October 24

Marcia Mayeda

Director

County of Los Angeles

Department of Animal Care and Control

5898 Cherry Ave.

Long Beach, Ca. 90805

RE: Response to your communication of 10-22-08/ Rancho Cats

Dear Marcia:

We, at Fail-Safe, have spent hours upon hours meeting with you and your representatives in an effort to find the appropriate (humane) solution regarding the cats that habitate at Rancho and to address the complaints made by a handful of people at the crime lab and the day care center. At no time did we concur with you regarding their removal. Time was only of the essence due to being threatened by you and Mr. Knabe’s representatives that these healthy pets would be removed by you and euthanized.

Yes, you and your Department have offered a variety of resources to help remove the cats, however, in your letter you only stated half of the proposal. You omitted to state the reasons why we refuse the assistance offered. I will respond to your itemized list now as I have done at our meetings.

*House and Treat- The offer was to house the cats for a very limited time and at the end of their term in your facility (which would be dictated by you) we would be given the opportunity to remove the cats, if they were not adopted but could not return them to Rancho, otherwise, they would be euthanized. An absurd offer at best!

The shelters in Los Angeles, including yours, are killing tame cats and dogs by the thousands weekly due to no adoptions. I am to believe that these feral cats will be adopted? In addition, it is typical and common, as you are well aware, when cats enter a shelter, within days they come down with an upper respiratory infection which would compound our problem in taking the cat from your facility because now we not only don’t have a home for it but would be in need of vet care. This was an offer masked to accommodate your end but did nothing for the cat.* Spay/Neuter-

The concern of the County was to remove the cats, the concern was not and isn’t their safety. That has become increasingly obvious. Should we have used your facility for spay/neuter, we again would have been faced with having to find them a new home as you dictated they could not go back to Rancho. A solution we did not have, so we were back to square one with this offer.* Provide Crates-*Post Signs-*Find Homes-

 *Problem Solve-

I would also like to add to your list.*Coast Guard Contact-

I informed you all of a home we had found with the Coast Guard facility which would have been perfect for the cats and they would have been protected. The facilitator had reservations due to another organization that had dropped sick cats and they never heard from them again. We informed the facility they would be getting very healthy cats and we would stay in touch with them and help should any problems arise. You all agreed that our cats were very healthy and this would not be an issue. I stated at the meeting we were having trouble getting them to agree. Your representation stated they had firm contacts with these people and would be able to help They were going to contact them and work this out. To date, I have not heard from your representation on this matter.

Marcia, we have always stated we would be aggressive in our attempts to move the cats and we have been so. As you know, it is difficult placing tame cuddly cats,(that is proven in your euthanasia stats) let alone ferals. We have bent over backwards to accommodate the needs of all concerned.

The latest statement from Mr. Knabe’s office is that this trapping and killing is going to happen due to the crime lab and day care center having cat issues. There has not been any of our cats remotely close to these centers. When this issue came up, many months ago, we migrated the few that were in that area. Some we removed completely and were able to find homes for them and the other few were moved significantly far away from there. We agreed to board up the openings in the buildings adjacent to the lab and center to aid in making it not possible for any cats to cross over.**IN ADDITION

As of today Mr. Knabe’s office is stating allegations of the cats being sick and having rabies. AGAIN ANOTHER BLATENT UNTRUTH. All of these cats have been cared for by vets, have had their shots including rabies. By your own admission, the cats are well cared for and healthy.

You and the County are beyond reproach when it comes to getting what you want and at any expense or truth. Spending County money to board up buildings, unboard them and board up again to what end. To spray for fleas over the complete Rancho campus in the wintertime when fleas are dormant.

All the time spent meeting with you and your people has been a waste of our time and County taxpayer money. Your end was to remove these cats at whatever costs. You are

going to kill these innocent animals and have had that plan since the beginning. All the so called avenues of help were only ploys to attain your end and the help was never functional help. This situation could have been remedied in the very beginning when we requested a spot at Rancho towards the Garfield end (which is the complete other side away from the lab and day care center) and asked if the County would fence the area in and we would trap and migrate the cats to that area and maintain them there. We were declined by Mr. Knabe’s office. Again, after several of our meetings and all this County money was being wasted on boarding, spraying and salaries, we requested this again. Such a simple solution but again we were declined resoundingly.

