Jake Miller, the volunteer coordinator for Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS), the city pound, met with and emailed volunteers to say the City would kill 800 dogs over the next four weeks if the volunteers did not devise solutions for “overcrowding.” He also stated he did not want to discuss real solutions — refusing to have “conversations about reforms and programs.”
This is horrible. Our shelter in central PA was struggling with some of the same issues. The community was able to put enough pressure for the director to leave. Exposing ongoing abuses was key. New management has already turned so much around with focus on getting/keeping animals into homes and removing prior barriers to better care in the shelter, hours open to public, open adoption events, removing breed labels, fair and respectful treatment of staff and volunteers and increased fostering and adoptions. It’s not perfect, but it has been exciting to see the positive changes in just a few months. It is possible and I appreciate all you have done to educate and help communities do better.
Erin -- thank you -- I can't help but notice that as long as People rise, complain and act about any issue, results will always be gotten -- (for this reason, why so many Animals suffer and die) -- we must never give up -- keep at it.
NEXT FRIDAY- March 15, 2024 at 10am there is a City Council mtg. In LA—where animal advocates are showing up to raise awareness and speak- if you can go, awesome —- or you can even CALL IN! Speakers who attend need to sign in on a “speaker card”. Arrive EARLY to do this. Protest & RALLY starts at 9:45 wear black on South Lawn of City Hall.
Mayor Bass — can NO LONGER IGNORE THE ABUSE AND NEGLECT of our California orphaned and abandoned animals in HER city shelters.
#LAcitycouncil
ADDRESS OF: City Hall 200 N Spring St LA 90012 .
To call from home: 669 254 5252
Code is: 160 535 8466
I hope you can call, Nathan and share your support 🐾.
*Free parking if you call your city council members office and get on the list, need ID when you arrive to park. Parking is on the west side of LA Street. Between Temple and 1st.
Metro is easy: take the GRAND PARK ON RED LINE. Short walk. NOW IS OUR TIME!!
Again, thank you, Nathan -- will be sharing -- as to LA Animal Services staff who threatened to KILL 800 Dogs .. -- WHO do they think they are ?! — this is wrong & unacceptable — We MUST put an END to draconian, barbaric Animal Shelters.
I read this article with tears in my eyes and despair in my heart. I think it is time to completely eliminate all so called animal "shelters", whose activities are not only a study in ghastly cruelty but also an abhorrent waste of money. Rescues who subsist on donations are now doing the work which the "shelters" are receiving millions of dollars to do, so the care of all these animals, and the appropriate funding, should be turned over to a consortium of rescue experts, who know not only appropriate animal care, but how to stretch the dollars they receive. I know that there are some bad rescue organizations out there but I think the ones who are in it to actually help animals should be given the means and opportunities to do so.
My heart goes out to the volunteers who have experienced such appalling treatment. What greater gift is there to any animal care group than to have a gentle soul who is willing to work without pay, present themselves to work for the animals? And then to treat them as has been described in Nathan's articles??? This horror must stop and I hope these mistreated people will find a way to sue the ass off of these evil establishments. Put them out of business and send their operators to jail. There are plenty of caring people who would love to do this job if the conditions were as they should be.
Thank you Nathan for continuing to expose this wretched industry. These articles are so hard to read but no one would know about this evil without you informing us.
Nathan, since the pandemic I have literally devoted my life to helping shelter animals. I do everything I possibly can--fostering, posting, volunteering. I'd foster two at a time if I didn't have dogs and cats of my own. And the situation gets worse by the day, as your article explains. \Everyone loves to blame it on the people who "never stayed home before and got bored, so they went to the shelter for a companion--then they went back to work, so goodbye companionship." Your explanation makes more sense albeit more nefarious.
But what I'd like you to help me figure is, what can we do about this? I tried contacting Gavin Newsom last April, begging him to consider a regulatory body to oversee the obviously corrupt shelter panorama (some are still keeping pandemic hours) and attaching data of 7 local shelters, all of which were known for abuse and/or unnecessary killing; he ignored me & when I begged to talk to a staff member, who might take it seriously, the person I spoke to stated it was not the Governor's bailiwick because shelters are run by cities/counties, yada yada yada. Not a moment of consideration of what was happening.
Do you have any suggestions? Please if you can think of anything that could help, I would be so grateful. I think the biggest accomplishment would be to get it to all the local newspapers, right away, and I intend to do that. What do you think of a petition on Change.Org? I know there must be more we can do.
Please feel free to reach out to the women who spearheaded reform in those other cities, as they can also be a source of encouragement and guidance.
As to state-level reform, the legislative landscape in California is very difficult because of one-party rule. Given the immense opposition by the regressive “shelter” establishment and their allies, including Best Friends, the ASPCA, the National Animal Control Association, and others, and the legislature's deferral to their (admittedly false) “expertise,” substantive bills are being killed in committee. A substantive bill is not likely to pass, especially if there are any costs associated with it. For example, our efforts to pass a simple bill requiring pre-killing notification using free shelter management software or software already used by local pounds died in committee last year. Even though there were no real costs and documented savings, the California Animal Welfare Association, an industry lobbying group, and their allies falsely put the cost at over $100 million annually and it quickly died without a hearing.
