edboks123 – Page 30 – Ed Boks Consulting

July 9, 2007February 4, 2018

Importance of Legislation to Achieving No-Kill by Ed Boks

Some opponents of the bill attempt to use LA Animal Services’ progress as a reason to not support AB 1634, The California Healthy Pets Act. They assert that if LA is able to reduce pet euthanasia without mandatory spay/neuter then any community could do the same if they were so inclined. Don’t be fooled by these misleading arguments. LA is not typical of most California communities, and despite our best spay/neuter efforts when it comes to the number of unwanted pets coming into our Animal Care Centers, it’s almost as if we are standing still.

Unlike any other community in California (or the United States for that matter) Los Angeles provides between 40,000 and 45,000 spay/neuter surgeries to LA pets annually. Despite our $1.2 million commitment to spay/neuter every year, we still saw a one percent increase in the number of dogs and cats we took in during Fiscal Year 06/07. While opponents of AB 1634 claim all the unwanted animals dying in shelters are feral cats, the actual number of cats, feral and otherwise, coming into our Care Centers actually decreased nearly 1% (20,898 from 21,067) while dog impounds increased nearly 2% (25,419 from 24,748).

While LA can boast one of the most impressive track records towards achieving No-Kill in the United States, we are not there yet, not as long as we consistently take in 46,000 lost and homeless dogs and cats every year. It is time we turn off the faucet that is flooding our state with so many unwanted animals.

LA Animal Services initiated AB 1634 in recognition of the fact that unless we work together as a state to stop the proliferation of unwanted dogs and cats in California then every community, including Los Angeles, will ultimately fail in its quest to achieve No-Kill. If we refuse to fix this broken pipe we will continue to find ourselves mopping up the results of irresponsible pet guardianship at a tremendous cost to taxpayers.

More than any other city in the state, LA has too much invested to fail now. $1.2 million a year for spay/neuter surgeries, $160 million in new shelters and clinics to handle the crushing numbers of unwanted dogs and cats, and $21 million a year in animal control costs associated with unwanted dogs and cats, up 36% over the past six years.

No other city has more aggressively fulfilled the mandates of the 1997 Hayden Bill to hold animals longer and provide better medical care. But the unintended consequences of the Hayden Bill has been over crowded shelters all across California and the state’s third largest reimbursable mandate, hovering at around $150 million and growing at about $30 million a year. AB 1634 will help stop the insanity of escalating budgets and escalating body counts across the state (visit http://www.cahealthypets.com/ for more information).

Please contact your Senator today and ask him/her to support AB 1634.

Defining No-Kill
When talking about “no-kill”, it is important to understand how this term is defined. At LA Animal Services “no-kill” means using the same criteria a compassionate veterinarian or loving guardian would use when deciding if euthanasia is appropriate. That is, euthanasia is only appropriate when an animal is terminally ill, terminally injured, or dangerously aggressive. When euthanasia is compassionately available for these animals alone we will have achieved “no-kill”.

LA Animal Services contends there is a loving home somewhere for all other categories of animals (the healthy, the treatable, and animals with behavioral issues that do not put people or other animals at serious risk of injury). Until all these animals are safely placed in loving homes Los Angeles has not achieved No-Kill. Until LA is not killing animals for reasons of space or limited medical resources we have not achieved No-Kill.

June 07 Statistics
Let’s look at the June 07 numbers first. They reveal a timely snapshot of where we are now, but the real story is the consistent life saving trend we can document over the past five years.

June 07 dog and cat adoptions are up 26% compared to June 06 (1,552 from 1,233). Dog adoptions are up 14% (839 from 733) and cat adoptions are up 43% (713 from 500). The increase in cat adoptions appears to be the result of the community rallying to our calls for help with this year’s influx of cats.

New Hope Placements for dogs and cats is down slightly, 5.5% (344 from 376). Our New Hope program is a partnership with over 150 rescue organizations in California who help us place healthy and treatable animals at risk of euthanasia. New Hope placements for dogs is down 14% (291 from 340) but up 8% (235 from 217) for cats.

Where Animal Services Adoption and New Hope program’s synergistic efficiency truly reveals itself is in the euthanasia numbers. Dog and cat euthanasia in June 07 is down 30% (1,847) compared to June 06 (2,647). Dog euthanasia is down 30% (523 from 752) and cat euthanasia is also down 30% (1,323 from 1,895).

LA Animal Services implemented an aggressive orphan neonate kitten foster program this year. Neonates are kittens too young to survive on their own and in need of intensive foster care in order to survive. Neonates are animals state law defines as “unadoptable”, but LA Animal Services’ reverence for life No-Kill philosophy requires us to do everything we can to save these, the most helpless of all creatures. In June 07 neonate kitten euthanasia decreased 59% (328 from 804). May 07 saw a 40% decrease in neonate mortality (192 from 319).

These remarkable life saving results were achieved by LA Animal Services employees and nearly 100 volunteer foster care givers who refused to let these animals die! I want to thank each and every one of you for your compassion and commitment to life! In addition to the extraordinary efforts of our foster care givers, I want to thank our wonderful employees and volunteers for taking the time to help the public understand that by keeping these animals at home with momma until they are weaned they can greatly improve these babies’ chances of survival and, of course, for distributing Spay/Neuter Vouchers to get momma spayed after she weans this last batch of babies. These efforts resulted in a 21% decrease in the number of neonates coming into our Centers in June 07 compared to June 06 (862 from 1,095).

