Animal welfare activists on Friday pressed the Los Angeles City Council to make changes to the Department of Animal Services, saying its network of shelters faces “deplorable” conditions and an overcrowding crisis.
Activists called for stricter enforcement of the city's mandatory sterilization and neuter policy, a halt to breeding permits and increased transparency from animal services.
Local groups, including Take Me Home Rescue and Animal Rescue Mission, said animal services care more about their reputation than the well-being of the animals in their care. They said that dogs and cats live in feces and go months without walking.
Rescue groups have also claimed that city shelters are killing animals for space and lying about it in an attempt to achieve “no-kill” status.
City officials acknowledged the existence of an overcrowding crisis that they say has lasted for about two decades, but stressed that they are not killing for space. Angelenos are abandoning large dogs in alarming numbers, and very few are fostering or adopting them, the Department of Animal Services said.
“It is important to stress that LAAS does not and will not consider euthanizing healthy, safe and friendly animals, and any rumors to suggest otherwise are completely false,” the Department of Animal Services said in a statement. “Some rescue organizations, who are not actively involved in our shelters, continue to distort and fabricate an incorrect narrative about management.”
LAAS volunteer coordinator Jake Miller sent an email to volunteers this month announcing the pending euthanasia of up to 800 animals within four weeks if they are not adopted.
Later that day, LAAS General Manager Staycee Dains sent an email claiming that Miller's letter was “simply not true” and had been distributed inappropriately.
Shira Scott Astroff, founder of Animal Rescue Mission, said Deans is not qualified for her position.
“It's been almost a year, and our shelters are worse than ever,” Astrov said. “When you make mistakes, dogs die.”
Council Member Eunice Hernandez — chair of the Neighborhood and Community Enrichment Committee, which oversees LAAS — said it was unfair to blame the Dains for the crisis in Los Angeles shelters.
“This department has been chronically understaffed and underfunded for years,” Hernandez said in an interview. “This general manager did not cause these problems. It did not happen overnight.”
The City Council approved a proposal Friday to add nearly $3 million in LAAS funding for care workers and administrative positions. Astrov said the measure will not significantly ease the crisis in shelters unless the city begins enforcing a spay-and-neuter policy.
While Astrov and her colleagues denounced the daines, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals distributed posters around the city blaming Mayor Karen Bass for the crisis.
Bass' office emphasized recent progress, claiming that the number of shelter volunteers has doubled while overcrowding has been cut in half.
“The state of Los Angeles Animal Services was devastating when the mayor was sworn in,” her office said in a statement.
Animal Services echoed that message, saying in a statement: “There is clearly a lot of work to be done but progress is being made and animals’ lives have been saved.”
Scott and other rescuers said conditions had worsened, not improved, under Bass and Daines.
“There's no way out of this now,” Scott said. “A lot of animals will die.”
