The Ed Boks Show?

All the way from Broadway, now appearing in Los Angeles, The Ed Boks Show. A few local critics have expressed offense at what they perceive as the Boks “ego” taking credit for the significant drop in euthanasia over the past three months.

Being human and invested in this goal, I suppose I’d like to get some credit for the substantial decline in the killing, but it would be disingenuous for me to say this decline was because of me. These results could never be the work of any one man or woman. These kinds of results come from a community effort.

The credit goes to the incredible supporting cast of the LAAS Team, the 392 employees and growing number of volunteers, partners, and donors who believe that achieving no-kill doesn’t have to take a long time. I am proud to be a member of this cast.

Actually. the remarkable progress of the past three months is simply a continuation of a five-year trend. Over the past five years the dedicated employees, volunteers, partners, and donors of LAAS reduced the killing nearly 50%. And they did this as they bravely weathered an onslaught of personal criticism and threats that few of us would have endured for even a week.

Often we at LAAS hear people say, “I could never do your job.” Our response is, “How could you not?” Everyday the employees and volunteers of LAAS come into our Animal Care Centers to do what few others in our community are willing to do. They care for, feed, treat, and shelter the 120 or more lost, homeless, abused, neglected, sick, and injured animals they rescue from the streets of LA everyday. Thank God they continue to come!

The successes of Arizona and New York City were not designed to feed anyone’s ego. They were designed to help the thousands of animals in need in those communities. Ultimately those successes serve to demonstrate that ANYONE can do this if given a chance and the support of the community!

Any community with the heart and will to end the killing can achieve this goal, and I’m happy to report the heart and will to do this is thriving in Los Angeles. This community is fortunate that this determination existed in the employees, volunteers, partners, and donors of LAAS long before I got here. Thank God it still exists and is growing!

Let me tell you the secret to achieving no-kill: If you really want to stop the killing in any community, you have to support the agency where the killing occurs. This may sound counter intuitive, but if you think about it, it actually makes a great deal of sense. Does anyone really think LAAS wants to be a kill agency? No agency charged with helping innocent creatures and serving the community wants this. This is true in Maricopa County, New York City, Chicago, Miami, St. Louis, Albuquerque, anywhere.

If you want to stop the killing in LA, you have to support LAAS. There are many indirect ways you can help LA achieve no-kill, but there is only one direct way, and that is to help LAAS. We need the help of all the dedicated, creative and committed individuals who call this community their home. We invite your help and ideas. This is a collaborative effort and those who stand to gain are the very animals we all want so badly to help!

If you are waiting for LAAS to be perfect before you help, then we’ll never get there. LAAS readily admits we need the community’s help and we need it now. I am thankful that the community is stepping up in an unprecedented way to help as the excitement to end the killing grows! The killing must end. We all agree. Never has anyone in LAAS ever tried to defend this horrible practice as our critics suggest. We want to end it, and we want to end it in the shortest possible time frame!

Our success depends on you! LAAS is under funded and under staffed. What government agency isn’t? We cannot do this by ourselves. We attempt to do the miraculous everyday with inadequate resources. How much faster can we achieve this goal with your help?

LA City is facing a couple of very difficult fiscal years. Nonetheless, the City is extraordinarily committed to LAAS achieving no-kill, from the Mayor to the City Council to the Commission. LAAS will see an increase in its budget despite a looming City deficit. But I can tell you right now it won’t be enough to achieve no-kill without your help. The only way we will achieve no-kill in LA is if we as an entire community all pitch in to help.

How can you help? You can volunteer an hour or two a week, you can foster orphaned neonates or sick or injured animals and nurse them back to health, you can participate in our many off site adoption events, you can make a donation to any one of our many life saving programs, or help raise the money to fund these programs. If you own a business you can provide in-kind donations in the way of services or products to help the animals.

If you can’t do any of these things, you can still help. Just support the employees and volunteers of LAAS. We are in a war to end euthanasia. LAAS is the front line in this war. Some will criticize the troops when they think a war isn’t going well. But the good news is the war against euthanasia is going well! 2006 could end with the biggest decline in the killing in LA’s history. Fewer animals died in the first quarter of 2006 than in any preceding first quarter on record!

Did Ed Boks do this? No, I did not. This was done through the commitment and compassion of the employees, volunteers, partners, and donors of LAAS. All I’m doing is asking you to support the troops of LAAS as they win this war for all of us and our animals!

Quite frankly, I am far less concerned with who gets the credit so long as the goal is ultimately achieved. I am concerned that our critics who focus so heavily on the issue of credit are wasting valuable time and distracting us from appreciating the fact that fewer animals are dying. The goal is more achievable today then ever before.

In this war, every day, week and month is a battle to save more lives. In January 06 we experienced a 25% decrease in euthanasia compared to January 05, in February 06 we experienced a 33% decrease compared to February 05, and in March we anticipate nearly a 40% decrease compared to March 05.

Can we all just pause for a moment to rejoice for the animals that benefited from all the hard work of all the heroes in this community who are making a positive difference? Can we use the days ahead to better mobilize our forces to help the remaining animals that still need our help?

Only by working together will we make LA the safest City in the US for our pets!

What’s new at LA Animal Services? by Ed Boks

Have you seen what’s new on the LAAS Website?www.laanimalservices.com 

You can now translate the website into nine different languages.

There is a new Blog below on the cruelty of tethering called, “Chains of Love or Abuse”.

The New Hope Program scheduled to roll out within the next month or so is described. The document on line is just to help the rescue groups get acquainted with the program. LAAS will have a public meeting to explain the program in detail within the next couple of weeks. The program will not be implemented until after the public meeting.

A report on Operation FELIX (Feral Education and Love Instead of X-termination) is now on line for your information. It details why TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) is the only viable, humane, non-lethal method for effectively reducing the feral cat population in any community or location.