Fiscal Year 06/07 Statistics
In Fiscal Year (FY) 06/07, LA Animal Services took in 25,419 (55%) dogs and 20,898 (45%) cats. 34% (15,808) of all dogs and cats were owner relinquished, unwanted. 66% (30,686) were rescued by LA Animal Care Officers who found them as lost, roaming the streets, uncared for and perhaps just as unwanted.

LA Animal Services returned nearly 16% (4,037) of all incoming animals to their very grateful guardians. LA Animal Services consistently maintains one of the highest “return to guardian” rates in the country.

32% (6,634) of all cats taken (20,898) in were orphaned neonates. Pit bull and pit bull mixes represent 25% (5,408) of all dogs taken in (25,493), 15% (1,463) of all dogs adopted, 4% (408) of all dogs placed through New Hope, and 41% (2,574) of all dogs euthanized. Pit bull and pit bull mixes represent the most popular dogs sought out for adoption. They also outnumber all other dog breeds euthanized.

In FY 06/07, LA Animal Services dog and cat adoptions are up 6.8% (15,098 from 14,125). Dog adoptions are up nearly 12% (from 8,772 to 9,813) and cat adoptions are down about 1% (5,285 from 5,353). New Hope placements are down 1.7% (5,918 from 6,023). However, the combination of adoptions and New Hope placements is 21,016 – making LA Animal Services the largest pet adoption agency in the nation again this year.

In FY 06/07, Los Angeles euthanized (or killed) 17,314 dogs and cats. This represents the fewest number of dogs and cats euthanized in LA in a one year period. This is an 11.25% decrease from the previous Fiscal Year in which 19,508 dogs and cats were euthanized. LA Animal Services has consistently reduced euthanasia over the past five years in the double digits. 15% in 02/03. 12% in 03/04. 16% in 04/05. 10% in 05/06. 11.25% in 06/07. This represents a 50% decrease over the past five years from 34,329 to 17,314.

A sincere thank you to all of you who are helping to make No-Kill an achievable goal in LA!

And don’t forget to call or fax your Senator today to ask his/her support of AB 1634, beginning with the Senate Local Government Committee, which hears the bill on Wednesday, July 11th. The Committee’s members include:

Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod (Chair) 916-651-4032
Senator Dave Cox (Vice Chair) 916-651-4001
Senator Tom Harman 916-651-4035
Senator Christine Kehoe 916-651-4039
Senator Michael Machado 916-651-4005

July 7, 2007February 4, 2018

Top Ten Reasons Why Pets are Relinquished in Los Angeles by Ed Boks

In a recent LA Times article a local animal advocate was quoted as stating that the number one reason pets are relinquished to shelters is because the pets are too sick or too old.

While that may be true in other communities, that reason actually ranks number 8 for cats and number 7 for dogs in Los Angeles. The data below is being included in the development of a program called “Safety Net”. Safety Net is being designed with the help of several partner organizations to help keep pets and guardians together during difficult times negating the need for relinquishment.

So, just what are the Top Ten Reasons guardians give for relinquishing their pets in the City of Los Angeles? The rankings differ slightly for cats and dogs. It should also be mentioned that a percentage of pet relinquishers either refuse to give a reason or for some other reason this data was not obtained.

CAT GUARDIANS:

1. GUARDIAN HAS TOO MANY PETS (1,324) LA Animal Services does follow up on many of these relinquishments and many spay/neuter vouchers are distributed and as appropriate citations issued.

2. LANDLORD OR ZONING ISSUES (536)

3. GUARDIAN MOVING CANNOT TAKE CAT (465)

4. GUARDIAN HAS NO TIME FOR THE CAT (294)

5. HUMAN MEMBER OF GUARDIAN FAMILY ALLERGIC TO CAT (252)

6. GUARDIAN TOO ILL TO CARE FOR THE CAT (176)

7. CAT DOES NOT GET ALONG WITH OTHER PET (148)

8. GUARDIAN CANNOT AFFORD MEDICAL COSTS FOR SICK OR INJURED CAT (147)

9. GUARDIAN HOMELESS (138)

10. GUARDIAN DIED (89)

DOG GUARDIANS:

1. GUARDIAN MOVED COULD NOT TAKE DOG (1,021)

2. GUARDIAN HAD NO TIME FOR DOG (768)

3. LANDLORD/ZONING ISSUES (692)

4. GUARDIAN HAD TOO MANY PETS (600) LA Animal Services does follow up on many of these relinquishments and many spay/neuter vouchers are distributed and as appropriate citations issued.

5. GUARDIAN TOO ILL TO CARE FOR DOG (350)

6. GUARDIAN DIED (327)

7. GUARDIAN COULD NOT AFFORD THE MEDICAL COSTS FOR SICK OR INJURED DOG (323)

8. DOG TOO AGGRESSIVE WITH OTHER ANIMALS (304)

9. DOG TOO AGGRESSIVE WITH PEOPLE (290)

10. GUARDIAN HOMELESS (256)

The June 07 and Fiscal Year 06/07 Statistics are posted on the website. I want to thank everyone who helped us achieve these remarkable numbers. An analysis will be posted later this week.

Please remember to contact your California Senator Monday and/or Tuesday to ask him or her to support AB 1634, The California Healthy Pets Act. They need to hear from you now! It’s crunch time! The California Healthy Pets Act is to be heard in the Local Government Committee on July 11th at 8:00am. It must pass out of this Committee to get to the full Senate.

