When a Chihuahua puppy mill was operating out of San Jose—churning out hundreds of the small breed of dogs per year for profit—the city’s former Animal Service Officer Lisa Jenkins was there to help close its doors.
Similarly, when staff at a San Jose horse boarding facility were mistreating animals under their care, Jenkins assisted in shutting down the business.
As of July 7, Jenkins brings this experience and more to South County as the new Animal Shelter Supervisor at the Santa Clara County Animal Care and Control facility in San Martin.
“It’s very, very rewarding to help put an end to animal welfare issues that have been long standing,” said Jenkins, a married mother of a 4.5-year old boy. She replaces former Supervisor Brigid Wasson, who took a job as the Animal Care and Control Director for the County of Sonoma’s Department of Health Services in Sept. 2013.
Jenkins, a 32-year-old San Jose native, already knows her way around the San Martin shelter, which cares for between 3,000 and 4,000 animals per year compared to the approximately 17,000 animals taken in each year by her previous employer in San Jose.
“There, it was very fast-paced. We had to get more animals through very quickly so we were not overwhelmed,” said Jenkins, who spent six years working at the San Jose animal shelter. “Here, it’s nice because we get to focus on each animal as an individual instead of lumping them into one large group.”
Besides adoptions, the shelter provides pet licensing, a list of lost and found animals, a spay/neuter program, and animal control field services to the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. Along with cats and dogs, the San Martin shelter has a couple of stable units in the rear to house horses if necessary.
Jon Cicirelli, Director of the San Jose Animal Care and Services, said his staff “recognized very early on when Lisa started working here that she had leadership qualities.”
“She’s very hard working, very reliable, very intelligent and committed to improvement and making sure people are held accountable, but also keep [the shelter’s] goals in mind. It’s definitely our loss and their gain,” said Cicirelli, who worked with Jenkins in San Jose over the last few years. “She’s not one to sit around and accept things as they are. She’ll work to make them better and have better outcomes for the animals. I think (the San Martin shelter) can look forward to more improvements and innovations in the coming months from LIsa.”
Being able to cater to each animal individually and take more time with them is a major reason why Jenkins took the San Martin job in the first place. One of her first cases in San Martin involved finding a new home for a pitbull who was having trouble finding a match since arriving in December 2013.
After posting a description of the pitbull on the classified advertisement website Craigslist, Jenkins got a bite and found “a really good home” with an owner who had experience with the breed and was looking for a companion that likes the outdoors and the water.
“It was just a really good match,” said Jenkins, who started out her professional career as a City of San Jose park naturalist teaching school-aged children about agriculture and animals at Emma Prusch Farm Park. “I’ve always been an animal lover. I was the kid called on in the neighborhood if a kitten got caught in a storm drain.”
Jenkins—who had volunteered at the park since age 16—said the park naturalist job gave her a wealth of experience working with livestock and other farm animals.
For the last six years, Jenkins worked with the City of San Jose, where she began as the city’s shelter coordinator specializing in animal intake and behavior before becoming an animal service officer and then shelter supervisor.
“In my last job, we didn’t have time for behavioral rehabilitation….Here we can really think of a plan for each animal and work on that as a team,” Jenkins explained. “The staff, they’re all fantastic and have the greatest attitudes. They know the names and issues of all the animals.”
The animal control and care budget, which includes the shelter operations and 13 full-time employees, is about $2 million, according to program manager Albert Escobar. The Shelter Supervisor positions pays approximately a $73,000 annual salary.
San Martin shelter staff—who have helped maintain about a 90 percent live release rate—will showcase some of their dogs ready for adoption at a July 19 pet fair at the Petco store in Gilroy.
• Open 12 to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 12 to 5 p.m. weekends, at 12370 Murphy Ave.
Upcoming pet fair/adoption
• July 19 at Petco, 8767 San Ysidro Ave., Gilroy
