SCRAPS searches for a new director after resignation of Jesse Ferrari

The Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service is searching for a new director after the resignation of Jesse Ferrari, a controversial leader who ran the shelter for 2 1/2 years.

Spokane County Chief Executive Officer Scott Simmons said Ferrari notified him of his resignation on July 11, and while they talked about Ferrari’s reasoning, Simmons declined to share beyond “personal reasons” out of a desire to respect Ferrari’s privacy. The county does not typically comment on personnel matters, he said.

Simmons described Ferrari’s tenure leading SCRAPS as “yeoman’s work.” The agency was in rough shape when Ferrari took the job of executive director in 2023, and Simmons said few could have stepped into the role and turned SCRAPS around while withstanding “attacks by a very small percentage of our community.”

“He took a facility that was in disarray, that was not well-maintained, and we were not doing the responsibilities that we were tasked with under our county commissioners ordinances for animal control and protection,” Simmons said. “He was able to build a team out there, put in place some talented individuals, and helped to rebuild and re-establish a culture of people who had a strong passion for the true mission of SCRAPS.”

Ferrari and the agency had more than their fair share of critics in recent years, with some of those becoming extreme, making threats to himself, his family and his staff members. Often drummed out by the noise were the many community members thankful for the work Ferrari and the agency carry out, Simmons said.

“Oftentimes, we hear from those that are extremely passionate about animals and don’t believe any animal should ever be subject to euthanasia regardless of their behavior,” Simmons said. “What you don’t hear is a great deal of people who are saying, ‘Please continue to do what you’re doing, you’re helping make our community safer.’ ”

Simmons said he believes the next executive director will step into a much more stable environment, and the position may be posted online as soon as the end of the week. In the meantime, Simmons is serving as director while Shelter Operations Manager Nick Hobbs Doyle and Field Operations Manager Chris Miller oversee day to day operations.

“We want to have a good, robust, open, competitive recruiting process for it, with the intent to get the best individual who’s positioned well to lead that organization going forward,” Simmons said.

Ferrari declined to comment on this article, citing safety concerns for himself and his family.

His term as director was fraught with criticism from former employees, government officials and concerned citizens. The accusations included unnecessary euthanasia to free up crowded shelter space and a lack of oversight over the shelter’s administrative actions.

Among the Spokane citizens concerned with the organization’s actions is Kevin Vanhook, a former SCRAPS employee who left six months into Ferrari’s leadership.

He said he witnessed many changes to the shelter then, including the firing of five volunteers, closing on Sundays and stopping their Dogs Playing for Life training program, which evaluates dog behavior through observation in playgroups rather than kennels. Instead, they adopted the Canine Assessment of Risks for Shelters tool, which according to SCRAPS is “the only published structured tool that supports risk assessment and is in accordance with our contractually obligated Association of Shelter Veterinarians guidelines.”

Vanhook described this program as archaic and inadequate for determining a dog’s true behavior.

“All that is a bunch of predisposed outcomes for dogs,” Vanhook said. “If you see X, then it’s Y, right? And then 90% of the outcomes are, ‘Kill the dog,’ and it’s been known to be an archaic measure.”

After 14 dogs were put down in a single day by SCRAPS in September 2023, the Spokane City Council adopted an ordinance to limit the discretion of the director to sign off on euthanizing animals. Leading that ordinance was Councilman Michael Cathcart, who has spoken against the former director and previously called for his resignation. He is sponsoring a resolution for Monday’s City Council meeting, requesting the city be provided an opportunity to participate in the selection of a new executive director.

“It became a pretty big source of frustration for a lot of people in the community,” Cathcart said. “I think it’s sort of a somber conclusion to a very divisive chapter of animal control in our community.”

Mandy Evans, the executive director of Better Together Animal Alliance, has worked with Ferrari in the past and remembers him as professional and level-headed.

She knows what it’s like to face public backlash. In her 141/2 years running an animal welfare organization, Evans and her employees have faced a multitude of threats, with some cases prompting her to file restraining orders.

“There are people who feel passionately about animals from one extreme to the next, and the role of a leader of an animal welfare group is to prioritize the health and welfare of the animals within their care and also the safety of the community,” she said. “And when you’re doing that, it doesn’t matter what decision you make, you’re going to have a group of people who disagree with that decision.”