When this problem arose over a year ago, I sent a letter to Mr. Knabe asking for his help and assistance. NO REPONSE. I resent another letter after a few weeks had gone by and finally got a response several weeks later, however, it wasn’t help that I got. I was under the impression that your County representatives were there to make our County better and help. I use to believe the same of the Dept. of Animal Care and Control. I was without question, sadly mistaken. Of all the organizations, I would expect the Dept of Animal Control would know that a TNR(trap, neuter, return0 program works. It has been proven statistically and many cities have adopted this way of pet control and care because it works and it is HUMANE. It is clear that you, your Dept. and Mr. Knabe’s office are not concerned with what works or what is humane. Had you been so, not one of these casts would be in danger, they would be sheltered in a fenced-in area and cared for.

In all, from our prospective, it appears that all efforts on your behalf these last few months have been to, so to speak, get your ducks in a row to substantiate to the public what the Supervisors office has wanted all along. Disposal of these homeless cats. TNR works, your people know this and it is well documented everywhere! Should your offers had been sincere we could have made this a model for other cities to embrace.

We are a small group, no public funding, spending our off time from work, raising money to work a program that aids the City and the cats, and may I add, at no expense to the City of Downey or the County of Los Angeles. We have thousands of dollars and many donated hours invested at Rancho in an effort to do the right thing. On the other hand, you and your representation team have spent thousands of L.A County resident’s money involving 4 agencies, (Supervisors Office, Health Department, Dept. of Animal Care and Control and now the L.A. County Sheriff Dept) in an effort to eradicate these cats and this could have been resolved in the beginning with building a fence in an area that is uninhabited; unused and will be unused for years to come.

It amazes me that when the Downey Rose Float had it’s housing area vandalized, the County jumped to its aid and provided assistance at the County expense. Now we are talking about a Float. Very beautiful and something I support but it isn’t life. Somewhere you and your partnerships have lost touch with what is important. Although happy that the County helped the Downey Rose Float, how is it that you are willing to spend money for a float but not protect and find a humane solution for animal life?

  I will finalize with our motto, although it doesn’t pertain to you and your partnership.

Most Sincerely,

Sheranne C. Jaeger

Founder/Director

Fail-Safe 4 Felines, Inc.

Update 11/6/8  THE KITTENS FOUND AT RANCHO ARE ON OUR ADORABLE ADOPTABLE PAGE


October 24

Marcia Mayeda

Director

County of Los Angeles

Department of Animal Care and Control

5898 Cherry Ave.

Long Beach, Ca. 90805

RE: Response to your communication of 10-22-08/ Rancho Cats

Dear Marcia:

We, at Fail-Safe, have spent hours upon hours meeting with you and your representatives in an effort to find the appropriate (humane) solution regarding the cats that habitate at Rancho and to address the complaints made by a handful of people at the crime lab and the day care center. At no time did we concur with you regarding their removal. Time was only of the essence due to being threatened by you and Mr. Knabe’s representatives that these healthy pets would be removed by you and euthanized.

Yes, you and your Department have offered a variety of resources to help remove the cats, however, in your letter you only stated half of the proposal. You omitted to state the reasons why we refuse the assistance offered. I will respond to your itemized list now as I have done at our meetings.

*House and Treat- The offer was to house the cats for a very limited time and at the end of their term in your facility (which would be dictated by you) we would be given the opportunity to remove the cats, if they were not adopted but could not return them to Rancho, otherwise, they would be euthanized. An absurd offer at best!

The shelters in Los Angeles, including yours, are killing tame cats and dogs by the thousands weekly due to no adoptions. I am to believe that these feral cats will be adopted? In addition, it is typical and common, as you are well aware, when cats enter a shelter, within days they come down with an upper respiratory infection which would compound our problem in taking the cat from your facility because now we not only don’t have a home for it but would be in need of vet care. This was an offer masked to accommodate your end but did nothing for the cat.* Spay/Neuter-

The concern of the County was to remove the cats, the concern was not and isn’t their safety. That has become increasingly obvious. Should we have used your facility for spay/neuter, we again would have been faced with having to find them a new home as you dictated they could not go back to Rancho. A solution we did not have, so we were back to square one with this offer.* Provide Crates-*Post Signs-*Find Homes-

