Dear Editor,

Thank you for your April 26, 2019 report on the meeting of the Animal Shelter Ad Hoc Committee. I believe that the quality of our Animal Shelter is important to many citizens of Los Alamos. The dearth of publicity regarding the meetings of this Ad Hoc Committee has been concerning. It is unclear to me why everything discussed in these meetings is not public information and readily available to us.

It is also of concern that the vice chair felt it necessary to resign because her input was not being considered. If the publicly expressed opinions of just one person are the only ones we read about, I wonder what other committee members want to recommend. This seems similar to events at the Animal Shelter during the final months that Friends of the Shelter was involved. At that time, the Board was sharing very little information with other members and non-member volunteers. Certain Board members were asked to leave when their opinions differed from those of the president of the board.

The push to convert our shelter to a transfer station seems to come from one person, who has yet to produce proof that it is the predominant feedback from citizens. The modern model of sheltering separates the humane profession chain of command from that of the enforcement profession. There is no reason this community cannot afford to budget and structure in this manner. We should stand out an example of the highest standards in animal sheltering rather than delegating our responsibility to other, already busy, shelters.

Dorothy Brown,
Former shelter volunteer and  employee
Los Alamos