Fresno County seeks bids for new animal shelter operators

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The stray and abandoned dogs are still at the temporary Fresno County Animal Shelter. But the company running the shelter has a new name. Daniel Bailey is the owner of California Animal Control Services. He's taken over from Liberty Animal Control which filed bankruptcy.

Bailey told Action News, "The only change is the Liberty name is coming off and California name is going on, California Animal Control."

Bailey was in partnership with Clovis veterinarian Charles Wilkins and his wife Karen in Liberty Animal Control. They were charging the county $750 thousand a year for dealing with stray and abandoned dogs. Bailey maintains his new company can continue serving as the county dog catcher.

"All the animals are being cared for," said Bailey. "Everything is being done carefully. It's just going to continue as business as usual."

Supervisor Henry Perea believes it will work. He said, "From a service perspective we are not going to miss a beat."

In fact Perea and the rest of the Board of Supervisors went ahead with plans to purchase the property next to the temporary shelter, to build a new permanent facility.

Perea added, "Acquiring this adjacent piece of land will pretty much square off that property to about two acres which will give us the ability to begin construction on a new facility to provide long term permanent animal control."

However, there's a new twist. The Central California SPCA tells Action News they are definitely interested in submitting a bid. It was the SPCA's decision to cancel its contract with Fresno County two and a half years ago that lead the county to create the temporary shelter and it created a lot of hard feelings. But despite that, Perea says the SPCA is welcome to put in a bid.

Bailey has a seven week contract to continue animal control services with the county, he says his company plans to bid on the permanent job, along with the SPCA and any other interested party.