From: Sierra Marantz
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2026 2:01 PM
To: City Council <[email protected]>; Jill McLewis <[email protected]>; Sandra Maurer <[email protected]>; Phill Carter <[email protected]>; Neysa Hinton <[email protected]>; Stephen Zollman <[email protected]>
Subject: Comment for March 17th mtg. Item 9 - Animal Control Hello,
I urge you to cancel your contracts with North Bay Animal Services and support the people of Sebastopol in any existing dog bite or aggressive dog cases during the transition away from NBAS. My experience with NBAS has been an appalling case study into how they operate. It’s incredibly difficult to speak about, but I have done so in the hopes that it prevents the same thing from happening to others.
I was attacked and bit by a dog in Petaluma, sustaining injuries to my breast. Despite graphic photographs of my injuries and multiple reports by multiple neighbors about the same aggressive dog, NBAS’s lack of responsiveness and action were appalling. It took enormous efforts, involvement by the City of Petaluma, and additional reports to get any abatement action taken, and it still remains unresolved. I have also still not received all the documents that should have been provided.
To see if my experience was unique, I filed a public records request asking for 2 years of abatement records for Petaluma. I received 7 documents besides my own for the time period of 2023-2024. Considering the City of Petaluma’s recent report which stated there were 160 dangerous dog/bite calls in 2024, a total of 8 abatements for 2023-2024 seems awfully low. These 7 additional documents appear to be drafts: they do not have abatement restrictions and are unsigned by the dog owners. So, it is anyone’s guess if owners were actually given restrictions for their dangerous or potentially dangerous dogs, or if they agreed to follow the restrictions.
While those incidents took place in Petaluma, I would imagine NBAS has operated similarly in Sebastopol. Last year’s Grand Jury report and the images and information coming from Clearlake also speak to NBAS’s level of service. With the mounting evidence, I urge you again to cancel the contract, and move to a new provider for both shelter and animal control services. The animals and people of Sebastopol deserve better.
Thank you,
Sierra Marantz