CommentsS.O.S. FOR LAAS-I am a former volunteer at the South LA / Chesterfield Square Animal Shelter. I am writing to you today because I am deeply concerned about what I have witnessed over the past three years at the shelter.
General Manager, Brenda Barnette, and Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS) have been continuously breaking federal and state humane sheltering laws. They routinely kill healthy and medically treatable animals, which is in violation of California sheltering laws. They are using taxpayers’ dollars to break the same laws they are supposed to enforce, while deceiving the public's trust that the City is taking good care of the homeless pets that depend on them. They are also firing or suspending volunteers (like myself) for speaking publicly about their abuses. We have contacted all LA City Councilmembers, Mayor Garcetti, and LA Animal Services Commission -- with zero response.
Brenda Barnette and LAAS have been getting away with this for almost a decade. All of this is being done to reach the misleading 90% "No-Kill" status without public scrutiny. The other 10% are supposed to be (by law) animals that are irremediably suffering or too aggressive to adopt out to the public. Instead, they have been continuously euthanizing healthy, adoptable pets with little to no effort in finding them homes. The statistics may look like Ms. Barnette is improving the shelters but without the help of Best Friends saving hundreds of animals, the numbers would be the same as her predecessor. This past year, Best Friends significantly dropped their number of adoptions from the shelters, so LAAS is now having to find other ways to kill healthy pets, such as misclassifying them as having behavioral or medical issues.
Here are some other concerning issues at the shelter:
- Euthanizing healthy, adoptable pets and medically treatable animals for being "geriatric," "slow moving," or for skin conditions.
- Euthanizing healthy pets when there are open kennels.
- Reclassifying animals as “aggressive,” even when their previous owner did not note an aggressive history and volunteers have had only positive experiences with the animal.
- Owner surrendered cats changed to behavioral then moved to the feral cat room, out of public view, later to be euthanized.
- Dogs sleeping on concrete because they have no bed, including geriatric and medical / injured dogs.
- Kennels covered in feces with green water or no water.
- Dogs left in their kennel for months without exercise (some never get out), cats never get out of their cage.
- Dogs going kennel crazy from lack of exercise, then euthanized for their poor kennel behavior.
- Dogs being kept in feral cat kennels with no protection from the elements and no water. A dog named Oso was found bloody and dead in his kennel from a possible broken back because there are shelves in the cat cages, and he would jump from extreme anxiety.
- Employees missing during their shift and not showing up to meet adopters, then adopters leave.
- Severally understaffed shifts placing pressure on the staff that care causing low morale.
- Hosing down kennels while the dogs are still in there and not closing their cubby, completely soaking their sleeping area.
- Little effort into finding pets a home, the shelter is usually empty on Saturdays.
- Recklessly selling hundreds of breeder licenses / intact dog licenses for years with no oversight, while the City has a severe homeless pet population.
- Retaliation against volunteers that speak out by firing, suspending, and/or placing them on the "do not adopt" list, which is illegal. (See the LA County lawsuit from 2007, Cathy Nguyen & No-Kill Advocacy vs DACC)
- Euthanizing animals when a rescue offers to adopt.
- A phone system that still does not work correctly, many callers cannot get through or are left on hold for extended periods of time without anyone taking their call.
- An archaic website that often shows animals as no longer listed, while they are still at the shelter.
Ms. Barnette and LAAS are also misusing donations from the Animal Welfare Trust Fund. When people donate to this fund, they believe their money is being used to directly help the animals in need at the shelter. Instead, LAAS has been spending thousands of dollars on unnecessary travel expenses for employees. This money could have been used to buy the dogs beds, as many have been sleeping on concrete, a problem I have been complaining about since February. Finally, last month volunteers and a rescue organization raised enough money to ship 50 beds to the shelter. Last week, there were still dogs without a bed. (I have video proof)
The current LAAS system does not reflect the humane values of Los Angeles constituents. They are breaking the same laws they are supposed to enforce and then illegally retaliating against the people that are trying to save the animals.
The whole system needs to change because the government has proven it cannot provide humane shelter for the most vulnerable among us. San Diego County had the right idea when they dismantled their animal services department and contracted out to the San Diego Humane Society, a non-profit professional animal organization that knows how to care for animals. It also saves the taxpayers millions of dollars.
The City of Los Angeles is supposed to provide a safety net for lost and abandoned animals, instead the system betrays the citizens of Los Angeles by failing to treat their homeless animals humanely and kindly.
LA Animal Services needs a full INDEPENDENT investigation into the department’s abusive treatment of animals at all six City shelters, as well as an investigation into the unlawful retaliation against the volunteers who speak up for the homeless pets.
(Name Withheld is a former South LA Shelter Volunteer. INSERT EXPLANATION? Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
