SF COMMISSION OF ANIMAL CONTROL & WELFARE (ACWC) MEETINGS
ACWC meetings are the 2nd Thursday of every month at 5:30PM (excluding December)
San Francisco City Hall, Room 408 (or Remote)
Meeting Agenda is posted on the Monday just prior to the meeting on Thursday.
Specifically for the January 12, 2023 Meeting at 5:30pm:
WATCH (via WebEx) - TBD
LISTEN / PUBLIC COMMENT CALL-IN: (415) 655-0003
Access Code : TBD
When Providing Public Comment:
Ensure you are in a quiet location
Mute any TVs, radios, or internet streaming around you
Address the Commission, not individual commissioners
How to Make a Public Comment:
1. Call the number listed on the Agenda. Enter the access code (listed with the number), then press #.
2. Press # again to join the meeting as a participant. You will hear a beep when you have entered the meeting.
3. The host will announce when General Public Comment period is open at the beginning of the meeting. During General Public Comment, you may only speak on issues not on the agenda.
4. Following an agenda item, the host will announce when the public comment period regarding an agenda item is open.
5. To be added to the speaker line when a comment period is opened, Dial * 3. You will then hear a recorded voice state “you have raised your hand to ask a question, please wait to speak until the host calls on you.”
6. When the host calls on you, you will hear a tone and then a recorded voice will say “your line has been unmuted,” and the host will ask ‘the caller’ to go ahead and speak - that means you. Please start by stating your name and any affiliations you wish to disclose.
8. There is a two minute time limit for make a public comment. It helps to be prepared.
November 10, 2022 ACWC MEETING
Watch a recording of the November 10th meeting (coming soon)
Of interest: Agenda Items
B. Animal Care and Control Admissions Policy [Discussion Item] [Commissioner Torres] The Commission will continue the discussion concerning Department of Animal Care and Control’s admissions policy regarding healthy cats and kittens. “The Needs of San Francisco’s Homeless Cats” and “Cat Pathway Planning” presenters from the September and October Commission meetings will be invited to make statements and respond to questions from the Commissioners.
Download a PDF of SF ACC Outdoor Cats Message to Commission
C. Reporting from Animal Care & Control [Discussion Item] [Commissioner Torres and Executive Director Virginia Donohue] Animal Care & Control will report regarding outcomes for animals and ongoing operations and present the July – September 2022 Quarterly Report.
Download a PDF of SF ACC Quarterly Report for July - September 2022
October 13, 2022 ACWC MEETING
Watch a recording of the October 13th meeting length 3:35:22
Of interest : Agenda Item A. Animal Care and Control Admissions Policy [Discussion Item] [Commissioner Torres and Dr. Shari O’Neill] Dr. Shari O’Neill, Chief Shelter Veterinarian at the Department of Animal Care and Control, will present on cats and the animal admissions policy at SF Animal Care and Control.
Download a PDF of the presentation by ACC: Cat Pathway Planning
Talking points for October 13th meeting
Personal experiences with friendly lost, abandoned, and/or neglected cats.
If my cat were lost and a Good Samaritan found him on the street, I would absolutely want ACC to accept him in the shelter so that I could find him there.
Personal experiences of being rejected by ACC when attempting to help cats in need, or your feelings of outrage over the fact that Good Samaritans are being turned away.
ACC's new practices go against every part of their mission statement.
ACC has a brand new facility with lots of space, a robust foster and volunteer program. Rejecting cats in need is irresponsible and a waste of our taxpayers money.
“Healthy looking cats” may not be spayed or neutered and will overpopulate this city, if left unchecked. Injuries may not be apparent from a distance.
ACC is using owned outdoor cats as an excuse to reject all outdoor cats, and they need to be reminded that these other cats exist and could need their help to safely return to their home.
Their policy changes may increase coyote populations by providing cats and kittens as a food source.
The studies used to justify this practice of leaving cats outside are specifically for overwhelmed shelters in other cities that euthanize for space. San Francisco ACC does not have this problem and needs to be held to a higher standard. Policies that leave cats in need outside when there are resources and space for them at the shelter are unfair to the cats, who are then forced to try to survive on their own (they are not wild animals), and contribute to the wildlife and ecosystem destruction due to cat overpopulation.
September 8, 2022 ACWC MEETING
Of particular interest is Agenda item #5 “New business”:
A. The Needs of San Francisco’s Homeless Cats [Discussion Item] [Commissioner Torres] Maria Conlon, from Give Me Shelter Cat Rescue, and Alena Ja, a volunteer with SF SPCA, will present on their experiences rescuing and advocating for cats in San Francisco.
Watch a recording of the September 8th meeting (also on YouTube) length 2:16:48
Download a PDF of the Commission Presentation SF Homeless Cats
0:8:40 - 0:11:55 Begin Agenda item #5 with Commissioner Intro
0:12:05 -1:10:45 Presentation by Maria and Alena
1:11:01 - 1:18:54 Commissioner comments and questions to Maria and Alena
1:19:45 open public comments on presentation
1:20:20 Rebecca
1:22:30 unidentified male
1:24:10 Janice
1:26:05 unidentified female
1:26:45 Eva
1:27:40 Dave
1:30:05 Kate
1:32:12 Amy
1:34:34 Nadine
1:36:50 Whitney
1:38:42 unidentified female
1:41:45 unidentified female (Commisioner Nina Irani’s beautiful cat joins the discussion)
1:44:30 Dominic? (finds lost cats)
1:46:38 Elva
1:48:40 end of public comments
1:49:35 - 2:13:00 Agenda item #6(a) Commissioner Shari O’Neill reporting from SF ACC
The October meeting will provide a presentation on the animal admissions policy by SF ACC
The November meeting will provide a commission discussion where panelists from September and October will be invited to attend.