If you live in the district for any of the five Local Government Committee Members, please act immediately, fax and call now:

Members:

Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod (Chair)
916-651-4032 Office, 916-445-0128 Fax
Chino Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Colton, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Pomona, Rialto, San Bernardino

Senator Dave Cox (Vice Chair)
916-651-4001 Office, 916-324-2680 Fax
Fair Oaks Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra Auburn, Elk Grove, Fair Oaks, Folsom, Galt, Mammoth Lakes, Orangevale, Placerville, Rancho Cordova, Roseville, Sacramento, Shingle Springs, South Lake Tahoe, Susanville, Truckee, Valley Springs

Senator Tom Harman
916-651-4035 Office, 916-445-9263 Fax
Orange Orange, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Westminister

Senator Christine Kehoe
916-651-4039 Office, 916-327-2188 Fax
San Diego, Del Mar, Lemon Grove

Senator Michael Machado
916-651-4005 Office, 916-323-2304 Fax
Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Yolo Davis, Fairfield, Manteca, Stockton, Tracy, Vacaville, West Sacramento

June 24, 2007February 4, 2018

Applying The No-Kill Ethic by Ed Boks

More than a policy and statistical objective, “no-kill” is a principle, an ethic, and once applied the practical consequences begin to fall into place. The principle is that Animal Services should apply the same criteria for deciding an animal’s fate that a loving pet guardian or conscientious veterinarian would apply. That is, healthy and treatable animals are not killed simply because we lack the room or resources to care for them.

Killing animals for lack of space may be the quick, convenient and, at least from afar, the easy thing to do. But I have never, in over 25 years in this field, heard anyone argue that it is the right thing to do. After all, the creatures who fill our shelters can hardly be faulted for bringing trouble upon themselves. People who seek to excuse euthanasia in shelters often say we have to be “realistic.” But ultimately such realism would be better directed at the sources of the problem and, above all, at the element of human responsibility.

There are the heart-breaking cruelty cases that bring so many animals to our doors, and the added wrong of killing animals already victimized by callous or vicious behavior. On top of that, over 30 percent of the 46,000-plus dogs and cats the City takes in each year are actually relinquished – turned in – even after years living with a family, like old furniture donated to charity. And another third of the creatures Animal Services euthanizes each year are orphaned, neonate puppies and kittens. No one bothered to spay or neuter the parents, and so the offspring are born into the world homeless or unwanted. The general attitude is, “Let someone else deal with the problem,” and – thousands of times a year – someone else does with a lethal injection. (In California it’s more than four hundred thousand times a year.)

Along with such failures in personal responsibility is a breakdown in social responsibility in the care of animals. On the budget sheets of government, saving animals can seem to a certain mindset as being a lowly or trivial concern. That’s an easy position to take, just as long as you don’t have to be there when the problem gets “solved” by euthanasia. If the public officials in most locales who brush off animal-welfare as “trivial” had to see the product of their priorities carried out – to witness for themselves how trusting the dogs are even when being led to their death, or how as they drift away they lick the hand or face of the person with the needle – I suspect they would see matters in a very different light, and would enthusiastically vote to support AB 1634, the state mandatory spay/neuter bill currently being fought over in the State Senate.

Here in Los Angeles there are rays of light. Between now and the end of 2007, the City will open several more new animal care centers, a decisive step forward in our commitment to helping lost and homeless animals, and to swearing off euthanasia as a solution to pet overpopulation.

The new Centers will give us four times our current shelter space to accommodate the average of 150 lost, sick, injured, neglected, abused or unwanted animals entrusted to LA Animal Services every day. The Centers will have wide aisles, solar and radiant heating, cooling misters, veterinary and spay/neuter clinics, park benches for visitors, fountains and lush landscaping – a world away from the grim conditions of older shelters, where animals can become so agitated or depressed that they seem ill-tempered and, thus, “unadoptable” by old school animal control reckoning. By transforming our animal shelters into places of hope and life, instead of despair and doom, odds are we can measurably increase adoption rates.

The “no-kill” ethic is a matter of taking responsibility, instead of excusing the problem or hiding its consequences. In LA we are moving steadily in this direction. Over the past six years, our lost and homeless dog euthanasia rate has decreased 67 percent and our cat euthanasia rate has decreased 24 percent. In just the first five months of 2007, we’ve seen another 22 percent decrease in dog and cat euthanasia compared to the same period in 2006. In the past 12 months, 18,108 dogs and cats were euthanized.

That’s the lowest number ever for a one-year period in LA since thorough record-keeping began – and fewer animals than met the same fate in the much smaller city of Bakersfield. But no matter how you do the math, it still comes to over 18,000 creatures who had love and devotion to offer, and never got their chance. And calling the practice euthanasia (as some prefer), instead of killing (as others prefer), doesn’t make it any kinder.

The good news is we are making significant progress, and we have many fine allies in the cause. There are hundreds of groups across greater Los Angeles dedicated to finding homes for needy animals and to helping sterilize those animals who otherwise might contribute to the pet overpopulation problem. These compassionate, idealistic people show us the way forward.

The practice of killing animals for lack of shelter space has never been anyone’s idea of an ideal solution – let alone anyone’s idea of giving “shelter” to creatures in need. And, up close, the willful elimination of healthy animals with good years left is a sight to move the hardest heart. But as LA’s new Animal Care Centers continue to open their doors, Animal Services offers this goal to go with them, and we ask everyone’s help in achieving it: No animal that comes through those doors will be killed out of convenience or a lack of space. For every one of them, there is somewhere a kind and loving person or family, and it is our mission to bring them together.

May 31, 2007February 4, 2018

Dog Days of Summer Warning… by Ed Boks

In June 2006, the LA City Council officially went on the record supporting California Senate bill 1806. The bill outlaws leaving an animal in any unattended motor vehicle under conditions that endanger the health or well-being of the animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or lack of food or water. This important bill was approved overwhelmingly by the Legislature last summer and signed by the Governor in September. I am proud to have helped co-author this groundbreaking legislation.

