Litigation against county highlights “ridiculous” euthanasia while rescued animals provide “a bond stronger than any other.”
By Vicky Shere / Special to the Malibu Times
She received a call at 10:30 at night. German Shepherd puppies spotted running homeless near Mount Emma in the Angeles National Forest needed to be picked up. They were shivering from exposure, starving from lack of food and hiding from predators in this mountain/desert area near Palmdale, Malibu resident I.L. Janai-Ami, a volunteer with German Shepherd Rescue, said.
“I don’t know what kind of ‘human being’ dumps their unwanted dogs in the wild when it’s obvious to anyone that a domesticated animal lacks the necessary skills to survive predators, environmental extremes and the lack of food,” Janai-Ami said. “But apparently this is the newest way some people deal with animals that no longer prove ‘useful’ to them.”
The crisis of abandoned pets has received increased publicity recently as more people are turned out of their homes by the real estate meltdown; with the City of Los Angeles’ recent adoption of a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance and lawsuits against the County of Los Angeles alleging mistreatment at its animal shelters.
“Every time there’s a crunch in the economy, the first thing to go is the animals,” said Malibu resident Sherman Baylin, who has rescued animals for 22 years. “People are desperate and don’t know what to do.”
Baylin’s answers: adoption and education. Her Zuma Beach grooming and pet food store, Sherman’s Place, facilitates adoptions at no charge. She also speaks to community groups about characteristics of different breeds, so people can choose the right pet for their households.
Overcrowded shelters
Although California law mandates that “no treatable animal should be euthanized” [a treatable animal including any that “could become adoptable with reasonable efforts”], public shelters are forced to euthanize thousands of animals a year because shelters run out of room.
Los Angeles County, the nation’s largest municipal system, is facing lawsuits alleging poor conditions and mistreatment at its animal shelters, the Los Angeles Times reported. Charges include overcrowding and filthy conditions, a failure to administer medications and euthanasia of healthy animals before the mandatory minimum four-day period is up, the newspaper reported.
During the last fiscal year, which ended in June, the county system took in 85,975 animals, roughly a third more than the city of Los Angeles, the newspaper reported. The county euthanized more than half of them (52,802), most of them cats.
The county’s Agoura shelter takes in 2,449 dogs and cats a year and euthanizes 211, county Department of Animal Care & Control deputy director Michelle Roache wrote in an e-mail to The Malibu Times.
“Until there is a time that all shelter animals find homes, it is critical that your first stop in getting a pet is an animal shelter,” she said.
There is never any reason to purchase a puppy or kitten from a pet store, since an estimated 30 percent of animals in shelters are purebred, Roache added. (The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 25 percent of dogs in shelters are purebred.)
Another reason to adopt an animal is that shelters and rescue groups have made it very easy to find a pet.
You can click on the shelter’s Web site (see below), choose a pet, call and ask the shelter to keep it available for you to see, Woodland Hills resident Michelle Guzy, who created the rescue group Krazy for Katz, said.
The county has made the cost of owning a pet easy, too. Adoption fees are $37 for a dog and $32 for a cat, a fraction of the cost anywhere else.
In city shelters, seniors get older dogs for free.
Spay/neuter legislation
The crisis of shelter overcrowding has prompted local activists to call for passage of AB 1634, the California Healthy Pets Act authored by state Assemblyman Lloyd Levine. After passing the Assembly but stalling in the Senate last year, the mandatory spay/neuter legislation is slated to be heard shortly.
“The number of animals killed is absolutely ridiculous,” veterinarian Lisa Newell of the Malibu Coast Animal Hospital and a member of the California Veterinary Medical Board, said. “There needs to be some kind of compromise on the state bill.”
Pets bring incredible joy and it is sad that many people see them as disposable commodities, Malibu resident and professional photographer Robert Cabral said.
“A shelter [animal] is the best you can get,” Cabral noted. “It understands you saved its life. The bond with you are stronger than any other.”
Local animal adoption resources
For adoption of additional specific breeds, check the Internet.
Los Angeles County Agoura
Animal Shelter
29525 Agoura Road
Agoura 91301
818.991.0071
www.animalcare.lacounty.gov
City of Los Angeles animal shelters
Malibu Pet Companions
Ms. Sherman Baylin
Sherman’s Place
29575 West PCH
[At Busch Drive]
310.457.5501
Krazy for Kats
Michelle Guzy
Animal Match Rescue Team, Inc.
Karma Rescue
The Sam Simon Foundation
New Leash on Life Rescue
Westside German Shepherd Rescue of Los Angeles
German Shepherd Rescue