Results tagged “los angeles animal services” from South Bay Pets

This just moved from City News Service. Reporter Rick Orlov will have a story later...

Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks has resigned, effective
June 30, according to the mayor's office.
  Boks was heavily criticized by members of the city council earlier this
year for temporarily suspending the issuance of spay/neuter vouchers.

When it comes to efforts to spay and neuter Los Angeles pets, the city is falling short, according to a new audit released by Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick. Reporter Kerry Cavanaugh writes about it in today's Los Angeles Daily News and Daily Breeze:

Six months after the Los Angeles City Council and mayor passed an ordinance requiring owners to spay or neuter their pets, the city has done little to educate the public on the new rule -- and will likely rely on voluntary compliance, according to an audit released Tuesday.

Los Angeles is the largest city in the nation to enact such a strict spay-and-neuter ordinance. The law takes effect in October and requires owners to fix pets 4 months old or older.

Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks says lack of funding is a problem.

"This ordinance is an unfunded mandate for the department," Boks told the Daily News. "It comes at a time when the department sustained 15 percent budget cuts this year and we're facing the layoffs of some 27 employees."

Public service announcements are being prepared, he said, and the department will enforce the ordinance once it takes effect Oct. 1.

The city's Animal Services web site provides more information about the new law along with resources to find low-cost spay and neuter clinics.

Here are some good tips on issues to consider about adopting a dog. -- and .dogtime offers advice and even a quiz. 

San Pedro now has a spanking new animal shelter.

It's bigger and way nicer than the former facility, which was half a century old and cramped beyond reason.

But with the city of Los Angeles undergoing budget cuts, the shelter at 957 N. Gaffey St. is in need of your help.

Shelter volunteer Theresa Sardisco tells us there will be a meeting for prospective volunteers at 1 p.m. Saturday at the shelter. The new Harbor Volunteer Coordinator, Mercedes Grey, will be on hand to talk about the needs and how local volunteers can help.

Meanwhile, a Daily Breeze story has been published regarding the installation of a cooling misting system at the shelter. The misters, costing the city about $50,000, are expected to be in place by the first week of August.

"The misters are provided at other shelters," Kiran Vohra of the city's Bureau of Engineering explained to me in an email. "Because a climate study completed earlier indicated comparative milder weather in San Pedro for most days of the year, the misters were omitted for this shelter. However, maybe because of the micro-climatic conditions in different parts of San Pedro, it is currently determined that the misters will add to the comfort of the animals and the visitors." .

Our friends at Valley of the Dogs report that the city of Los Angeles will hold a citywide adoptathon this weekend to help with what's being called a "perfect storm" of animals currently caught in the city's six animal shelters.

Several factors have contributed to the influx of animals, including the housing crisis and animals that came in after they were found loose after the Fourth of July. Summer also is a high-volume season for animal shelters. Many people move during these months and are unable to take their animals with them.

San Pedro's new shelter, which has been in the news lately, has seen a surge in animals being turned in by owners, Capt. Daniel Pantoja told me a couple weeks ago. And ironically, because the city now has an official "no kill" policy, animals are often being brought to L.A. shelters from other shelter areas outside the city.

The event this weekend will feature a more than 60 percent reduction in adoption fees -- $43 for dogs and $28 for cats. That includes vaccinations, microchips, spay-neuter and licensing.

Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday July 19 and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday July 20. In our area, the Harbor Area Animal Shelter is located at 957 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro.

If you see a dog or cat that's not available for adoption yet, you can get a "rain check" and adopt the animal should it become available later -- at the same discount price. 

And speaking of raising awareness for the plight of shelter dogs, check out Traer Scott's book by the same name:  

You may recall our earlier post about San Pedro's new, nearly $14 million animal shelter and its  missing misters. The oversight was the focus also of a Daily Breeze story.

The new kennels and grounds at the new shelter (at 957 N. Gaffey St.) are beautiful. But no cooling system was included to provide a light, fog-like mist to lessen the often high temperatures in north San Pedro where the shelter is located. Other shelters have them. But city officials believed that because San Pedro was a "coastal" community, the equipment could be eliminated to save costs. .

The glaring omission was driven home on the shelter's grand opening day when temperatures soared over 100 degrees.

Thanks to some dedicated volunteers like Theresa Sardisco who refused to let animals settle for a mist-less shelter,  it looks like the misters will be installed within two weeks.

A vendor from Arizona reportedly was to show city planners his prospective plans today. It will cost about $50,000, but money from a city bond program will pay for it.

Maybe there should be a second grand opening to show off the misters.

Watch for a story in the Daily Breeze this week that will provide more updates.  

Thumper, Ocho, Gigi and Jake.

They're all rescued pets who found a place in artist Nancy Webber's collage now on permanent display at San Pedro's new animal shelter.

Webber, a longtime San Pedro resident and Harbor College faculty member who was awarded the $55,000 arts grant from the city, took animal-themed paintings and incorporated images of real pets from snapshots mailed in to her.

Reporter Jim Farber writes about the project in today's Daily Breeze. "I wanted to do something for the animal shelter that would combine the history of animals in art," Webber told Farber.

************** Also in today's Daily Breeze is an update on efforts  to get a water mister system installed at the shelter at 597 N. Gaffey St. Seems the city process could take months. Volunteer Theresa Sardisco is working to do it all on private money, confident the misters could be in place within weeks. The city is still hoping to find the funds, though, and is consulting with a firm that set up a similar system at one of the shelters in the San Fernando Valley.

Theresa will be at the shelter from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday collecting donations should those still be needed for the project. You can also call her at 310-386-7932 or call the shelter at 888-452-7381, Ext. 143. 

After sitting through last Saturday's sweltering grand opening for San Pedro's new animal shelter, city officials and community activists all agreed: Misters.

Discussions are underway to get a water "mister" system installed to help keep the animals cool on hot days. Linda Marinkovich of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council was among those who e-mailed L.A. Animal Services GM Ed Boks on Monday. He replied in an e-mail to her that the city is seeing what it can do to "make it happen." 

In today's Daily Breeze story  (accompanied by these photos by Breeze photographers Sean Hiller - above - and Brad Graverson - below), shelter volunteer Theresa Sardisco is pledging to get the job done, city money or no city money. 

There have been conflicting stories about why there were no misters put in at the shelter at 957 N. