Today I addressed the Orange County Board of Supervisors regarding an open letter I sent to Supervisor Janet Nguyen and the entire OC Board of Supervisors concerning OC Animal Care and the reforms Supervisor Nguyen publicly called for in 2024.
Supervisor Nguyen got up and left the Board room immediately before I was called to speak.
I acknowledged Supervisor Nguyen’s departure at the beginning of my public comment before continuing with my remarks to the Board.
In my view, walking out immediately before a constituent and longtime animal advocate is called to speak on an issue you yourself publicly called a “disaster” is disappointing and raises serious questions about professionalism and accountability. Elected officials may not agree with public criticism, but listening to the people who come before them is part of public service.
Sometimes you know you’re asking the right questions when the person they’re directed to gets up and walks out of the room.
My full open letter had already been submitted to every member of the Board, and my public comment focused on the unresolved issues, accountability, and reforms raised in that letter.
The questions still stand:
What has been fixed?
What remains unresolved?
And are animals materially safer because Supervisor Nguyen is now on the Board?
Below is my public comment I sent to Supervisor Nguyen and the entire OC Board of Supervisors.
Public Comment Orange County Board of Supervisors
August 11, 2026
Sharon Logan
Good morning, Chair and members of the Board.
My name is Sharon Logan. I have worked to reform OC Animal Care since 2012, including successfully litigating against Orange County and helping secure meaningful reforms at the shelter.
Supervisor Nguyen, yesterday I sent you an open letter regarding OC Animal Care and the reforms you publicly called for in your January 2024 Orange County Register opinion piece.
In that piece, you called OC Animal Care a “disaster,” demanded immediate reform, and, most significantly, identified the Orange County Board of Supervisors as the body capable of correcting the shelter’s problems.
More than two and a half years have passed since that warning, and more than a year and a half has passed since you returned to this Board. I believe the public is entitled to know what has been accomplished, what remains unresolved, and what concrete steps this Board intends to take next.
I recognize that meaningful progress has been made at OC Animal Care. But significant concerns remain regarding managed intake, healthy stray cats, lawful and humane true TNR, Hayden Act compliance, shelter capacity, affordable spay-and-neuter services, and implementation of the County’s strategic plan.
In February, Fix Our Shelters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, issued OC Animal Care a formal cease-and-desist demand setting forth specific practices identified as violations of California animal protection laws and demanding their immediate cessation and corrective action.
The issue is not whether supervisors personally manage kennel employees or make daily operational decisions. You do not. The issue is whether this Board is fully using the authority it does possess: budget control, policy direction and public oversight.
There is also an uncomfortable political reality. Fully acknowledging OC Animal Care’s unresolved problems requires this Board to examine the adequacy of its own oversight. It is easier to say the shelter is improving or remains “a work in progress” than to establish measurable deadlines and accept responsibility when those deadlines are missed.
I am respectfully asking you, Supervisor Nguyen, and this Board to provide a substantive response to the questions and requested reforms raised in my open letter and to publish a clear, time-bound reform plan identifying what will be fixed, who is responsible, the deadlines, and how the public will measure progress.
This is ultimately a countywide responsibility requiring Board oversight and accountability.
Supervisor Nguyen, you set the standard yourself when you demanded immediate reform.
So I respectfully ask:
What has been fixed?
What remains unresolved?
And are animals materially safer because you are now on this Board?
I am submitting my full open letter to each board member today.
Thank you.
Sharon Logan is the founder of Paw Protectors Rescue and an animal shelter reform advocate who has worked to reform OC Animal Care since 2012, including successfully litigating against Orange County and San Diego Humane Society and helping secure meaningful shelter reforms in both counties.