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ANIMAL WATCH - On April 20, Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS) announced that a joint, multi-year $14 million funding and operational support initiative from the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and Best Friends Animal Society (BFAS) had been approved.
According to the announcement, the partnership is intended to strengthen and enhance services across the City's six animal shelters.
Described as a "first-of-its-kind" collaboration, the initiative represents the largest combined investment by the two national animal welfare organizations in a single municipal shelter system.
The partnership will focus on three primary goals:
- Preventing unnecessary shelter intake through community engagement and support services;
- Improving in-shelter care and operational efficiency to provide timely, coordinated care for animals; and
- Increasing positive outcomes through adoptions, fostering, and reunification with owners.
The support is expected to continue for an initial three-year period. As part of the agreement, Los Angeles Animal Services has committed to maintaining key positions and continuing successful programs for an additional three years after the grant period ends.
While the funding is being provided by the ASPCA and Best Friends Animal Society, Mayor Bass's administration oversees Los Angeles Animal Services and will ultimately share responsibility for the initiative's implementation, effectiveness, and any long-term commitments required after the grant funding expires.
Los Angeles Animal Services is one of the largest municipal shelter systems in the nation. The Department reports serving approximately 50,000 animals annually while responding to more than 20,000 emergency calls involving animals and people in danger.
According to LAAS, overcrowding has been reduced through discounted adoption programs, special adoption events, partnerships with rescue organizations, and collaboration with New Hope Partners. The Department reports a placement rate of 90 percent or higher for dogs since 2017.
LAAS also operates spay/neuter assistance programs and a weekly Pet Food Pantry that reportedly helped more than 21,000 pets last year.
ASPCA and Best Friends Investments
The ASPCA reports that it has spayed or neutered more than 167,000 Los Angeles pets and shelter animals through its South Los Angeles clinic. The organization also states that it has transported more than 70,000 dogs and cats from Los Angeles-area shelters to partner organizations where they may have greater opportunities for adoption. In addition, the ASPCA has advocated for animal welfare legislation at the local, regional, and state levels.
Best Friends Animal Society reports investing more than $80 million in Los Angeles-area animal welfare efforts, including support for the City's spay/neuter centers and community-based programs designed to reduce shelter intake and improve outcomes for at-risk animals.
There is little question that both organizations have made substantial contributions to animal welfare in Los Angeles. Additional funding, expertise, and operational support could provide meaningful benefits to shelter animals and help improve conditions within the City's shelter system.
The Missing Conversation: Public Safety and Enforcement
While the announced initiative focuses heavily on shelter intake reduction, adoptions, fostering, and operational efficiency, it raises an equally important question: who will focus on public safety and animal control enforcement?
Los Angeles Animal Services is not merely a shelter operator. It is also the City's animal-control and animal-protection agency. Its responsibilities extend far beyond housing and placing animals. The Department is responsible for responding to dangerous animals, investigating cruelty complaints, enforcing licensing laws, addressing illegal breeding operations, and combating criminal activities such as dog fighting and cockfighting.
These responsibilities are often overshadowed by discussions about shelter populations and adoption statistics.
The City continues to face concerns regarding dangerous dogs entering and leaving the shelter system, attacks involving animals with known behavioral histories, and incidents that have resulted in injuries to shelter employees, volunteers, adopters, and members of the public. When these incidents occur, taxpayers frequently bear the cost through legal settlements and litigation.
The success of this new partnership should not be measured solely by lower shelter populations or higher adoption numbers. It should also be evaluated by whether Los Angeles is providing adequate protection for both animals and residents.
Additional resources should strengthen—not replace—the enforcement and public-safety mission of Los Angeles Animal Services. Field officers remain critical to responding to cruelty complaints, loose and dangerous animals, illegal breeding operations, and animal-related crimes throughout the City.
Best Friends Animal Society has extensive experience in sheltering, adoptions, and lifesaving programs. However, it has never operated a full-service municipal animal-control agency with responsibility for law enforcement, public safety, criminal investigations, and regulatory compliance. Those duties remain the responsibility of Los Angeles Animal Services.
As this partnership moves forward, City leaders must ensure that enforcement and public safety do not become secondary priorities. Compassion for animals and protection of the public are not competing goals. They are complementary responsibilities.
The people and animals of Los Angeles deserve a system that is both humane and accountable—one that saves lives whenever possible while fulfilling its obligation to protect the community from animal-related threats and crimes.
Los Angeles Animal Services must continue to fulfill both missions.
(Phyllis M. Daugherty is a former Los Angeles City employee and a long-time animal welfare advocate. A contributor to CityWatchLA, she is known for her investigative reporting on animal shelter operations, misuse of public funds, and the dangers of poorly regulated pet adoption policies. She is a strong proponent of public safety in animal control, advocating for stricter oversight of aggressive dog breeds, especially pit bulls, and for breed-specific legislation.)
