronado and PAWS is clearly what is best for our animals and for our community.