Police rule out shelter negligence in dog theft

Deirdre Newman

An investigation into the Orange County Humane Society after a dog

was stolen in late October has not turned up any criminal negligence,

according to the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Costa Mesa is one of two cities that contracts with the society to

provide shelter for stray animals. The society is in Huntington

Beach.

Tracey Dorame, who lives in Costa Mesa, brought concerns about

poor security at the animal shelter to city leaders after a lost

puppy she turned over to the society was stolen.

The Police Department investigated the shelter’s security and is

satisfied with the measures the society has taken thus far and its

plans to redo the interior kennel area to make it safer, Sgt. Clay

Epperson said.

“We feel very confident that they’re treating animals as humanely

as possible and are interested in the welfare of animals,” Epperson

said.

Dorame took the puppy home on Oct. 21 after some students found it

wandering around the campus of Costa Mesa High School, where she

works. She said she didn’t realize she was required to turn the dog

over to animal control, so she kept it. That weekend, she took it to

her veterinarian to get it vaccinated and found out that it was a

full bred silky terrier, from 3 to 4 months old.

Two days later, one of her colleagues informed her that they had

contacted animal control to let them know about the dog’s situation.

When Dorame talked to animal control, she was told that there were no

lost dogs that matched the description, she said. So she took the

puppy down to the Barkery and spent more than $80 on doggie clothes.

On Oct. 27, she was informed by animal control that she had to

turn the puppy over to them because it wasn’t hers, she said.

Dorame essentially stole the puppy from its owners by not turning

it over right away, said Cortney Dorney, the society’s shelter

manager.

“She did not make the animal available for the general public to

come to her home to find [it],’” Dorney said. “Statistically, most

animal owners stop looking after a week.”

Dorame complied and was told that that since she had given the

puppy a nice home, she would get first dibs on it if nobody claimed

it.

The next day, she found out the puppy had been stolen.

“It felt like somebody stole my child,” she said.

When she went to the humane society to find out what had happened

and to get some information, she was greeted with “extreme defiance,”

she said.

Dorame had no legal right to obtain information about the dog,

even with the first dibs she had, since that was only a courtesy,

Dorney said. The society had recently invested in padlocks for most

of its kennels, Dorney said. But the set of six kennels where this

puppy was kept did not have locks for a time because the locks they

had ordered hadn’t fit, she said. These kennels have since been

equipped with locks, she added.

It’s unfortunate that the puppy was stolen, but thefts are an

inevitable part of running a shelter, Dorney said.

“If people really want an animal bad enough, they bust through

everything we have to get in there,” she said.

Complaints against the society have been rare in the seven or so

years the city has contracted with it, City Manager Allan Roeder

said.

“We feel it has served the city well, notwithstanding that there

may very well be some room for improvements, particularly on the

security side,” Roeder said. “We’re more than willing to work with

the humane society to see what it would take to do that.”

The society could only take as much security precaution as it

could afford and buying the padlocks was a major investment, Dorney

said.