By Michele Smith
On April 4 the Burien City Council voted down an amendment to extend the contract for Burien’s animal control program (C.A.R.E.S.) until Jan. 31 2017. The current contract is set to expire on Aug. 31 2016 and may leave Burien without animal control services as the contract has not been put out to bid and it is yet not clear whether King County Regional Animal Services could take on Burien. No other plan exists at this time.
At the heart of the issue, according to council member Lauren Berkowitz, is not only the contract extension process but also community concerns and regret for letting King County Regional Animal Services go. “I am not opposed to extending it; I'm opposed to what amounts to action through inaction - staying with C.A.R.E.S. merely because we've extended the contract so long that it's a problem to end the contract. My door-to-door anecdotes tell me that many residents lament leaving King County.” Berkowitz said.
Council member Nancy Tosta disagrees, “I don’t know what the objections are, I think C.A.R.E.S. is an effective organization, I appreciate having businesses in our community that serve our community and all of the constituents I have spoken with, have indicated support for C.A.R.E.S.”

Currently, King County Animal Control has contractual obligations to provide services for 25 cities including Black Diamond, Covington, Enumclaw, Kent, Maple Valley, SeaTac and Tukwila as well as unincorporated areas such as Vashon Island, White Center and others. There are three Animal Control Officers to service district 500 (currently 386 square miles). It is unclear whether King County can add Burien and continue a level of acceptable service to all cities.
At the April 4 council meeting, John Upthegrove reminded council members, “When we voted to become a city, one of the things we wanted to do was get out from under the umbrella of King County. We didn’t like them zoning our property, we didn’t like them not fixing our streets, and here we are wondering if we want to turn a wonderful community asset under, and go back to King County. I spoke with Madam Mayor earlier in the week regarding the issue, and she told me this was a due diligence. I spoke with management at C.A.R.E.S. to find out how many of you (council members) have gone to visit C.A.R.E.S. regarding due diligence, due diligence isn’t just looking at paper and comparing the cost between the county and C.A.R.E.S., due diligence means going down there, meeting the people, checking out the system, checking out the animals. It disturbs me that you do due diligence without doing anything other than looking at paper. Remember the past when you called King County about a stray dog in your yard, it wouldn’t do any good when they showed up the next day, and here we have somebody right in our own community, you funded them, you backed them and they’re doing a good job. I urge you not only to extend their contract but consider keeping this asset in our community as we voted for when we voted to become a city."
According to Berkowitz, not everyone in the community is happy with C.A.R.E.S. She says common complaints are that C.A.R.E.S. does not patrol but only responds to active complaints, and that by not having a unified agency, such as King County, stray animals that cross borders are a problem. Additionally there are concerns that C.A.R.E.S. does not provide enough service regarding feral cat issues.
Addressing those concerns, Debra George Director at C.A.R.E.S. says, “Our ACOs (Animal Control Officers) do patrol regularly while on duty, but generally only patrol specific areas of the city that are prioritized based on calls and complaints received (e.g., neighborhoods where we have received multiple recent loose dog complaints, other nuisance concerns, etc.).”
Regarding service at borders she adds, “For loose dog calls on or near the city border, it’s our policy to dispatch an available officer, and also notify the relevant neighboring agency. Stray dogs that cross the border are usually not a big jurisdictional issue, as ACOs (ours or theirs) have the right to pursue them.
Additionally, we have a very good working relationship with neighboring AC agencies and shelters. We frequently share information, cross-jurisdictional welfare concerns and transfer out-of-area animals, etc.”
And regarding feral/free-roaming cats, Debra says: “Our shelter now takes in every stray cat brought to us, provided it was found in Burien, and takes in all Burien-resident owner-surrender cats. We frequently loan out humane traps to citizens and provide them spay/neuter/TNR resources for dealing with feral/free-roaming cats on their property, and depending on the circumstances, may actively assist in trapping, spay/neuter, other colony control methods, etc. We also provide resources and assistance for dealing with nuisance cats.“
“Burien C.A.R.E.S. does a remarkable job.” says Dr. Serratore of Normandy Park Animal Hospital (located in Burien). “It would be a tremendous loss to Burien to lose C.A.R.E.S. I don’t think most of Burien understands the amount of work they do and the number of stray and/or injured animals they really deal with.”

Community Animal Resource & Education Society (C.A.R.E.S.) has been providing Burien with localized animal services since 2011 and is a 501(c)3 corporation. C.A.R.E.S. has brought local jobs to the community and currently employs eight people, has 25 regular volunteers and supports local businesses by utilizing their services such as Burien Vet, Normandy Park Vet (located in Burien), Painted Pooch, A Place for Pets, SeaTown Lock, Ace Hardware, N & R Automotive, Les Schwab, etc.
The organization’s employees and volunteers are proud Burien residents and believe in giving back to the community. C.A.R.E.S. has a donation-based pet food pantry which annually donates thousands of pounds of pet food to local food banks and provides resources to homeless and other at-risk pet owners.
Unlike King County Animal Control, C.A.R.E.S. is a no-kill shelter; all unclaimed strays or surrendered animals are given appropriate veterinary treatment and are placed for public adoption.
Perhaps one of the most uncommon aspects of the service C.A.R.E.S. provides to the Burien community as a whole, its officers perform outreach services to educate children, schools and youth groups on proper treatment and handling of animals. This includes guided tours of the shelter for Girl Scouts, presentations and booths at local community events such as the Farmers Market, parades and local school assemblies. C.A.R.E.S. believes that educating children on the importance of the spay/neuter process is an investment in the future.

We reached out to the other council members for comment and received no replies. City manager Kumuron Gurol could not comment on why opposition to the contract extension in the council exists.

To learn more about C.A.R.E.S. visit their website www.buriencares.org
A grass-roots petition has been started by concerned community members, call C.A.R.E.S. directly to find out where you can sign: (206) 812-2737
Attend the next council meeting and let your voice be heard: May 2, 7pm. 400 SW 152nd St, Suite 300 or email the Burien City Council your opinion: council@burienwa.gov

UPDATE 4/18/2016
We asked King County Councilmember Dave Upthegrove for status regarding King County's position on providing animal control to Burien. "I'll need to check, but I think any contract would need to come to the county council. We are facing a $50-$60 million budget shortfall in our general fund, so we are going to need to evaluate the costs we charge cities not already under contract. Burien has a great thing going with CARES. I don't understand their thinking at all. I doubt the county can provide the same level of service, local facility, and community connection that CARES does. I adopted a dog from CARES last year and had a great experience." - Dave Upthegrove