THOUSAND OAKS : Limits Expected on Pet Traps, Research

The Thousand Oaks City Council is scheduled to give final approval Tuesday to two resolutions that would restrict an Agoura Hills shelter from selling pets for research and from using steel-jawed and leg-holding traps that can maim animals.

Thousand Oaks is the only city in Ventura County that uses Los Angeles County’s Animal Care and Control services under a new contract that began last week. The contract was given preliminary approval last month by the council, which will take action on the resolutions and the contract Tuesday, a vote which is expected to be a formality.

Under the agreement, animal control workers will take lost and injured pets across the county line to Agoura Hills rather than to a Ventura County-run shelter in Camarillo.

Officials wrote the restrictions into a city ordinance after residents expressed concern about the decision to switch animal control agencies. They said they feared their pets could be used in scientific experiments or be hurt in the process of being captured or relocated to the shelter in Agoura Hills.

The animal control shelter in Agoura Hills has promised to provide more services at lower costs to city residents. The city is expected to save about $61,500 the first year.