As the dog days of summer approach, the The Animal Protection Institute (API, a national nonprofit animal welfare group in Sacramento) has sent out the following information:

API has launched its summer initiative, “My Dog is Cool,” to save dogs and other animals from dying in hot cars during warm-weather months.

Every year, dogs die after being locked inside cars while their humans leave them, often for “just a few minutes.” These tragedies occur with alarming frequency, yet the animals’ deaths are completely preventable.

“As the summer heats up, it’s important that people be made aware of the dangers of leaving companion animals inside hot cars,” says API’s director of legal and government affairs, Nicole Paquette. “People mean well by taking their dog or other animal along with them while they work, visit, shop, or run errands, but warm weather can literally turn a car into a death trap.”

** NOTE: A Stanford University test found that even if it’s only 72 degrees outside, a car’s internal temperature can rocket to 116 degrees within an hour. Hundreds of dogs are unintentionally killed or injured each year by being left in hot cars, even with windows cracked and only for a short time.

The lifesaving Web site http://www.mydogiscool.com is a free, friendly resource to help spread the word about the dangers of hot cars. Resources include downloadable posters and “It’s hot!” flyers that can be used when a dog is left in a hot car, and an “Is it Too Hot?” weather forecasting tool that allows you to just enter your zip code and see if it’s too hot to take your pal along in the car.

The MyDogIsCool.com site provides everything you need to know to keep dogs safe and happy during hot weather. The Animal Protection Institute is a national nonprofit animal advocacy organization working to end animal cruelty and exploitation through legislation, litigation and public education.

Below are some additional tips to keep in mind on warm/hot days:

Indoor Animals — Make sure your house doesn’t turn into an oven during the day while you’re at work. If you don’t have an air conditioner, leave as many windows partially open as you can to keep the air circulating. Moving air is important. Your dog or cat will follow the air currents around to find the most comfortable spot.

You can help by filling several liter-size plastic Coke/Pepsi bottles with water and freezing them. (Don’t fill them too full because ice expands.) Leave them lying on the floor around the house in places where your pets like to hang out. They can snuggle up against the icy bottles and keep at least a little cooler.

If you have an aquarium or fish bowl full of fish, make sure the sun doesn’t shine on them as it moves past your windows. Warm water loses oxygen, and a fish in a sunny aquarium can have trouble breathing and actually “drown.”

Outdoor Animals — If your dog or cat spends the day in the back yard, it would be great if they had a dog/cat door that would let them come inside to cool off. If they don’t (how about a doggy door into the garage?), you need to make sure they have some shady spots to get out of the sun and plenty of water to drink so they can stay hydrated.

Give the ground under bushes or in shady areas a good watering before you go to work so your dog has a place to stay comfortable. You can always give your pal a bath later.

Drinking Water — Whether your pets stay inside or out, make sure they have plenty of cool, clean water to drink. Leave several large bowls in different parts of your house or yard where your pets like to go and make sure they stay out of the sun so the water doesn’t get too hot to drink.

Here are a couple of important points on hot weather:

1. Exercise your dog in the cool of the early morning or evening, never when it’s hot. Be careful not to let your dog stand on hot asphalt or cement, as its sensitive paw pads can easily burn.

2. Some animals need extra special care in hot weather, especially those who are elderly and overweight, or have heart or lung disease. Hopefully, you know who you are.

May 7, 2007February 4, 2018

Year to Date and April 2007 Numbers and Where We Go From Here by Ed Boks

Year To Date Numbers:
Despite a 3.45% increase in the number of dogs and cats rescued by LA Animal Services in the first four months of calendar year 2007 (from 11,532 to 11,930), the City’s euthanasia rate continues to decrease!

The euthanasia rate for Calendar Year to Date compared to the first four months of 2006 shows a 13.25% decrease (from 3198 to 2774)! Keep in mind that 2006 was a historic record year for euthanizing the fewest number of animals and now 2007 appears to be on track to be another record year!

Adoptions Year to Date are up 2% (from 4349 to 4437) and New Hope placements are up 3.2% (from 1919 to 1982).

LA Animal Services continues to lead the nation in returning lost pets to their frantic and grateful owners with a 1.2% increase Year to Date over last year (from 1385 to 1402). This rate is four times higher than any other large municipal program.

April Numbers:
April 07 showed a 5.3% increase in the number of animals rescued by LA Animal Services (up from 3395 to 3577) compared to April 06. The continual increase in the number of animals coming into LA City Animal Care Centers demonstrates the need for widespread support of the California Healthy Pet Act (www.cahealthypets.com).

Despite this increase in numbers, LA’s April euthanasia rate is the lowest April ever recorded, down a whopping 22.7% (from 1099 to 849)! This follows March’s historic all time low euthanasia month!

Although Adoptions were down 5% (from 1102 to 1044) our New Hope partners picked up the slack and adopted 9.4% more animals this April than last April (from 622 to 681)!

Where We Go From Here:
While these numbers may appear to paint a rosey picture to some, I want to make sure we don’t fool ourselves with respect to the challenge before us.

LA Animal Services is criticized from both sides. When euthanasia is up we are criticized for being a “death camp”. When euthanasia is down we are criticized for being a “concentration camp”.

LA Animal Services walks a very difficult line – we must try to maintain a high quality of life for our sheltered animals while attempting to not unnecessarily sacrifice the life of any animals when we need more space for incoming animals.