This is horrible. Our shelter in central PA was struggling with some of the same issues. The community was able to put enough pressure for the director to leave. Exposing ongoing abuses was key. New management has already turned so much around with focus on getting/keeping animals into homes and removing prior barriers to better care in the shelter, hours open to public, open adoption events, removing breed labels, fair and respectful treatment of staff and volunteers and increased fostering and adoptions. It’s not perfect, but it has been exciting to see the positive changes in just a few months. It is possible and I appreciate all you have done to educate and help communities do better.
Erin -- thank you -- I can't help but notice that as long as People rise, complain and act about any issue, results will always be gotten -- (for this reason, why so many Animals suffer and die) -- we must never give up -- keep at it.
WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS? You can ❤️
NEXT FRIDAY- March 15, 2024 at 10am there is a City Council mtg. In LA—where animal advocates are showing up to raise awareness and speak- if you can go, awesome —- or you can even CALL IN! Speakers who attend need to sign in on a “speaker card”. Arrive EARLY to do this. Protest & RALLY starts at 9:45 wear black on South Lawn of City Hall.
Mayor Bass — can NO LONGER IGNORE THE ABUSE AND NEGLECT of our California orphaned and abandoned animals in HER city shelters.
#LAcitycouncil
ADDRESS OF: City Hall 200 N Spring St LA 90012 .
To call from home: 669 254 5252
Code is: 160 535 8466
I hope you can call, Nathan and share your support 🐾.
*Free parking if you call your city council members office and get on the list, need ID when you arrive to park. Parking is on the west side of LA Street. Between Temple and 1st.
Metro is easy: take the GRAND PARK ON RED LINE. Short walk. NOW IS OUR TIME!!
Thank you, Christine -- will be calling.
Again, thank you, Nathan -- will be sharing -- as to LA Animal Services staff who threatened to KILL 800 Dogs .. -- WHO do they think they are ?! — this is wrong & unacceptable — We MUST put an END to draconian, barbaric Animal Shelters.
We need to get all of those people out of there and get new people in and help quickly
I read this article with tears in my eyes and despair in my heart. I think it is time to completely eliminate all so called animal "shelters", whose activities are not only a study in ghastly cruelty but also an abhorrent waste of money. Rescues who subsist on donations are now doing the work which the "shelters" are receiving millions of dollars to do, so the care of all these animals, and the appropriate funding, should be turned over to a consortium of rescue experts, who know not only appropriate animal care, but how to stretch the dollars they receive. I know that there are some bad rescue organizations out there but I think the ones who are in it to actually help animals should be given the means and opportunities to do so.
My heart goes out to the volunteers who have experienced such appalling treatment. What greater gift is there to any animal care group than to have a gentle soul who is willing to work without pay, present themselves to work for the animals? And then to treat them as has been described in Nathan's articles??? This horror must stop and I hope these mistreated people will find a way to sue the ass off of these evil establishments. Put them out of business and send their operators to jail. There are plenty of caring people who would love to do this job if the conditions were as they should be.
Thank you Nathan for continuing to expose this wretched industry. These articles are so hard to read but no one would know about this evil without you informing us.
Nathan, since the pandemic I have literally devoted my life to helping shelter animals. I do everything I possibly can--fostering, posting, volunteering. I'd foster two at a time if I didn't have dogs and cats of my own. And the situation gets worse by the day, as your article explains. \Everyone loves to blame it on the people who "never stayed home before and got bored, so they went to the shelter for a companion--then they went back to work, so goodbye companionship." Your explanation makes more sense albeit more nefarious.
But what I'd like you to help me figure is, what can we do about this? I tried contacting Gavin Newsom last April, begging him to consider a regulatory body to oversee the obviously corrupt shelter panorama (some are still keeping pandemic hours) and attaching data of 7 local shelters, all of which were known for abuse and/or unnecessary killing; he ignored me & when I begged to talk to a staff member, who might take it seriously, the person I spoke to stated it was not the Governor's bailiwick because shelters are run by cities/counties, yada yada yada. Not a moment of consideration of what was happening.
Do you have any suggestions? Please if you can think of anything that could help, I would be so grateful. I think the biggest accomplishment would be to get it to all the local newspapers, right away, and I intend to do that. What do you think of a petition on Change.Org? I know there must be more we can do.
Start local, with the 30 free guides from The No Kill Advocacy Center: https://nokilladvocacycenter.org/toolkit.
Here are additional resources:
- An article (and book) discussing how to successfully reform a shelter, using the case study of a pound in Alabama: https://www.nathanwinograd.com/saving-lives-in-rocket-city/
- An article (and book) discussing similar success in reforming a different shelter: https://www.nathanwinograd.com/nevertheless-they-persisted/
Please feel free to reach out to the women who spearheaded reform in those other cities, as they can also be a source of encouragement and guidance.
As to state-level reform, the legislative landscape in California is very difficult because of one-party rule. Given the immense opposition by the regressive “shelter” establishment and their allies, including Best Friends, the ASPCA, the National Animal Control Association, and others, and the legislature's deferral to their (admittedly false) “expertise,” substantive bills are being killed in committee. A substantive bill is not likely to pass, especially if there are any costs associated with it. For example, our efforts to pass a simple bill requiring pre-killing notification using free shelter management software or software already used by local pounds died in committee last year. Even though there were no real costs and documented savings, the California Animal Welfare Association, an industry lobbying group, and their allies falsely put the cost at over $100 million annually and it quickly died without a hearing.