“Like many people in Tacoma, I was deeply disturbed by the recent news of the 61 cats found living in unsafe conditions on an abandoned sailboat near Owen Beach. I am grateful to the community member who spotted this situation and alerted authorities, as well as our Tacoma Police Department – in particular its Animal Control and Marine Services units – and everyone involved in rescuing, and now caring for, these animals. While I am grateful to see these animals rescued, I am also frustrated because situations like these are entirely avoidable.
This sad example highlights the importance of improving our animal welfare systems and underscores the intersection of animal welfare and our public safety work. When large numbers of animals are abandoned or left without proper care, it puts tremendous pressure on the limited resources we have available to respond. We cannot simply build our way out of animal overpopulation by asking shelters, our Animal Control unit, and our community members to absorb more and more animals. This problem has a solution, but it requires that we address the problem earlier and more strategically.
For years, I have worked to strengthen animal welfare and prevent animal cruelty in Tacoma and find practical ways to reduce animal overpopulation. That has included launching efforts like Tacoma’s Pet Mayor competition that raises money for animal welfare, encouraging pet licensing and responsible pet ownership, and advocating for greater access to affordable spay and neuter services. The best and most effective way we can prevent animals from ending up neglected, abandoned, or overwhelming our rescue and shelter system is to help people get their pets spayed or neutered before another litter is born.
One of the challenges we face is that animals aren’t confined to Tacoma’s city borders. To make durable progress, we need to think bigger and work together across Tacoma and Pierce County. While the situation at Owen Beach has captured our attention, it isn’t a unique event. Over the past several months, there have been other instances of our Animal Control unit responding to calls about abandoned cats in trailers and homes. This pattern demonstrates that we cannot continue to have a piecemeal response to animal overpopulation.
In the months ahead, I plan to bring together shelters, veterinarians, rescue groups, nonprofit organizations, local governments, and others in the animal welfare community to talk about how we can expand affordable spay and neuter services throughout our community.
There are many people doing great work today and making tremendous sacrifices to spay and neuter as many animals as possible. The question we face now is, ‘How do we better coordinate our efforts, fill the gaps that still exist, and create a system that makes these services easier for people to access?’
Bringing key partners together takes us one step closer toward helping our community, animals, and public safety teams find some relief, and it is work I intend to continue leading.”