Despite recent tensions, Palo Alto and Pets In Need look to renew partnership

Seeking to mend their relationship after two years of acrimony, Palo Alto and Pets In Need on Monday took a step toward a new deal that would keep the nonprofit in charge of the city’s animal shelter for another five years.

The two sides are hoping to reach a deal before May 15, when the existing contract expires. The City Council this week got its first chance to discuss the proposed terms, which would roughly double the city’s financial contributions and commit the city to spending another $2.5 million to improve the animal shelter on East Bayshore Road.

Costs would rise from $703,000 in the existing deal to $1.37 million in the first year of the new contract, with 2% to 4% escalations in subsequent years. Teri Dunwoody, the nonprofit’s finance director and former interim executive director, attributed the proposed increase to the difficulty of recruiting and retaining veterinarians and other shelter employees. The nonprofit compared its costs with those of another animal services provider, the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA, and proposed a rate that is similar on a per capita basis, Dunwoody said.

“Running the shelter requires people with highly specialized veterinary skills, and the labor market for those skills has become tighter and tighter over the last few years,” she said.

Both sides are optimistic that the new deal would strengthen a partnership that has grown frayed. In November 2021, the nonprofit indicated that it planned to end the partnership within a year and blamed the city for failing to follow through on its contractual commitments, which included building a new kennel building. The nonprofit was also under investigation at that time over an August 2021 incident in which seven puppies died inside a hot van while they were being transported by Pets In Need staff from Central Valley, an episode that led to misdemeanor charges for three employees.

Since then, however, the nonprofit reshuffled its leadership and adjusted its expectations for shelter improvements. Laura Toller Gardner recently took over as the organization’s CEO, and the nonprofit is no longer clamoring for new kennels. Instead, Pets In Need said Monday that it would like improvements to existing animal areas, particularly those serving smaller creatures.

“What we are really looking for in terms of a new design in Palo Alto is housing that takes into consideration the needs of the small animals and the cats, in addition to the dogs,” said Laura Birdsall, Pets In Need’s director of shelter operations. “So we don’t necessarily need more housing; we need different and bigger and better housing that allows us to better provide for the needs of the animals.”

The proposed terms saw some pushback from council members, with Pat Burt saying he would like to see more analysis to substantiate the sharp increase in payments that Pets In Need has requested. Burt also questioned committing the city to $2.5 million in infrastructure funds without really knowing how the money will be spent. The proposed contract terms give the city and Pets In Need a 60-day period to put together a plan for shelter improvements.

Council member Ed Lauing was more amenable to the terms, calling them reasonable and suggesting that it would cost the city more to perform the service in-house. He also suggested that the contract be for a shorter term than five years, which would give the city a chance to evaluate the nonprofit’s performance.

Everyone agreed, however, that Palo Alto should retain its animal services and not outsource them to an agency in another city.

“I think that’s something our residents are accustomed to and deserve, and I’d like to keep them here in whatever form we go forward,” council member Vicki Veenker said.

That position is a change from a decade ago, when Mountain View abandoned its partnership in the shelter, and the city was considering ditching animal services altogether due to loss of revenues. Vice Mayor Greer Stone concurred with Veenker and said it’s no longer a question of whether the service will remain in Palo Alto.

“It’s just a question for me at this point of in-house or Pets In Need,” Stone said.

A debate over cats

One issue that remains unresolved pertains to feral cats. Pets In Need has requested that the city allow it to take a “trap, neuter and release” (TNR) approach for feral cats who are brought into the shelter. Supporters of the change, including members of the Palo Alto Humane Society, characterized this as the most humane way of dealing with the cat population.

Carole Hyde, retired executive director at the Palo Alto Humane Society, cited the success of trap, neuter and release in reducing the population of feral cats on the Stanford University campus, an effort that she took part in.

“From an estimated population of 500 cats roaming freely on Stanford campus, giving birth to related litters, many of them sick or injured, the numbers declined over a managed system of TNR and care to a present population of virtually zero,” Hyde said. “This model of pet control is now widely established.”

Bird lovers bristled at the policy changes and argued that bringing feral cats into sensitive areas like the Baylands would imperil birds and other vulnerable species. Shani Kleinhaus, an environmental advocate at the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, called feral cats “instinctive killers.”

“Why would we sanction the introduction of such species into the Baylands and in our community?” asked Kleinhaus, who serves on the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission but who was not representing the commission.

The argument over feral cats is unlikely to be resolved in the new contract, though council members supported continuing the conversation and developing a suitable compromise in the months to come. While Pets In Need advocated for TNR, staff at the nonprofit indicated that the issue need not be a dealbreaker when it comes to a new agreement.

“We believe everyone is in agreement with reducing the population of feral cats,” Dunwoody said. “We would simply like to take a science-based approach. We do believe that TNR has been empirically validated to be the best method for reducing feral cat populations, but we recognize the complexity and realities of the situation and we will work within the policy framework that the city determines on this issue.”