City of Palo Alto denies claim it's closing animal shelter

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- Palo Alto officials are looking for someone to take over operations of an animal shelter after denying public claims that the city is trying to shut it down, to make room for a car dealership.

In a claim in a petition on Change.org titled 'Save the Palo Alto Animal Shelter,' Karen Ewart from Los Gatos says the 121-year-old animal shelter is going to be sacrificed for the almighty dollar because the city wants to expand business and retail in the area. Ewart writes, "Palo Alto City Manager James Keene is hell bent on destroying the shelter and replacing it with Anderson "big dog" Honda. He is counting on the people of Palo Alto not taking notice while he completes this ignoble action."

The petition has gotten some traction with people in Palo Alto, so much so that the city issued a press release Thursday to combat what it calls misinformation that the city intends to close the shelter. It says that is blatantly untrue, and threatens to undermine the progress the city is doing to find a new service model for the operation of the city's animal shelter.

The city also says Palo Alto would retain animal control services and maintain the shelter location in Palo Alto, while looking for non-profits or private animal service providers to partner with to help with the operations.