August 11, 2022 ACWC MEETING
Included reporting from Animal Care & Control (Discussion Item) - will report regarding outcomes for animals and ongoing operations and present the SF ACC Quarterly Report for April - June 2022
Watch a recording of the August 11th meeting.
July 14, 2022 ACWC MEETING
Watch a recording of the July 14th meeting.
General Public Comment:
at time point 09:10 Nadine May spoke on the history of feral cats in San Francisco and issues with the policies put into effect in 2019
at time point 11:19 Elva Granat offered solutions to the issues seen with policies put into effect in 2019 (she does get to finish after a glitch cut her off)
at time point 14:54 Maria Conlon of Give Me Shelter spoke about a recent kitten rescue featured on social media that provides an example of the real world effects of current policies.
Agenda Item 6.A: “Reporting from Animal Care & Control”
at time point 1:24:22 ACC report by Dr. Shari O’Neill on outcomes for animals - “overview on-site have 16 birds, 106 cats, 62 dogs and 45 others, so total of 229 in care” - mentions having influx of kittens and moms with kittens and being short-staffed while shelter is full of surrenders.
Agenda Item 7: Items to be put on the agenda for future Commission meetings
at time point 1:34:00 mentions known agenda items for August 11th meeting, including: discussion on animal admissions policy at ACC, companion animal abductions (?), ongoing ACC reporting, news and quarterly report.
January 16, 2020 ACWC MEETING
None of our issues were on the agenda. Instead, people spoke during the General Public Comment agenda items.
October 17, 2019 ACWC MEETING
Read proposed legislation regarding notification prior to euthanizing animals.
August 15, 2019 ACWC MEETING
Video of August 15, 2019 ACWC meeting (2h 9m)
Letter to Supervisor Brown from ACWC, August 22, 2019
The new feral mom cat and kitten policy was a follow up agenda item at this ACWC meeting. SF ACC Director Virginia Donohue was the only person allowed to make a presentation, which was essentially a rebuttal of our perspective of the issue. She claimed she made a mistake, that the reason for the policy change in regards to leaving homeless (possibly social) mom cats (queens) with nursing kittens in the wild was purely a welfare issue (the welfare of the queens). This appears to be an attempt to step away from the discredited statistics they were using - the ones that claimed a 45% mortality rate for kittens, when in reality, at worst, it is 10% compared with 50-75% when left “in the wild” (the “wilds” of urban San Francisco with its bizillion vehicles and a growing population of coyotes). One of the Commissioners tried to ask Director Donohue if she could come up with an explanation as to why this issue was viewed so differently between herself (and the others implementing this new policy) and the community of volunteer trappers and fosters. She could not answer the question directly, so that must be a “No”, she couldn’t explain it.
Interestingly, one of the people making a public comment looked into the documentation they have been waving around and found that their own documentation does not support the claim that feral queens are extremely stressed in a shelter. All cats, upon entering the shelter, show a high stress level. Their stress drops over the next few days. Including the stress level of the queens. Overall, the report stated that feral cats were only slightly more stressed than social cats.
So, why aren’t they making a visible effort to GROW their population of volunteer fosters and have most all cats fostered in less-stress homes and adopted while in foster (show them as available on websites, but in foster). Instead, they seem to see themselves as being at war with the volunteer community.
The leadership at SF ACC and SF SPCA have no respect for the expertise and experience to be found within the volunteer community. Director Donohue virtually said as much when she declared that the only qualification for being able to speak on behalf of cats is a related educational degree.
The reality is that having a veterinarian degree does not indicate experience or expertise with the life and behavior of homeless/feral cats. A degree in animal behavior may provide that expertise, but it is interesting no one has heard from Dr. Berger, board certified behaviorist and VP of Rescue and Welfare at San Francisco SPCA. The volunteers who do work with homeless/feral cats and kittens are often highly educated people who have had years of experience working with scared felines.
July 18, 2019 ACWC MEETING
VIDEO of July 18, 2019 ACWC meeting (3h 00m)
Response from ACC
The new feral mom cat and kitten policy was a follow up agenda item at this ACWC meeting. A letter was mailed from the Commission to Executive Director, Virginia Donohue of SF ACC and Dr. Scarlett of SF SPCA after the last meeting.
A response came from both ACC and the SPCA the day before this meeting, not allowing the Commission to determine whether they could share Dr. Scarlett’s letter, as the SPCA is a private non-profit, but they did share the response from ACC. Several Commission members felt the responses were insufficient.
On July 27, 2019, the Commission followed up with a letter to Director Donohue.
At the August 15th meeting, we received a draft of the meeting minutes for this meeting.
June 20, 2019 ACWC MEETING
VIDEO of June 20, 2019 ACWC meeting (3h 44m)
Draft of Meeting Minutes June 20, 2019
This meeting was all about the new policies put in place by SF ACC and SF SPCA that the SF cat community feels has put kittens in danger and will result in an increase in the feral cat population. It was well attended and many voices were heard.
Following the meeting, the commissioners sent a letter to Dr. Scarlett and Director Donohue :
ACWC Letter re Feral Cat Policy (PDF)
We followed up with a petition sent to City of San Francisco Administrator Naomi Kelly. Read about it here.