To ensure LA Animal Services continues to trend towards No-Kill we have or are implementing the following strategies:

1. When an animal is healthy and has a good disposition, we hold that animal for at least 45 days to maximize our efforts to adopt it out. Most municipal shelters hold animals for a week or less. During those 45 days staff becomes well acquainted with each animal so as to better plead its case to both adopters and our New Hope partners. If after 45 days none of our 120 New Hope partners or anyone of our 4 million residents steps up to adopt an animal, we then stress the urgency for help with that animal by posting him/her on a seven day Red Alert on our website. This step provides anybody and everybody one last opportunity to save that animal.

Even then this is not an automatic death sentence. Staff can, and often do, take animals off the seven day Red Alert when they think that animal just needs a little more time. That is how and why we often have animals in our Centers for months at a time. I cannot find ANY municipal shelter in the world that DOES MORE to save lives than LA Animal Services!

2. LA Animal Services will continue to promote adoptions and will continue to find ways to maximize the resources of our New Hope Partners. Working with our New Hope Partners, LA Animal Services is placing nearly 21,000 dogs and cats every year. I cannot find ANY animal adoption program anywhere in the world placing more animals than LA Animal Services. And we are committed to doing better! In addition to that, we reunite over 4,000 lost pets with their owners each year!

Please help us promote our current Be Kind To Animals Week Adoptathon in which we offer half off adoption fees!

3. As many of you know, LA Animal Services is in the process of vacating our East Valley and West LA Animal Care Centers to move into our new facilities. Our new facilities will increase our holding capacity by over 400%!

So what to do with our old facilities? LA Animal Services is developing a Request for Qualifications to identify one or more animal welfare organizations willing and able to manage our old facilities in partnership with LA Animal Services and in support of our No-Kill goal.

4. LA Animal Services continues to provide more and more spay/neuter surgeries for the pets of our residents each year, nearly 40,000 pets in 2006 and we are on track to do 44,000 in 2007. I cannot find ANY municipal program ANYWHERE that is doing more to provide spay/neuter services to its residents.

Later this year we will be opening our Spay/Neuter Clinics in order to provide even more spay/neuter services to our residents. South LA’s Spay/Neuter Clinic is already operational and we hope to have North Central operational soon, with five additional clinics coming on line no later than next spring.

5. LA Animal Services is one of the original drafters and supporters of AB 1634. Now we have the support of the Mayor and the entire City Council! Our efforts on this state initiative laid the foundation for us implementing a City spay/neuter ordinance which is on a parallel track even now.

Never was more being done to end the senseless killing of lost and homeless animals in the City of LA! I want to thank every employee, volunteer, and partner in helping us achieve the remarkable numbers of the last five years. But we have a long way to go and we need your help. Please consider ways of helping support the above initiatives, and/or consider joining our Volunteer Program.

Its an old but true maxim, that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

May 1, 2007February 4, 2018

A Celebration of Compassion: Be Kind to Animals Week by Ed Boks

Be Kind to Animals Week was the first large-scale campaign to bring attention to animal welfare in the United States. The idea extended from “Mercy Sunday”, a partnership between American Humane and clergy in several states. But the need for a more cohesive, nationwide campaign was seen as a natural outgrowth of the association’s mission and its collaboration with humane societies throughout the country.

In 1914, plans were discussed to expand the movement to create a unified celebration on a national level. Dr. William O. Stillman, president of the American Humane, believed strongly in a systemic approach that would bring the “tenets of kindness to those who would not otherwise be brought under its influence.” The objectives were to heighten public awareness through humane education, highlight the work of humane societies, and again ask clergy to speak about child and animal welfare issues on what had been renamed “Humane Sunday.”

The inaugural Be Kind to Animals Week, May 17-23, 1915, was a revolutionary concept. With radio in its infancy, and long before television, American Humane effectively used the media of the day to promote the observance in 43 of 48 states. Posters and literature were distributed, and local newspapers helped publicize the events, resulting in a tremendous response.

Over the years, Be Kind to Animals Week has continued to grow and embed itself into the popular lexicon and the public’s consciousness. In 1973, the children’s TV show Romper Room promoted it, and in 1990, Congress passed a resolution declaring May 6-12 as Be Kind to Animals Week and National Pet Week. It also has been featured in thousands of news stories and even in comic strips, including Dennis the Menace and Mutts.

In 2007, the 93-year tradition continues with a weeklong celebration of kindness and compassion May 6-12. [From Spring Issue of “The National Humane Review” pg. 5]

LA Animal Services is celebrating Be Kind To Animals Week with a week-long Adoption Promotion to encourage Angelenos to do the kindest thing of all – provide a loving home to a homeless pet. From May 6 through May 13, all adoption fees will be reduced by 50%!

April 29, 2007January 26, 2018

Humane Index Released – LA Ranks #6

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has released its Humane Index which is the first-ever attempt to determine the overall humaneness of America’s largest metro areas. The HSUS ranked the 25 largest metropolitan areas according to criteria such as the number of vegetarian restaurants per capita and Congressional leadership on animal issues.

Los Angeles ranked #6 behind San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Washington D.C., and San Diego.

By measuring a wide range of humane and inhumane conduct, HSUS hopes to inspire individuals and entire communities to strive to do better to make the world a more merciful place for animals.

The Humane Index is comprised of a dozen factors selected to provide a basis for comparing the relative humaneness of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. The index includes topics related to pets, farm animals, wildlife, animals in entertainment and advocacy for animals. The Humane Index demonstrates that Americans extend their compassion beyond the millions of pets who share our homes.

West Coast cities generally performed better than other areas of the country. In addition to San Francisco and Seattle, Portland ranked fourth and San Diego fifth. Los Angeles ranked sixth. On the East Coast, Washington, Boston and Baltimore ranked in the top ten metro areas.

