Liberty Animal Control files for bankruptcy

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A local animal shelter that contracts with Fresno County has filed for bankruptcy.

Despite the bankruptcy filing by the company, business will go on as usual. That's because another company is already stepping in to take their place.

A changing of the guards is taking place in west Central Fresno, where the county's most vulnerable animals are cared for.

"We knew that they were having problems. We didn't know the nature of those problems internally," said Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea.

He was talking about Liberty Animal Control Services, a company that once took care of stray, lost and neglected animals. They filed for bankruptcy and are no longer working with the county.

"It's like another contract that we have whether we're building a road or a bridge I mean we have to rely on the fact that folks are going to honor the contracts with us. But if something happens we are always prepared to move to another option to get the project done," said Perea.

Now California Animal Control LLC is in charge. The new company is led by a former Liberty employee, so Perea said the transition should be seamless. Before Liberty signed on with the county in 2012, Central California SPCA had the contract. They severed ties with the county over costs and other contractual disagreements. Perea said back then they paid the CCSPCA almost $1 Million. Much more than the agreement they made with liberty.

"You come in at $750,000 well you're going to have a pretty stressed system. I think two and a half years later we're seeing that maybe we should have put more funds in the on set so we would have had a more stable service," said Perea.

The temporary contract with California Animal Control is up in July. Perea said by then the county will review proposals from bidders and sign a contract with a permanent animal control service company.

Perea said the county plans on tearing down the old county morgue and acquiring an adjacent piece of land. That's to build a new two acre site for animal control. It'll cost about $2 Million and Perea said they plan on building next year. Once it's up and running, they'll lease the building to whoever ends up getting the contract.