Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA — Attraction in San Mateo

This location is very crooked. I'm actually working on an article which will be exposing them for their criminal acts. There is a very bad side that they keep hidden unless trying to squeeze money from innocent people. I used to think this place was great until several incidents. I adopted 3 kittens from them on two different occasions, and both times, they falsified the pets records or stretched the truth about their care. First adoption was a male and female kitten. The male was very sick despite records saying otherwise and was forced to take the male kitten to my vet because they stated on the phone if I bring the kitten back, they will take it from me and most likely put it down. Same thing happened in 2017 with a very sick female kitten that cost well over $1200 to be treated next day by vet due to same lame excuse they gave above. If you plan adopting from this place, make sure your prepared to pay a lot more in vet bills as past exerience shows animals from here are flea infested and sick quite often despite what records show. Now for the beauty of all scams and my soon to be released article, which will contain recordings of what takes place inside. If you see a sick or injured animal in your neighborhood, call them by payphone or at most, if you have to use your cell, do not give them any informarion, and block your number before calling. This is because they have workers there doing community service who will use your phone number to get your personal info and send you a bill if your not careful, like they did with me! Over a 6 month period, I and my neighbors reported a feral cat thats nose was gone and socket where it was located, rotting. SPCA did absolutely nothing despite emailing higher official's over at San Mateo office. The best I was able to do, was borrow a trap and given i structions by them on how to bait the trap with a can of food. It was too smart and ended up giving the trap back. When it snuck into my home once after we were done food shopping, closed the door to try trapping it. Failed as it tore screen before it could be picked up. Then shortly after, it just vanished. I called SPCA to see if they managed to capture the cat, and Friday I get a call they may have it and that its in such a sorry condition, it needs to be put down and would I come in to verify it and pay $50 for uthenizing. My biggest mistake saying yes. Being Im in a powerchair, I cant go places same day and have to give paratranset a days notice. My kids wanted to go as well to see if this was a the ferral cat. Saturday morning, I show up with my children. I talk with a rep there named Randolph Watts. He asks me to fill out a form and will take us in back to verify if this is the cat we talked about on the phone, though he showed me a picture which was verification enough. When I looked at the form, It was a form stating I was the owner, which jn fact I wasn't. I informed Watts about this, refusing to fill it out, but at same time reminding him I came only to verify if it was the cat in question, and to donate the $50 for euthenization. Turns out his getting me there was not to get $50, but to get a lot more. Luckily I had warning bells go off earlier, and set up a recorder in case of trouble. Trouble was an undetstatement! Remember above how they told me how to trap it? They do this so they can say the animal is now yours, and worse tried hitting me with an $800 vet bill for services I know they did not do from past experience. Randolph Watts should be considered a criminal for what took place next. In front of my two children, who were in tears after the event, listened to Randolph Watts tell them how this ferral cat will die painfully because I would not pay the $800. Its more like $780, so lets just call it $800. The whole event was recorded. I left and waiting outside for paratranset to pick us up when an officer showed up and talked with him and he agreed, not to let him scam us. But unless he forged papers or info, it was only a civil matter. Days later, it turned criminal. He forged my info...

THEY ARE EXTORTIONISTS AND EMOTIONALLY ABUSIVE

I waited to write this review so I could be less emotional. Some background is necessary:

My mom has a property in Stockton, CA, where the stray and feral cat population is overwhelming. She has TNR’d every cat that comes to her property and cares for them. Recently, a mama cat had kittens there. My mom brought the family inside and then to her home in San Francisco. The mom cat was spayed, and my mom planned to fix the kittens at the SFSPCA if she couldn’t find a rescue to take them.

She shops at Pet Club in Colma and mentioned to an employee that she had three kittens needing homes or rescue. The employee said she wanted one and claimed she had connections at PHS to get the kitten spayed, so my mom wouldn’t need to do it beforehand.

My mom told her the kitten was sick with an upper respiratory infection (URI) and not ready for adoption. The employee still wanted to meet her. When my mom brought the kitten, she had mucus, eye discharge, and was sneezing. The employee assured my mom she could provide care and veterinary treatment, convincing my mom to let her take the kitten despite being sick.

