Tuesday afternoon, 2pm, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors chambers is the place to be if you have any interest in animal care issues in Sonoma County. That is the essence behind a half-page ad that appeared in the Press Democrat Sunday, page A5. The intent of the ad is to get people to address the supervisors about the abrupt dismissal of Amy Cooper as the director of Sonoma County Animal Care and Control.
The ad lists a number of local animal welfare rescues, veterinarians and a union. If anything, it’s an indication of the broad support Cooper managed to gather for the agency, that for years, did little to encourage such faith. Oddly though, Cooper’s abrupt dismissal, 48 hours before her probationary period was to end, may have done more for the agency than anything animal advocates could have imagined. It put Animal Care and Control on the radar. Usually the agency is under fire, but this time, it’s the intrinsic structure of how county operates animal control that is coming under scrutiny. That is a good thing.
Under consideration already, is to move ACC out from under the umbrella of the Agriculture Commissioner and allow its director to report to the county administrator and the Board of Supervisors. It’s time for Sonoma County to grow up. Animal control left the farm years ago.
The ad encourages animal advocates and others to attend the Board of Supervisors meeting to voice objections over the firing of Cooper and the general direction of Animal Care and Control. The time is ripe, so speak now. The ears of county officials are open. One senses that at no other time in the recent history of ACC has there been an opportunity to allow permanent and lasting change in how this county address its animal control challenges.
It’s unlikely that Cooper will get her job back. But she may very well end up becoming a proverbial sacrificial lamb, a martyr if you will, who ultimately drives change.
