Embattled nonprofit North Bay Animal Services is being ousted from its headquarters in Petaluma after the City Council opted to terminate the city’s contract with the shelter operator Monday.
The decision by city leaders came after accusations arose last month that NBAS allowed dozens of animals to live in deplorable conditions in a shelter it was operating in Clearlake, Lake County, while that city was in the process of ending its own contract with the organization. According to reports, more than 100 dogs were living in urine, feces and inhumane conditions for months before other animal services groups came to rescue them.
“While we share the same provider as Clearlake, we want to be clear that Petaluma is not Clearlake, and there’s no indication that our shelter is operating any differently than it has for many years,” said Assistant City Manager Brian Cochran at the start of the March 3 discussion.
Cochran said the city had made improvements to its Hopper Street animal shelter facility. “However, the operational improvement efforts have been stalled,” he said, “because NBAS declined to work with the city’s selected consultant to help them improve operations.”
Staff also reported “concerns regarding communications and responsiveness to the community and to city staff,” Cochran said, before presenting the council with options for how to respond — including Option 2, ending its contract with NBAS as soon as possible.
After an impassioned public comment period, the council weighed in, with some members expressing remorse for signing a contract with NBAS in the first place in 2018, and all expressing readiness to terminate the contract immediately. A 2025 Sonoma County Civil Grand Jury report slamming NBAS also was taken into consideration.
“Clearly we’ve failed to provide oversight,” said council member Brian Barnacle, adding that “The fact that so many peer organizations here, so many professionals in this space are here to say, ‘We need to terminate this contract.’ That’s extremely alarming.”
Those peer organizations included Marin Humane Society, Sonoma County Humane Society, Humane Society for Inland Mendocino County, Forgotten Felines of Sonoma County and Clearlake Animal Association.
No representatives from North Bay Animal Services attended the meeting, with the organization posting on its Facebook page earlier that day urging supporters to avoid it.
“To all who planned to attend tonight’s meeting,” the group wrote. “We have received emails and have been made aware of social media accounts that are unsettling. These communications speak of actions being taken against our organization and staff. Considering the recent events, communications, and social media post, we have decided not to attend tonight’s meeting. We are asking our supporters and volunteers to attend via zoom.”
Following the reports out of Clearlake, Mark Scott, executive director of North Bay Animal Services, told The Press Democrat that his group did not walk away prematurely from the Clearlake shelter.
“Never did we abandon animals,” Scott said.
“Toward the end we started ramping down staff, during the last month,” he said. “Still, there were full-time staffers at the shelter.”
Reached for comment Tuesday, Scott said, “I do have a lot to say as we want to be respectful and get to the bottom of how this campaign came to be, basically where are the facts.”
But he wasn’t ready to provide a fuller statement, saying he first needed to attend a board meeting Tuesday night and would be meeting with Petaluma staff the following morning.
Mayor Kevin McDonnell’s comments summarized those of other council members Monday, saying that “I think it’s evident and well documented tonight that we have justification for canceling for cause. We have no trust, we have no record, there doesn’t appear to be any structural support, no board support, they don’t put out impact reports of their work, they failed completion of tasks.”
He concluded, “I’m very comfortable” cutting ties with NBAS.
With the unanimous direction given to staff for Option 2, the city could “issue a termination letter for cause effective March 31,” ending its contract with NBAS while contracting with an interim provider and issuing a request for proposal, said City Manager Peggy Flynn on Tuesday.