The full detailed results are available online at www.humaneindex.org. The interactive website allows visitors to view the details on each index item. See how various cities rank, compare two cities, and learn how they can take action to make their city more humane.

The following is a synopsis of LA’s ranking in each of HSUS’ 12 categories:

LA ranked #2 in the Bird Shooters category. Four California cities top the Index for celebrating wildlife by shooting them with cameras instead of a lethal approach. Californians are seven times more likely than Texans to sport binoculars over shotguns. The ratio in every Humane Index city favors wildlife watching. There are 20.9 wildlife watchers to every one hunter in California. Across the nation, Americans are consistently celebrating the beauty and mystery of wildlife and prefer to mount their photos rather than their heads or hides.

While across the country there is evidence that major newspaper coverage of animal issues is significant, LA sadly ranks 24 of 25 in this category. The LA Times featured 330 stories in 2006 compared to the Index average of 596.

LA ranks number 14 in the Fur Shame category with 45 fur retailers compared to the Index average of 29.

LA is in 5th place for putting the chicken before the egg. LA has at least 91 cage free locations compared to the Index average of 19. Every Humane Index city has at least one place where you can support a company with a stance against cruel confinement of laying hens in barren wire cages.

LA ranks six in the Captive Entertainers category. LA has 19 locations where captive animals are used for entertainment compared to the Index average of 18 locations.

LA is ranked #17 in citizen advocacy but it is unclear from the HSUS website if this category is merely a ranking of HSUS membership in the Index cities. If that is the case this would not be a valid means for determining advocacy. LA is well known throughout the nation for its strong animal advocacy efforts as demonstrated most recently by our Mayor and City Council’s support of Assemblyman Levine’s AB 1634.

LA ranks number 20 in the Pet Shop Puppy Suffering category. There are too many puppies in pet shops. Across Humane Index cities one in three pet stores sell puppies creating the demand for puppy mills and the misery they breed. Four of the five worst metro areas are warm belt cities like Tampa (#22), Miami (#23), Houston (#24) and Phoenix (#25). San Francisco, New York and Pittsburg take top spots in avoiding the cruelty of puppy mills with only 15% of pet stores selling puppies. 45% of all LA pet stores sell puppies compared to the Index average of 34%. With so many great dogs adoptable from animal shelters we would like to see an end to selling puppies in pet shops in LA.

HSUS uses the term “wildlife whisperers” and it is not clear if they are referring to wildlife rehabilitation organizations or individual licensed rehabilitators. Whatever the criteria used to evaluate this category, LA was ranked 19 with 28 “wildlife whisperers” to the Index average of 21.

If you want to shun the animal cruelty inherent in animal circus acts, California is the place you want to be according to HSUS. Three of the top Humane Index cities in this category – Riverside (#1), San Francisco (#2) and Los Angeles (#5) – are in the Golden State.

If you’re looking for fine vegetarian fare, you can’t lose on the West Coast, home to all of this category’s top five Humane Index cities. Up and down the coast – from Seattle (#2) to San Diego (#5) and in between (San Francisco #1, LA #3, and Portland #4) – you will find an average of 44 vegetarian restaurants in each of these towns (112 in LA).

LA ranked number 6 in the Congressional Compassion category. In general, Humane Index cities can thank themselves for electing humane legislators with Congressional Compassion running higher on average in Index metros than in other areas. But there is a coastal effect – lower Congressional Compassion emanates from inland areas. With average scores on the Humane Society Legislative Fund’s Humane Scorecard for the 109th Congress ranging from 26.6 (Dallas) to 90.8 (Philadelphia). It is worth noting that 18 of the 25 Humane Index cities have scores exceeding 50. LA is at 64.9.

LA ranked #7 in registering disapproval of Canada’s seal hunt. From Portland (#1) to Atlanta (#2), Tampa (#3) and Miami (#4) many Humane Index cities are protesting Canada’s barbaric clubbing of baby seals for fur by boycotting Canadian seafood. With nearly 1,208 participating establishments, there are an average of 50 in each Humane Index city. There are 183 locations in LA.

LA Animal Services is asking HSUS to consider ranking municipal animal shelters as part of its Humane Index in future Indexes.

April 17, 2007January 26, 2018

Assembly Bill 1634 – A Bill Whose Time Has Come by Ed Boks

I want to thank the City Council for its unanimous support of Assembly Bill 1634 – The California Healthy Pet Bill – legislation designed to end the incalculable suffering of unwanted homeless and lost dogs and cats in the State of California. This April 17 vote places the City of Los Angeles officially on record in support of the legislation and could be a difference-maker in the contentious debate up in Sacramento.

This bill is particularly important to the City of Los Angeles and, in fact, was originally given birth by the staff of LA Animal Services working closely with legal experts, animal control professionals and key activists from all over the state.

Over the past several months, with the extraordinary help of California Healthy Pets Coalition director (and volunteer) Judie Mancuso and many others, this bill has taken shape and garnered the support of the California Veterinary Medical Association, the California Association of Animal Control Directors (representing over 100 animal control agencies across the state of California), the State Humane Association of California, the Humane Society of the United States, In Defense of Animals, The Animal Protection Institute, the SPCA-LA, the Rescue Humane Alliance LA (which represents 65 LA animal welfare organizations), thousands of activists and organizations, and dozens of other animal welfare and control organizations in LA and across California.

AB 1634 is a bill whose time has come. Several years ago, the City of Los Angeles became a national humane leader by committing itself to ending euthanasia as a methodology for controlling pet overpopulation. This commitment was built upon the resounding voter approval of nearly $160 million to construct seven animal shelters to manage the crushing number of lost and homeless animals taken in by LA Animal Services every year (over 50,000 animals in some years). Over the past six years the City Council had to increase Animal Services’ budget by 36%, with a 28% increase in the current fiscal year alone, even in the face of an extremely tight City budget.

