San Jacinto Animal Shelter Serves Menifee Community

Menifee City Council member Greg August (center) and other representatives of the city tour one of the areas where dogs are housed at the Riverside County Animal Shelter in San Jacinto. Menifee 24/7 photos: Kristen Spoon

As the July 4 holiday approaches, pet owners are preparing for the annual panic attacks -- and sometimes escape -- of dogs, cats and other animals. In Menifee, where a fireworks display will take place this Saturday, that concern is moved up a week.

The folks at the San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus want you to know where to look if your pet gets loose and is picked up by Animal Friends of the Valley or a Good Samaritan in the next couple weeks, or any time of the year. They also want you to know of their new, state-of-the-art facility that is open for pet adoptions but is vastly underused.

Since last July, the City of Menifee has contracted with the county animal shelter in San Jacinto. The $18 million facility opened in October 2013 and thus far as a city contracts only with Menifee. The City of Menifee also contracts with Animal Friends of the Valleys of Wildomar, but only for pick-up of animals in the area. AFV, which does not provide long-term sheltering, transports stray animals from Menifee to the San Jacinto facility within a few hours.

Unfortunately, many residents of Menifee appear unaware of the shelter to which their lost animals are taken -- or of the modern facility that has adopted out 463 dogs and reunited 219 animals with their owners in 2015. Much of the time, the kennel areas sit half empty. Meanwhile, residents who could adopt a dog there for just $20 go to other shelters, such as the Riverside Animal Shelter, and pay $100 or more.

"We attend community events, speak to Rotary Clubs and other groups, just to let people know we're here," Emma Perez-Singh, operations chief at the San Jacinto shelter, told a group of representatives from Menifee during a tour this week. "Since we're so tucked away, people don't even know we exist. We've had all the purebred, desirable breeds of dog here. We had a pug here for a month. They moved it to Riverside and people were fighting over it."

The shelter, located at 681 S. Grand Avenue in San Jacinto, possesses many of the finest improvements in pet care, benefiting from part of the $70 million spent by the county on animal services improvements. Stray animals can be dropped off day or night and veterinarians on staff have two surgery rooms available. Dogs are kept in kennels with glazed block walls to help prevent the spread of disease. Fresh air is circulated throughout the kennels 15 times per hour through a state-of-the-art cooling system. Cool water is run through the concrete floors during the summer to keep the animals cool.

Yet only a fraction of the local population take advantage of the shelter's services. Dogs and cats can be adopted for $20, which includes spay/neuter surgery, rabies shot and microchip. Stray animals turned into the facility are treated and kept on hold for four days before they are available for adoption.

"This facility is not at full use yet," said Rob Miller (right), director of the Riverside County Animal Services Department. "We have a contract with the City of Menifee and we're in negotiations with three other cities.

"We didn't do a large grand opening. When the facility was ready, the county budget was under a lot of pressure. We didn't have the staff, the funding or city contracts. We finally made the decision, along with (then County Supervisor) Jeff Stone, 'Let's get it open. We'll never get city partners until we're open.' To not use a $20 million facility is a shame."

Menifee residents looking for lost dogs and cats often contact Animal Friends of the Valleys. Usually, they are then referred to the San Jacinto Shelter. Miller advises owners of lost pets to come to the facility and walk the kennels if their lost pets don't have a microchip or other form of ID. Staff members work quickly to contact owners of pets than can be easily identified, however.

The shelter normally is closed on Sunday and Monday, and the weekend will be even longer around the July 4 holiday. Miller said his staff is prepared to provide services throughout that weekend, however, anticipating that spooked dogs and cats will be turned in by Good Samaritans and transported there by AFV.

"All our facilities will be partially open," Miller said. "As dogs come in with owner known chips or ID on them, we'll have staff members getting them re-united with their owners immediately. We'll also be clearing out the drop-off boxes all day long."

The shelter also is equipped to house horses, pigs, chickens and many other kinds of animals.

To contact the shelter, call 951-358-7387 or visit its website, where a list of lost pets turned into the shelter and a list of adoptable pets is updated several times a day. A link to the county animal services site is also available on the Animal Services section of the City of Menifee website here.

An employee of Animal Friends of the Valleys chats with visitors while dropping off stray animals.

Dogs are well cared for in state-of-the-art kennels at the San Jacinto campus.

The shelter is located at 581 S. Grand Ave. in San Jacinto.