Anyone familiar with strays knows URI is common in street-born kittens and usually treatable with supportive care. We’ve cared for hundreds and never lost one to a URI.

Five or six days later, the woman went to PHS saying the kitten was dying. PHS then called my mom—whose first language is Spanish—and threatened her: either pay for the euthanasia of the kitten no longer in her possession or face being reported for animal cruelty because the kitten had a URI. They also claimed she had broken the law by “transporting kittens across county lines without an adoption agreement” and said she faced an animal cruelty investigation.

My mom called me in tears, panicked, not understanding what was happening. Since PHS was closed after hours, I called the Pet Club employee, who was at PHS with the kitten. She put me on the phone with a PHS staff member who immediately launched into aggression—accusing my mom of “transporting kittens across county lines” and committing crimes for giving a cat away without an adoption agreement. My mom is not a rescue or shelter; she’s just a person who rehomed a kitten. There are no laws requiring adoption agreements for that. Yet the woman insisted that without one, my mom was responsible for paying PHS for euthanasia.

At that point, I wanted nothing to do with PHS. I told my mom to pick up the kitten and take her to our trusted emergency vet in San Francisco, SAGE. PHS released the kitten but told her they had filed an investigation with SFACC.

My mom was devastated—first because the kitten was in a terrible state she hadn’t been in when given to her new owner, and second because PHS treated her like a criminal. My mom has fibromyalgia, and events like this can trigger severe episodes, leaving her in both physical pain and mental anguish.

I am including pictures (won’t let me upload the videos I have) of the kitten who was not at deaths door (not even close!). The kitten died at SAGE who said it looked like she may have been electrocuted because of the sores and wounds in her mouth. The kitten likely bit into an electrical chord. The claims of abuse directed at my mom were disgusting and they should have focused their attention at the woman who brought her in.

SFACC found no wrongdoing on my mom’s end and did not backup any of the claims PHS made about my mom breaking the law.

Truly disgusted with this organization. They may treat the animals in their care well but it looks like they don’t know how to treat humans with kindness. Her littermates recovered from their URI without seeing a vet and went to a cat rescue. They don’t die due to “animal neglect” as PHS accused my mom of. That kitten died because the new owner was neglectful. They should have investigated her. Also adding a pic of when the SFACC officer came to her home as a...

We greatly appreciate the work done at this location of PHS. We've found numerous strays that have gone to PHS & were reunited with their families or adopted out to better homes. We've helped community members track down their lost pets at PHS or had them spayed/neutered. In one situation an escaped dog we kept finding loose, whose living situation wasn't good, was left at the shelter because the owners refused to claim him again. He was adopted on his first day available, before he was even posted on the website.

Another neighbor's multiple dogs also ended up at PHS several times. This finally convinced the owner to have them neutered and microchipped. PHS helped them with behavior issues and when the dogs were found to be neglected, they oversaw the owners' getting the dogs' medical attention.

Every time we've turned in a stray and we followed up, our calls were logged, and were updated on the animal's progress. We eventually adopted one stray and three special needs dogs, plus have fostered many other dogs from PHS.

We love the new shelter at this location. It's what the staff and animals deserve.

Important things to remember:

If you lose your pet and contact the shelter looking for it, please don't just rely on a phone call or hope that PHS will find your lost pet listing on social media. Don’t even just rely on their photos of strays that have come into the shelter.

You have to go in person and look, not rely on staff over the phone.

If an animal goes up for adoption it may get adopted before it shows up on social media, because adopters go in person to find a good match.

Due to Covid, shelter hours and procedures have changed.

If you want a spay/neuter appointment, note that many shelters aren't offering the service during Covid, but PHS is so their appointments are backlogged. Don't blame them - just plan ahead as much as you can if you want this lower cost option.

Due to county budgets, there aren't enough animal control officers covering the county, so if you want better services, contact your county supervisor...