STRIKE COULD HURT ANIMAL CARE VOLUNTEERS LACK TIME FOR ALL WORK NEEDED AT SHELTER.Byline: David Greenberg The creator of this article, or someone who has substantially contributed to it, may have a conflict of interest regarding its subject matter. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Staff Writer AGOURA HILLS - Trained volunteers will provide basic animal care at the Agoura Hills shelter if its 18 full-time employees join 4,700 other Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County workers in a one-day strike planned for Monday, officials said Thursday. But a protracted pro·tract tr.v. pro·tract·ed, pro·tract·ing, pro·tracts 1. To draw out or lengthen in time; prolong: disputants who needlessly protracted the negotiations. 2. walkout, scheduled to begin Oct. 11 unless a new labor agreement is reached, would diminish care to the point where animals would become ill and ultimately be destroyed, officials said. ``My first concern is for the health of the animals,'' said Mignonne Alman, coordinator of the shelter's 22 volunteers. ``If they are not in sanitary conditions, disease could spread. . . . If they become too ill, they would be euthanized. That's the reality.'' The 30 dogs, 30 cats, four rabbits, three guinea pigs and one hamster hamster, Old World rodent, related to the voles, lemmings, and New World mice. There are many hamster species, classified in several genera. All are solitary, burrowing, nocturnal animals, with chunky bodies, short tails, soft, thick fur, and large external cheek would be fed and their cages cleaned by nine volunteers who donate time between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and they also would walk the dogs. But most of the volunteers have full-time careers elsewhere, the shelter staff said, and could do no more than keep the animals fed during a protracted strike, so cages would not be regularly cleaned. ``It's just a temporary fix,'' shelter manager Gail Miley said of the volunteer effort. ``I could not expect these people to (work) on a daily basis.'' The goal of finding homes for the animals would be thwarted during a strike because protesters would include veterinarians Veterinarians and veterinary surgeons (vets) are medical professionals who operate exclusively on animals. Well-known and notable veterinarians include:
tr.v. spayed, spay·ing, spays To remove surgically the ovaries of (an animal). [Middle English spaien, from Anglo-Norman espeier, to cut with a sword or neutered neu·ter adj. 1. Grammar a. Neither masculine nor feminine in gender. b. Neither active nor passive; intransitive. Used of verbs. 2. a. before they are adopted. Most field services - such as responding to reports of rattlesnakes, dog bites, animal abuse and road kills - would be halted. The shelter's employees, who belong to the Service Employees International Union Local 660, make $1,612 a month for an entry-level position. The county's unions are seeking a 15.5 percent pay hike over the next three years. County negotiators have countered with an offer of 9 percent. Miley said she has difficulty keeping employees because they can earn $400 to $500 a month more for an entry-level position at a Los Angeles city shelter. ``We train them, and then they go on to higher-paying positions at similar (agencies),'' she said. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion