Animal-control union sides with Sims

The union that represents King County animal-control officers has joined County Executive Ron Sims in branding a consultant's scathing report as inaccurate and unnecessarily inflammatory.

Sgt. John Diel, supervisor of the shelters in Kent and Bellevue and second vice president of the Animal Control Officer's Guild, said Nathan Winograd's report to the Metropolitan King County Council "doesn't mention any of the success our program has had."

"It's obvious from his report he only reported everything he could find or make something out of that was negative," Diel said.

Diel said the shelters have consistently reduced the euthanasia rate for dogs and cats since 1992 even though the number of officers has been cut from 36 to 28.

Animal adoptions reached record levels in 2007, and Diel said adoptions at locations such as pet stores jumped from 69 in 2006 to 690 in 2007.

Winograd, a leading figure in the national "no-kill" movement aimed at ending the euthanizing of adoptable animals in shelters, reported last month that King County shelter managers have failed over the past decade to end "dismal" shelter conditions, disease outbreaks due to a failure to clean cages and vaccinate animals, and insufficient medical treatment.

The consultant, who also said sick cats weren't fed or given water over a two-day period, urged that the county get out of the shelter business and let another organization take over.

"It's not just inflammatory, it's designed to drive us to a specific conclusion — that King County must get out of the business," said Sims' chief of staff, Kurt Triplett.

County Councilmember Dow Constantine said Sims' reaction to Winograd's report and an earlier citizens advisory committee's report "has been to kill the messenger."

"That's the part that drives me mad," Constantine said.

Sims' staff is preparing a detailed rebuttal of the Winograd report.