 *Problem Solve-

I would also like to add to your list.*Coast Guard Contact-

I informed you all of a home we had found with the Coast Guard facility which would have been perfect for the cats and they would have been protected. The facilitator had reservations due to another organization that had dropped sick cats and they never heard from them again. We informed the facility they would be getting very healthy cats and we would stay in touch with them and help should any problems arise. You all agreed that our cats were very healthy and this would not be an issue. I stated at the meeting we were having trouble getting them to agree. Your representation stated they had firm contacts with these people and would be able to help They were going to contact them and work this out. To date, I have not heard from your representation on this matter.

Marcia, we have always stated we would be aggressive in our attempts to move the cats and we have been so. As you know, it is difficult placing tame cuddly cats,(that is proven in your euthanasia stats) let alone ferals. We have bent over backwards to accommodate the needs of all concerned.

The latest statement from Mr. Knabe’s office is that this trapping and killing is going to happen due to the crime lab and day care center having cat issues. There has not been any of our cats remotely close to these centers. When this issue came up, many months ago, we migrated the few that were in that area. Some we removed completely and were able to find homes for them and the other few were moved significantly far away from there. We agreed to board up the openings in the buildings adjacent to the lab and center to aid in making it not possible for any cats to cross over.**IN ADDITION

As of today Mr. Knabe’s office is stating allegations of the cats being sick and having rabies. AGAIN ANOTHER BLATENT UNTRUTH. All of these cats have been cared for by vets, have had their shots including rabies. By your own admission, the cats are well cared for and healthy.

You and the County are beyond reproach when it comes to getting what you want and at any expense or truth. Spending County money to board up buildings, unboard them and board up again to what end. To spray for fleas over the complete Rancho campus in the wintertime when fleas are dormant.

All the time spent meeting with you and your people has been a waste of our time and County taxpayer money. Your end was to remove these cats at whatever costs. You are

going to kill these innocent animals and have had that plan since the beginning. All the so called avenues of help were only ploys to attain your end and the help was never functional help. This situation could have been remedied in the very beginning when we requested a spot at Rancho towards the Garfield end (which is the complete other side away from the lab and day care center) and asked if the County would fence the area in and we would trap and migrate the cats to that area and maintain them there. We were declined by Mr. Knabe’s office. Again, after several of our meetings and all this County money was being wasted on boarding, spraying and salaries, we requested this again. Such a simple solution but again we were declined resoundingly.

When this problem arose over a year ago, I sent a letter to Mr. Knabe asking for his help and assistance. NO REPONSE. I resent another letter after a few weeks had gone by and finally got a response several weeks later, however, it wasn’t help that I got. I was under the impression that your County representatives were there to make our County better and help. I use to believe the same of the Dept. of Animal Care and Control. I was without question, sadly mistaken. Of all the organizations, I would expect the Dept of Animal Control would know that a TNR(trap, neuter, return0 program works. It has been proven statistically and many cities have adopted this way of pet control and care because it works and it is HUMANE. It is clear that you, your Dept. and Mr. Knabe’s office are not concerned with what works or what is humane. Had you been so, not one of these casts would be in danger, they would be sheltered in a fenced-in area and cared for.

In all, from our prospective, it appears that all efforts on your behalf these last few months have been to, so to speak, get your ducks in a row to substantiate to the public what the Supervisors office has wanted all along. Disposal of these homeless cats. TNR works, your people know this and it is well documented everywhere! Should your offers had been sincere we could have made this a model for other cities to embrace.

We are a small group, no public funding, spending our off time from work, raising money to work a program that aids the City and the cats, and may I add, at no expense to the City of Downey or the County of Los Angeles. We have thousands of dollars and many donated hours invested at Rancho in an effort to do the right thing. On the other hand, you and your representation team have spent thousands of L.A County resident’s money involving 4 agencies, (Supervisors Office, Health Department, Dept. of Animal Care and Control and now the L.A. County Sheriff Dept) in an effort to eradicate these cats and this could have been resolved in the beginning with building a fence in an area that is uninhabited; unused and will be unused for years to come.