My position on many common sense approaches to humane animal care on a community wide level is also available under GM’s Position Statements.

Also read about Patrick, the Irish Setter mix, adopted by a member of the Mayor’s Office at a City Council meeting on St. Patrick’s Day!

And much more.

Also, don’t forget to check out Dana Bartholomew’s new article on LAAS in The Daily News.

Euthanasia for dogs and cats in January 2006 was down 25%, and down 33% in February, and we are on track to reduce euthanasia 40% in March (its at 39.79% as of this writing on March 24th) compared to the same months in 2005. Stay tuned!

Please consider being a life saving Foster mom or dad this puppy and kitten season. More info on our enhanced Foster Program coming soon or contact our volunteer Department for an update.

Together we can make LA the safest City in the US for our pets!

Chains of Love or Abuse? by Ed Boks

It’s interesting how a seemingly simple solution to a perceived problem can have traumatic unintended consequences. Consider tethering. A tether is a rope, leash, or chain used to restrict the movement of a dog.

Ed Boks and tethering
On August 3, 2005, the LA City Council passed a tethering ban effective in LA! Tethering your dog can now result in a $1,000 fine, six months in jail, or both!

Some people consider a tether an acceptable solution to correcting a misbehaving dog and they never take the time to consider the horrific consequences of tethering. Lets take a moment to think about tethering, but let’s make it a little more personal. Let’s consider the consequences on a two year old child as an example.

Imagine a two-year old child confined to a small room all the time. The toddler wakes up each day full of natural curiosity and energy, with a need to be touched and loved by those around her. She can hear them laughing and interacting just on the other side of the door; she can even smell them.

She only sees her loved ones once a day when they fill her bowl with oatmeal and her bottle with water. She loves this brief interaction and tries to lavish her love on them, but they are annoyed by her affection. She is curious and longs to be held by them. But soon they are gone and she is left alone. She has no ability to articulate what she is feeling, only that she must be “bad” to be so rejected. She is never given the opportunity to learn what is expected of her. No one takes the time to teach her to behave in a way where her loved ones would want her to be with them all the time.

She gets no exercise, and eventually gives up trying to even reach the doorknob to break down the barrier that separates them. Then she gives up hope that the door will ever open. She turns inward, depressed and lonely. To occupy her time, she crawls in circles; she sucks her thumbs raw. When someone does come into her room now, she is afraid. She doesn’t know how to behave or interact. What has she learned?

She has learned to believe that she is helpless, and that the little world she knows will not respond to her needs. She has learned that nothing she does matters. She has learned that people are to be feared. She has learned that she must defend herself by shrinking away or lashing out. What was once a curious, trusting, happy, healthy, loving little creature has been transformed into a cowering, aggressive, unstable being because her loved ones refused to share their home and lives with her.

Dogs, like children, are social beings. They have a deeply ingrained need for contact with either human beings or other dogs. When a dog is tethered (chained) outside, it does not receive the socialization it needs to maintain its mental health. Tethering also denies the dog proper exercise. Even if a dog is given proper veterinary care and is fed correctly, tethered dogs are still apt to develop serious behavior problems because their existence is ruled by the length of the tether.

Although it may seem as if the dog has plenty of room to move about, dogs still get tangled up in their chains, making it impossible for them to reach shelter, shade, food or water. Dogs that spend their lives tethered have been known to grind their teeth down to stumps. Many will compulsively lick an area of their body until it turns into a bleeding sore (granuloma). It is reported that tethered dogs inflict one quarter of all dog bites recorded.

Tethered dogs frequently become withdrawn and depressed. Compulsive barking, chewing and digging may also result. Some people tether their dogs because of bad behavior. This only compounds the problem, sometimes resulting in hyperactive or aggressive behavior in addition to the original behavioral problem. These dogs need professional training, not tethering. Unfortunately, many people who tether their dogs are unaware of the cruelty they are inflicting on their pet.

Many dogs are kept tethered because their guardians did not spend the time or energy to properly train them or because they do not have the proper facilities for keeping a dog in the first place. There are even some cultures that consider tethering acceptable because they view dogs as working animals, not companions.

Thanks to the hard work, commitment and compassion of LAAS’ David Diliberto, City Attorneys Robert Ferber and Dov Lesel, and private citizen, Dianne Lawrence, for helping me craft an anti-tethering ordinance in Los Angeles.  That’s right, IT IS NOW ILLEGAL!

On August 3, 2005, the LA City Council passed LAAS’ tethering ban effective in the entire City of Los Angeles! Tethering your dog in the City of Los Angeles can now result in a $1,000 fine, six months in jail, or both!

If you tether your dog, please consider an alternative. If you know someone who tether’s their dog, let them know about this new law. Your veterinarian, members of dog clubs and dog obedience trainers can provide the information you need to correct the behavioral problems that may have led to tethering your dog in the first place.

Please call LAAS (888-452-7381) if you would like more information on the dangers of tethering and what you can do about it.

Cooperation and compassion is the antidote to LA’s toxic soup by Ed Boks

Ed Boks and Today Show
Ed Boks advocating No-Kill on the Today Show

Before arriving in Los Angeles, people told me that this city represents the “acid test” for animal welfare reform.  LA, I was informed, is home to the most active, assertive humane community in the country.

In a February 9th public meeting in North Hollywood I noted what I had already observed of this acidity during my brief tenure and I encouraged activists to work together to rise above the rancor.  Some felt I was too negative at a time when I should have simply set forth my vision and goals for Animal Services (LAAS).  However, in light of e-mail debates and news articles that have emerged since then, I think I may have actually understated the situation. Continue reading “Cooperation and compassion is the antidote to LA’s toxic soup by Ed Boks”