SPCA Financial Cuts | ABC30 Fresno | abc30.com

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By ABC30

Monday, June 8, 2009

Fresno, CA The Central California SPCA takes in 50,000 animals every year. Here, they get vaccinated, cared for, and in many cases, adopted out.

But, that could all change because of Governor Schwarzenegger's plan to cut millions of dollars from the program.

"We used to have over 75,000 animals coming into our shelter and we finally got down to about 50,000 animals per year coming in and that's where we make progress and cuts just mean we would revert back to older ways of doing things."

Beth Caffrey manages the Central Valley SPCA. She said proposed cuts include shelter hours and veterinary care.

But, the most severe proposal is changing the 1997 Hayden Bill. The Hayden bill mandates that these animals be kept for six days before being adopted or put down. But one of the state's proposed budget cuts is to slash that waiting period to just three days.

"I think it's wrong. There has to be money there for these types of things."

"If they were only to be kept for a certain amount of days or weeks. It's not fair for them. These are lives as well."

Governor Schwarzenegger's office said quote, "This proposal saves the state millions of dollars and gives local shelters more autonomy to run their operations."

But Caffrey doesn't agree. She said state funding is crucial in order to keep these animals alive and well.

"Well, again the alternative is is to look at things on the front end. Let's combat the issues we have upfront, as opposed to waiting til we have too many animals to deal with."