Vote for Animals PDX exists for one purpose: to build a voter-driven movement—a voting bloc that makes animal welfare a priority in Multnomah County government.
Our current campaign is focused on a pivotal opportunity to achieve the long-overdue transformation of Multnomah County Animal Services (MCAS): the election of a new Multnomah County Chair on November 3, 2026.
The County Chair has ultimate responsibility for overseeing MCAS, the Portland area's publicly funded animal shelter. Years of ineffective leadership and oversight have contributed to serious concerns about animal welfare, accountability, and public trust.
That is why we are supporting Sharon Meieran for County Chair. She has articulated a vision for meaningful reform that extends beyond MCAS and addresses broader challenges throughout county government.
Under Meieran's leadership, MCAS can become a model of efficiency, transparency, accountability, and compassion—an organization that reflects the highest standards of animal sheltering and places the welfare of animals at the center of every decision.
The future of MCAS will be shaped by the leadership voters choose on November 3. By making animal welfare a voting issue, we can help ensure that the needs of vulnerable animals are heard, prioritized, and acted upon by county government.
#Vote For Animals
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Your Voice Matters
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#Vote For Animals 〰️ Your Voice Matters 〰️
WHY ACTION IS NEEDED
First—and most urgently—are the conditions inside the shelter itself: mismanagement, dysfunction, neglect, and preventable animal deaths.
These failures do not exist in a vacuum. They are the direct result of failed leadership at the highest levels of Multnomah County government. County Chair Jessica Vega Pedersen has ultimate authority over county agencies and is fully aware of the longstanding problems at MCAS, yet she has refused to replace the current Director—a career bureaucrat with no professional animal services or animal shelter leadership experience.
As a result, MCAS remains effectively leaderless, creating dysfunction throughout the organization, including shelter operations, volunteer management, animal care, and veterinary oversight.
Only an experienced, committed, and compassionate turnaround specialist can reverse MCAS's downward trajectory and restore public confidence.
Many citizens mistakenly believe that the Oregon Humane Society on N.E. Columbia Boulevard is their local public animal shelter. In reality, Multnomah County Animal Services—the taxpayer-funded county shelter—is located 17 miles away in Troutdale.
The Oregon Humane Society is a private nonprofit supported by donations, grants, and the public trust it has earned through its work. Multnomah County Animal Services is funded by taxpayers, yet despite presenting an image of responsibility and efficiency, it has failed to earn the confidence and trust of many members of the community it serves.
WHAT WE’VE EXPOSED:
extreme operational disfunction at the multnomah county Animal shelter resulting in CHAOS, CRUELTY, & DEAD ANIMALS
1.
Current Chair Jessica Vega Pedersen refuses to replace the current MCAS Director, an ineffective, long-time bureaucrat—with no animal shelter experience whatsoever. The predictable result: an agency operating without standards, accountability and transparency.
Multnomah County chair JESSICA VEGA PEDERSEN’S shows heartless indifference
2.
Vega Pedersen refuses to remove an arrogant shelter manager who reportedly kills dogs arbitrarily and indiscriminately, despite overwhelming evidence and public outrage. This is not ignorance. This is willful inaction.
CHAIR JESSICA VEGA PEDERSEN has misused money & demonstrated incompetance
3.
After local media exposed animal abuse and unnecessary deaths, Chair Vega Pedersen staged an expensive, performative “review” to quiet public outrage. Instead of reform, conditions worsened. More suffering. More death. More excuses.
She has helped create a culture
of COWARDICE AND COMPLICITY
4.
Multnomah County Commissioners know exactly what is happening inside MCAS. They have the authority to act. They choose silence. Their refusal to intervene makes them complicit in the suffering.
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