In the hardball world of politics, numbers such as these can be important. Other important numbers in the AB 1634 debate include the $240 million a year in taxpayer dollars it cost the state’s public animal control agencies to care for, then kill approximately 430,000 animals last year. Then there’s the $120 million the state government has had to pay local agencies to fund the extra days of animal care required by the “Hayden Bill,” approved in 1997. This reimbursable mandate is growing at a rate of $30 million annually.

Numbers like these remind us that trying to solve the pet overpopulation problem from the back end is expensive. It is like trying to mop up a flooded basement without first turning the water off.

Over the last few years, we’ve made some progress in Los Angeles, using licensing incentives, stepped-up adoption programs and alliances with the rescue community to bring down our kill rate by about 20% since 2000 to around 40%. We’ve also reduced the number of impounds by a similar percentage by employing aggressive voluntary spay/neuter programs. But many jurisdictions around the state aren’t doing nearly as well, with kill rates ranging from 50% to as high as 90%.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. AB 1634 provides us with an elegant, but simple tool for ending the insanity of escalating budgets and body counts. Combined with public awareness education and outreach and even more spay/neuter services, this legislation can help other animal control agencies get a handle on the problem for the very first time, while agencies like Animal Services can use it to strive for the even lower euthanasia rates our animals deserve and our constituents demand.

On behalf of the nearly 400 employees of Animal Services and the hundreds of volunteers and partners we have throughout Los Angeles who feel the brunt of pet overpopulation everyday I want to thank everyone who made this vote possible.

Mahatma Gandhi told us that the best way to evaluate the morality of a community is to look at how we treat our animals. Our City Council has risen to the occasion again by accepting our collective responsibility for a tenacious problem while at the same time helping to save the lives and end the suffering of countless generations of unwanted animals. They did that by supporting AB 1634, the fiscally prudent and humane solution to LA’s, and California’s, pet overpopulation problems. It is my hope that all our representatives on both sides of the aisle in Sacramento will be just as fiscally prudent and humane as the bill continues its journey toward passage and Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature. This one’s for the animals!

For more information on this life saving public health and safety initiative visit http://www.cahealthypets.com/

April 8, 2007January 26, 2018

March 2007 – A No-Kill Month! by Ed Boks

March 2007 is the lowest monthly euthanasia rate since LA Animal Services began collecting this data! Not only were no healthy dogs or cats killed in the month of March, but also only nine treatable animals were euthanized and only after three regimens of treatment failed to produce any improvement in the health of the animals.

March 2007 Dog and Cat Numbers:

March 2007 Euthanasia Rate is down 29% compared to March 2006 (540 to 782 respectively) and down 54% compared to March 2005 (1166). The March Euthanasia Rate has decreased each of the past six years and is down 69% since March 2002 (1727).

267 dogs and 273 cats were euthanized in March 2007. 25% of the cats were orphaned neonate kittens (68). Thanks to LA Animal Services’ Baby Bottle Foster Parents and many New Hope Partners 204 neonates were safely placed in loving homes in March 2007 and were spared euthanasia. (Orphaned neonates are kittens too young to survive on their own and require round the clock foster care until they are weaned at eight weeks of age.)

39% of the 267 dogs euthanized were pit bull/pit bull mixes (104). This was despite a 22% increase in pit bull adoptions (129 to 157), a 32% increase in pit bull New Hope placements (40 to 53), and a 41% decrease in the pit bull euthanasia rate (176 to 104) in March 07 compared to March 06.

March 2007 Adoptions are steady compared to March 2006 (1141 to 1139 respectively) and are up 15.5% compared to March 2005 (988) and up 24% compared to 2004 (921).

March 2007 New Hope Placements are up 9% compared to 2006 (577 to 529 respectively). New Hope Placements don’t show a consistent trend but over the past six years have averaged 540 placements in the month of March. March 2007 New Hope placements are 7% higher than this average.

March 2007 Intakes are up 2.5% compared to 2006 (3075 to 2986 respectively), but are down 10% compared to 2005 (3420) and down 23% compared to 2002 (3817).

2007 1st Quarter Dog and Cat Numbers:

2007 1st Q Euthanasia Rate is down 8.4% compared to 1st Q 2006 (1922 to 2099 respectively) and down 35% compared to 1st Q 2005 (2967) and down 63% compared to 1st Q 2002.

2007 1st Q Adoptions are up 8% compared to 1st Q 2006 (3396 to 3147 respectively) and up 16% compared to 1st Q 2005 (2925).

2007 1st Q New Hopes are relatively stable at just under 1300 in 2007 and 2006. Similar to the month of March, there is no consistent trend in New Hope placements during calendar year 1st Q’s. However, the 1st Q average over the past six years is 1318 placements. 1st Q 2007 is 2.4% lower.

2007 1st Q Intakes tracked the same as the month of March numbers with a 2.5% increase in 1st Q 2007 compared to 2006 (8338 to 8137 respectively) and a 10% decrease compared to 1st Q 2005 (9258) and a 23% decrease compared to 1st Q 2002 (10851).

All of these numbers and much more can be found in easy to read six year rolling calendar reports that show the City of Los Angeles’ multi-year trend to No-Kill. Just visit LA Animal Services website (www.laanimalservices.com) and click on “About Us – Statistics”.

These results clearly demonstrate the City of Los Angeles is on the road to No-Kill. But these results are not good enough for LA Animal Services’ amazing employees, volunteers, and partners who are committed to saving lives and further restricting euthanasia to its rightful place as a last result for ending irremediable suffering.