It amazes me that when the Downey Rose Float had it’s housing area vandalized, the County jumped to its aid and provided assistance at the County expense. Now we are talking about a Float. Very beautiful and something I support but it isn’t life. Somewhere you and your partnerships have lost touch with what is important. Although happy that the County helped the Downey Rose Float, how is it that you are willing to spend money for a float but not protect and find a humane solution for animal life?

  I will finalize with our motto, although it doesn’t pertain to you and your partnership.

Most Sincerely,

Sheranne C. Jaeger

Founder/Director

Fail-Safe 4 Felines, Inc.

- In your letter you requested a number to reach me in the event of capturing these cats and you would give us 5 days before killing them. I have responded to you and given you my contact info. (Info you clearly already have in your possession) Another non-truth !!! We met with you every time a meeting was scheduled. Whether it was downtown Los Angeles with Mr. Knabe’s associates, at Seaaca, at your facility, we made ourselves available to you and attended every meeting. Unfortunately, all the proposed help that was being offered wasn’t helpful. It got the cats out of Rancho for you but with no help to us as to an appropriate and humane place to do so. Yes, we talked about the Barn Project and you stated you sent out many notices. Several meetings later, you claimed to have many responses. If you check your minutes that were taken, you’ll also find I asked for the names and numbers so we could follow-up, make contact and further the process and you stated it would be emailed to me. Subsequent to that request, I sent two additional emails requesting the list and after some time had passed, I received an email of only 10 locations. We researched the numbers sent to us and found them to be unacceptable homes. They were all places which had coyotes running freely and the barns had no way to protect the cats from this prey. The cats would have been at risk and likely coyote food. This was not an appropriate solution. When we met again, I discussed this with you and told you of our findings so your statement of us making no attempt is just simply untrue. You are very aware of our contacts as we discussed it. Should you of provided us with addresses that were safe environments we would have been happy, thrilled to migrate these cats. We briefly spoke about feeding signs and didn’t find it necessary to go to all the expense of this program when it wasn’t an issue. Occasionally a passerby would drop food, thinking they were helping but this was not the norm. These cats are very well cared for daily with fresh water and food. I would much rather use the County money for something that was important and necessary.We didn’t decline the crates, Conversely, two of our representatives went to your shelter and inquired about the crates. They were dilapidated and dysfunctional in which some parts didn’t fit the crates therefore inappropriate for use. We didn’t have homes available to migrate the cats to, so it became a mute point anyway. We have used our own dog kennel creates for the cats that have been removed from Rancho. Should we have had more homes available we would have been grateful to borrow your crates had they been functional. We used specific vets for our needs. We trust them and they are very good at working with ferals. We have specific procedures done to ensure that when the casts are released, there are no complications from post surgeries. I am not familiar with your vet and frankly didn’t trust that you would take the appropriate measures.

We Need Your Help...
THEY Need Your Help.

Dear Felines Friends:

Stray Cat Alliance has a very grave situation to report to you and we need your help immediately.

Los Angeles Country supervisor Don Knabe (knabe.com) has ordered the trapping and inevitable killing of stray and feral cats at Rancho Los Amigos, a County-owned property. A few people have complained of fleas and feces so the County Supervisor's office has declared that all cats must go even though the cats have been there for 50 years.

The cats will be trapped and under the Hayden Law, held for a certain amount of time at the Los Angeles County ("Downey") shelter until they can be killed.

The Downey  shelter claims they have "barns" to relocate some of the 100+ cats but this cannot be feasible.  The Downey shelter's record of adopting out friendly cats is abysmal.

Rancho Los Amigos is located next to the Downey shelter where cats have been known to get out. There is a cat right now on the Rancho property who has a on pink paper collar from the Downey shelter.  People also dump their cats on the Rancho property because it is next to a shelter.

 County Supervisor Knabe's office is lying and saying that a local rescue and TNR group, Fail Safe for Felines has not done a good job.  They site fleas and feces. Feces is picked up daily by caregivers and fleas are a part of life. They live in the ground and are on opossums, raccoons, squirrels, etc. yet the cats are blamed.

