SEATTLE -- Some King County council members said that animal shelters in the county are so dysfunctional that the only solution is to stop operating them.

In a Monday morning meeting, the King County Council directed staff to research the idea of partnering with a community agency, such as the Humane Society, to aid in the operation or to take over the King County animal shelter.

The council is expected to vote on the recommendation at a later time. Council is going to decide if the county should only get out of the animal shelter business or also stop the dog-catching effort as well.

King County animal services have had a string of problems in the last year, ranging from substandard conditions to poor animal care.

The council supplied $1 million to improve conditions back in April, but now says the improvements aren't enough.

Council members sited three independent studies, calling conditions at the shelters "deplorable, dysfunctional, disorganized and beyond repair."

Vice Chairmen Dow Constantine said that despite recent changes at King County animal shelters, including volunteer vets who came in recently, there's still trouble.

"Even with new management, why is it so difficult to overcome the culture that's developed in the shelters to the extent that these veterinarians, who volunteered to come in and help the animals, turned and left," Constantine said.

Those veterinarians reported an instance where 20 to 30 very sick cats "disappeared," one person told the vets they were euthanized, but shelter officials said no, they were put in foster homes.

King County Executive Ron Sims said the shelters were improving their care of unwanted pets.

King County operates shelters in Kent and Bellevue that see 13,000 animals a year between the two.