March 6, 2007January 25, 2018

Time for the Heavy Lifting… by Ed Boks

LA Animal Services has been striving to achieve No-Kill for several years. Over the past five years LA Animal Services has reduced dog and cat euthanasia by 50%. This reduction represents the fastest progress towards no-kill in the nation. Los Angeles joins all Southern California in the steepest decreases in shelter killing nationwide since 2001 according to Animal People magazine.

Cat euthanasia has decreased nearly 19% and dog euthanasia has decreased 68% over the past five years. There are many ways to evaluate this progress. One method is to consider the “live release rate” another is to look at the per capita rate.

Live Release Rate:
Many communities squabble over defining “adoptable” and “un-adoptable”. LA Animal Services resists that debate. The more we focus on No-Kill the more we find the line defining “un-adoptable” moves in favor of every animal. Today many animals are placed into loving homes that only a few years ago would have been euthanized. Today, LA Animal Services looks only at the total number of animals taken in compared to the total number of animals killed.

Over the past twelve months 46,531 dogs and cats were taken in and 19,263 animals were killed. That is a 59% live release rate for dogs and cats combined. The live release rate for cats is 43% and the live release rate for dogs is 71%.

Per Capita Euthanasia Rate:
Many animal welfare professionals have long considered 5 killings per 1000 residents annually to be the threshold to achieving No-Kill. The national average for euthanizing animals reached an all time low in 2005 at 14.7 per 1000 residents annually. In the City of Los Angeles the per capita kill rate is 4.8.

Both these views suggest Los Angeles has reached the most challenging leg of its race to No-Kill. Adoptions are up 6.2% over the past twelve months, at 14,733. New Hope placements are down 8.5% – suggesting LA Animal Services is efficiently adopting out the most adoptable animals and our New Hope partners are helping many of the more difficult to place animals, nearly 6,000 in the last twelve months. This leaves what many might consider the most “un-adoptable” or unwanted animals.

Hitting the Wall: The Three Biggest Challenges to Achieving No-Kill

Orphaned Neonate Kittens: Of the 19,263 dogs and cats euthanized over the past twelve months 5,624 were orphaned neonate kittens, which is nearly 30% of the total number of animals killed. If we could prevent these animals from being born or could effectively care for them once they come to our Centers we would reduce the number of animals killed to 13,639 or 3.4 per 1000 residents.

Feral Cats: Cats represent 64% of all the dogs and cats euthanized. 12,279 cats were euthanized during the past twelve months. After accounting for the neonates, a remaining 6,655 cats were killed and of this number 35% or 2,329 are conservatively considered feral or un-adoptable because they were wild. If we were able to trap/neuter/return these animals to responsible feral cat colony managers we could further reduce our kill rate to 11,310 or 2.8 per 1000 residents.

Pit bulls/mixes: The second largest number of animals dying in our Centers after cats is pit bulls and pit bull mixes. Despite a nearly 42% increase in pit bull/mix adoptions and nearly an 89% increase in New Hope pit bull/mix placements over the past five years, pit bull/mix euthanasia accounts for nearly 41% of all dogs killed. Of the 6,984 dogs killed over the past twelve months 2,838 were pit bull/mixes. If we could fix our pit bull/mix overpopulation problem we could further reduce our kill rate to 8,472 or 2.1 per 1000 residents.

Solutions
Three solutions are self-evident: Adoption, Spay/Neuter, and Pet Retention Programs. It is well understood that Los Angeles is not going to adopt its way out of the problems associated with pet overpopulation. Adoption and Pet Retention Programs are tactical solutions for the animals on the ground. LA Animal Services is opening six state of the art Animal Care Centers in 2007. These facilities will increase our holding capacity over 400% allowing us to hold animals for longer periods of time while finding loving homes for them. Safety Net is a program on the drawing board that will coordinate the resources available in LA to help keep pets and people together during times when they think relinquishment is their only alternative.

Clearly spay/neuter is the most strategic solution to end the killing. LA Animals Services provided nearly 40,000 spay/neuter surgeries to the pets of needy Angelenos in 2006 and expects to provide 45,000 in 2007. We are working on both a statewide and citywide spay/neuter law. We have accelerated the opening of six high volume spay/neuter clinics throughout the city to 2007. Each clinic is capable of doing between 15,000 and 20,000 surgeries annually. We are engaged in developing a citywide feral cat TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) program.

LA Animal Services is also working on a number of human/animal bond programs designed to encourage pet retention and adoption, not the least of which is the Humane LA program that maximizes the resources of over twenty City Departments to help promote and protect the health, safety, and welfare of pets and people in the City of Los Angeles.

LA Animal Services is doing its part. Pet overpopulation is a community problem requiring community support. Making LA Animal Services the enemy, as some armchair activists do, is like holding Doctors Without Borders responsible for third world disease. The vile discourse common among a small number of self professed animal welfare proponents in LA serves only to make the final mile of the race to No-Kill more difficult, not less. While I am loathe calling attention to this faction because it only gives them the attention they crave, it is important to understand the damage they do to the cause of animal welfare in Los Angeles.

For over one year I have asked the community to come together to help achieve No-Kill once and for all. Some have responded, and I thank you. Today I challenge everyone – from the ADL to the AKC, republicans, democrats, and independents – anyone who claims to love animals to demonstrate your love by helping to end the killing – rather than hindering the actual achievement of the No-Kill goal.

Please consider signing up for our Volunteer Program or our Foster Baby Program. Kitten season is fast upon us. Fostering a litter of baby kittens is a great project for a family, a class, or a senior center. There is so much we can accomplish together.