Additionally Knabe's office thinks that this "problem" will go away with some trapping.   New cats will come into this area to fill the vacuum. In fact, Fail Safe for Felines has done the right thing; fixing the feral cats and also placing over 100 friendly cats into forever homes. They are committed to being good citizens and advocates for the cats and clean up daily while monitoring the feeding stations. 

Animal Control officers trapped a lactating female on the night of Saturday Oct 25, 2008 and would not release her to feed her kittens She is still on the shelter as I write this. Humane practice would be to fix her immediately and release her within 12 hours to get back to her kittens.

PLEASE CALL 213-974-4444  and Fax 213-626-6941 County Supervisor Knabe's office politely telling him his plan will fail and that TNR is the only permanent, humane solution. Ask that Los Angeles County accept progressive and successful trap/neuter/return programs and work with rescue groups, not trap and kill cats.

Knabe's office will tell you to call Animal Control.  Please do not accept this.  ANIMAL CONTROL HAS NO CONTROL. THEY ARE ONLY TAKING ORDERS FROM THE COUNTY SUPERVISOR.  Additionally, the shelter is giving misinformation and do not believe their rhetoric.

It is not the duty of Fail Safe for Felines to take on the cats as they have but they have done so in a community-minded and compassionate manner.

Please call during business hours and fax any time. Please be polite but firm.  We need to keep the pressure up for County to again meet with activists and save the cats.

For detailed information and rebuttal to animal control's inaccuracies please to go http://ranchocats.blogspot.com/

This blog will be updated daily. 

Please contact us at info@straycatalliance.org after you have contacted County Supervisor Knabe's office so that we can keep track of correspondence.  

- In your letter you requested a number to reach me in the event of capturing these cats and you would give us 5 days before killing them. I have responded to you and given you my contact info. (Info you clearly already have in your possession) Another non-truth !!! We met with you every time a meeting was scheduled. Whether it was downtown Los Angeles with Mr. Knabe’s associates, at Seaaca, at your facility, we made ourselves available to you and attended every meeting. Unfortunately, all the proposed help that was being offered wasn’t helpful. It got the cats out of Rancho for you but with no help to us as to an appropriate and humane place to do so. Yes, we talked about the Barn Project and you stated you sent out many notices. Several meetings later, you claimed to have many responses. If you check your minutes that were taken, you’ll also find I asked for the names and numbers so we could follow-up, make contact and further the process and you stated it would be emailed to me. Subsequent to that request, I sent two additional emails requesting the list and after some time had passed, I received an email of only 10 locations. We researched the numbers sent to us and found them to be unacceptable homes. They were all places which had coyotes running freely and the barns had no way to protect the cats from this prey. The cats would have been at risk and likely coyote food. This was not an appropriate solution. When we met again, I discussed this with you and told you of our findings so your statement of us making no attempt is just simply untrue. You are very aware of our contacts as we discussed it. Should you of provided us with addresses that were safe environments we would have been happy, thrilled to migrate these cats. We briefly spoke about feeding signs and didn’t find it necessary to go to all the expense of this program when it wasn’t an issue. Occasionally a passerby would drop food, thinking they were helping but this was not the norm. These cats are very well cared for daily with fresh water and food. I would much rather use the County money for something that was important and necessary.We didn’t decline the crates, Conversely, two of our representatives went to your shelter and inquired about the crates. They were dilapidated and dysfunctional in which some parts didn’t fit the crates therefore inappropriate for use. We didn’t have homes available to migrate the cats to, so it became a mute point anyway. We have used our own dog kennel creates for the cats that have been removed from Rancho. Should we have had more homes available we would have been grateful to borrow your crates had they been functional. We used specific vets for our needs. We trust them and they are very good at working with ferals. We have specific procedures done to ensure that when the casts are released, there are no complications from post surgeries. I am not familiar with your vet and frankly didn’t trust that you would take the appropriate measures.

We Need Your Help...
THEY Need Your Help.

Dear Felines Friends:

Stray Cat Alliance has a very grave situation to report to you and we need your help immediately.

Los Angeles Country supervisor Don Knabe (knabe.com) has ordered the trapping and inevitable killing of stray and feral cats at Rancho Los Amigos, a County-owned property. A few people have complained of fleas and feces so the County Supervisor's office has declared that all cats must go even though the cats have been there for 50 years.

