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There has always been so much controversy over the San Bernardino City shelter and now they are taking bids from other shelters to take over and it seems like closing could become a reality.
I have been volunteering there for going on 5 years and have seen first hand the good and bad, it's sad how there are so many people divided about the dogs, staff, management and how it is run.
When I started going there dogs were so sick they literally had green snot running from their nose dripping from their genitals and every other orifice on their body. the life expectancy of most big dogs was noon on their available date.
We used to fight so hard to get them out to adopters and rescues as a group and now instead of fighting for the dogs we spend much of the time fight amongst our selves as to what is good what is bad who is good and who is bad.
about 2 years ago they brought in a new manager and everyone was a little apprehensive as to what was going to happen to the shelter and the dogs.
This shelter used to be my second home which I probably spent more awake time there than at my real home, I was there 5 days a week from open till close and now I have started to lose my drive due to all the bashing and in fighting.
There are a lot of opinions about the new manager Oscar Perez and I won't argue about does he do everything right because I am sure he doesn't but I can tell you that under his watch the dogs have more of a chance to live than they did before he got there and that's not me just saying it you can pull past euth records and see that for yourself.
Everyone has an opinion but I can tell you this I won't argue about is it perfect or could it be done better because it's not and never will be perfect and there is always a way to do better.
This shelter has always struggled financially due to being in a city that was under bankruptcy and a community that didn't have much interest in their animals and the shelter being run by the police department that worries about keeping enough police officers on the job that the shelter is low on the importance scale.
The city officials have been constantly harassed and threatened with law suites to the shelter for so long that they are just tired and see the shelter being taken over as an easy out which I kinda don't blame them.
Everyone in rescue and social media has their idea of how it should be done and think it's an easy fix but until you actually get in their and try to do it you don't really understand what it's like to work for a government agency.
I see comments about Oscar the manager like tell him to get off his lazy ass and do something for the dogs, let me tell you I have personally seen him in the play yard with dogs, cleaning kennels when they were short staffed and in the field when they were short ACO personnel, show me another shelter manager that does that.
This last 4th of July he slept at the shelter to make sure the dogs would be ok, I see people talk crap about him then when he doesn't treat them the way they think he should they complain and talk about how they hate him.
let me explain human nature, if you treat some one like shit and constantly slam them on social media why do you expect them to be on your side I wouldn't and neither would most people.
I have made the comment before that if you hate him so much then get him fired and lets see who they bring in next and god help the dogs.
If this happens it will impact the city in many ways, 1 will be the stray population will grow greatly because odds are most people will not want to drive 45 minutes to Riverside to drop of a dog they found in the street or wandered into their yard.
Bottom line is people have complained and talked about how this shelter should be shut down for so long but if you care about the San Bernardino City dogs the last thing you want is for this shelter to close.
I'm not saying the Riverside shelter is good or bad but common sense tells you that they already have a higher euth percentage than San Bernardino city shelter and if they have to add about 250 to 300 more dogs to their shelter what do you think is going to happen to those dogs, most likely the bulk of them will die.
If this happens I hope like hell all the SBC shelter and Oscar Perez haters are happy and when our dogs start dying in bigger numbers give your self a pat on the back and be proud enough to stand up and say "I DID THAT"
for me and many others it will be a sad day.
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