The cats will be trapped and under the Hayden Law, held for a certain amount of time at the Los Angeles County ("Downey") shelter until they can be killed.

The Downey  shelter claims they have "barns" to relocate some of the 100+ cats but this cannot be feasible.  The Downey shelter's record of adopting out friendly cats is abysmal.

Rancho Los Amigos is located next to the Downey shelter where cats have been known to get out. There is a cat right now on the Rancho property who has a on pink paper collar from the Downey shelter.  People also dump their cats on the Rancho property because it is next to a shelter.

 County Supervisor Knabe's office is lying and saying that a local rescue and TNR group, Fail Safe for Felines has not done a good job.  They site fleas and feces. Feces is picked up daily by caregivers and fleas are a part of life. They live in the ground and are on opossums, raccoons, squirrels, etc. yet the cats are blamed.

Additionally Knabe's office thinks that this "problem" will go away with some trapping.   New cats will come into this area to fill the vacuum. In fact, Fail Safe for Felines has done the right thing; fixing the feral cats and also placing over 100 friendly cats into forever homes. They are committed to being good citizens and advocates for the cats and clean up daily while monitoring the feeding stations. 

Animal Control officers trapped a lactating female on the night of Saturday Oct 25, 2008 and would not release her to feed her kittens She is still on the shelter as I write this. Humane practice would be to fix her immediately and release her within 12 hours to get back to her kittens.

PLEASE CALL 213-974-4444  and Fax 213-626-6941 County Supervisor Knabe's office politely telling him his plan will fail and that TNR is the only permanent, humane solution. Ask that Los Angeles County accept progressive and successful trap/neuter/return programs and work with rescue groups, not trap and kill cats.

Knabe's office will tell you to call Animal Control.  Please do not accept this.  ANIMAL CONTROL HAS NO CONTROL. THEY ARE ONLY TAKING ORDERS FROM THE COUNTY SUPERVISOR.  Additionally, the shelter is giving misinformation and do not believe their rhetoric.

It is not the duty of Fail Safe for Felines to take on the cats as they have but they have done so in a community-minded and compassionate manner.

Please call during business hours and fax any time. Please be polite but firm.  We need to keep the pressure up for County to again meet with activists and save the cats.

For detailed information and rebuttal to animal control's inaccuracies please to go http://ranchocats.blogspot.com/

This blog will be updated daily. 

Please contact us at info@straycatalliance.org after you have contacted County Supervisor Knabe's office so that we can keep track of correspondence. 

October 24

Marcia Mayeda

Director

County of Los Angeles

Department of Animal Care and Control

5898 Cherry Ave.

Long Beach, Ca. 90805

RE: Response to your communication of 10-22-08/ Rancho Cats

Dear Marcia:

We, at Fail-Safe, have spent hours upon hours meeting with you and your representatives in an effort to find the appropriate (humane) solution regarding the cats that habitate at Rancho and to address the complaints made by a handful of people at the crime lab and the day care center. At no time did we concur with you regarding their removal. Time was only of the essence due to being threatened by you and Mr. Knabe’s representatives that these healthy pets would be removed by you and euthanized.

Yes, you and your Department have offered a variety of resources to help remove the cats, however, in your letter you only stated half of the proposal. You omitted to state the reasons why we refuse the assistance offered. I will respond to your itemized list now as I have done at our meetings.

*House and Treat- The offer was to house the cats for a very limited time and at the end of their term in your facility (which would be dictated by you) we would be given the opportunity to remove the cats, if they were not adopted but could not return them to Rancho, otherwise, they would be euthanized. An absurd offer at best!

The shelters in Los Angeles, including yours, are killing tame cats and dogs by the thousands weekly due to no adoptions. I am to believe that these feral cats will be adopted? In addition, it is typical and common, as you are well aware, when cats enter a shelter, within days they come down with an upper respiratory infection which would compound our problem in taking the cat from your facility because now we not only don’t have a home for it but would be in need of vet care. This was an offer masked to accommodate your end but did nothing for the cat.* Spay/Neuter-

The concern of the County was to remove the cats, the concern was not and isn’t their safety. That has become increasingly obvious. Should we have used your facility for spay/neuter, we again would have been faced with having to find them a new home as you dictated they could not go back to Rancho. A solution we did not have, so we were back to square one with this offer.* Provide Crates-*Post Signs-*Find Homes-

 *Problem Solve-

I would also like to add to your list.*Coast Guard Contact-

Marcia, we have always stated we would be aggressive in our attempts to move the cats and we have been so. As you know, it is difficult placing tame cuddly cats,(that is proven in your euthanasia stats) let alone ferals. We have bent over backwards to accommodate the needs of all concerned.

The latest statement from Mr. Knabe’s office is that this trapping and killing is going to happen due to the crime lab and day care center having cat issues. There has not been any of our cats remotely close to these centers. When this issue came up, many months ago, we migrated the few that were in that area. Some we removed completely and were able to find homes for them and the other few were moved significantly far away from there. We agreed to board up the openings in the buildings adjacent to the lab and center to aid in making it not possible for any cats to cross over.**IN ADDITION

As of today Mr. Knabe’s office is stating allegations of the cats being sick and having rabies. AGAIN ANOTHER BLATENT UNTRUTH. All of these cats have been cared for by vets, have had their shots including rabies. By your own admission, the cats are well cared for and healthy.

You and the County are beyond reproach when it comes to getting what you want and at any expense or truth. Spending County money to board up buildings, unboard them and board up again to what end. To spray for fleas over the complete Rancho campus in the wintertime when fleas are dormant.

All the time spent meeting with you and your people has been a waste of our time and County taxpayer money. Your end was to remove these cats at whatever costs. You are

going to kill these innocent animals and have had that plan since the beginning. All the so called avenues of help were only ploys to attain your end and the help was never functional help. This situation could have been remedied in the very beginning when we requested a spot at Rancho towards the Garfield end (which is the complete other side away from the lab and day care center) and asked if the County would fence the area in and we would trap and migrate the cats to that area and maintain them there. We were declined by Mr. Knabe’s office. Again, after several of our meetings and all this County money was being wasted on boarding, spraying and salaries, we requested this again. Such a simple solution but again we were declined resoundingly.

When this problem arose over a year ago, I sent a letter to Mr. Knabe asking for his help and assistance. NO REPONSE. I resent another letter after a few weeks had gone by and finally got a response several weeks later, however, it wasn’t help that I got. I was under the impression that your County representatives were there to make our County better and help. I use to believe the same of the Dept. of Animal Care and Control. I was without question, sadly mistaken. Of all the organizations, I would expect the Dept of Animal Control would know that a TNR(trap, neuter, return0 program works. It has been proven statistically and many cities have adopted this way of pet control and care because it works and it is HUMANE. It is clear that you, your Dept. and Mr. Knabe’s office are not concerned with what works or what is humane. Had you been so, not one of these casts would be in danger, they would be sheltered in a fenced-in area and cared for.

In all, from our prospective, it appears that all efforts on your behalf these last few months have been to, so to speak, get your ducks in a row to substantiate to the public what the Supervisors office has wanted all along. Disposal of these homeless cats. TNR works, your people know this and it is well documented everywhere! Should your offers had been sincere we could have made this a model for other cities to embrace.

We are a small group, no public funding, spending our off time from work, raising money to work a program that aids the City and the cats, and may I add, at no expense to the City of Downey or the County of Los Angeles. We have thousands of dollars and many donated hours invested at Rancho in an effort to do the right thing. On the other hand, you and your representation team have spent thousands of L.A County resident’s money involving 4 agencies, (Supervisors Office, Health Department, Dept. of Animal Care and Control and now the L.A. County Sheriff Dept) in an effort to eradicate these cats and this could have been resolved in the beginning with building a fence in an area that is uninhabited; unused and will be unused for years to come.

It amazes me that when the Downey Rose Float had it’s housing area vandalized, the County jumped to its aid and provided assistance at the County expense. Now we are talking about a Float. Very beautiful and something I support but it isn’t life. Somewhere you and your partnerships have lost touch with what is important. Although happy that the County helped the Downey Rose Float, how is it that you are willing to spend money for a float but not protect and find a humane solution for animal life?

  I will finalize with our motto, although it doesn’t pertain to you and your partnership.

Most Sincerely,

Sheranne C. Jaeger

Founder/Director

Fail-Safe 4 Felines, Inc.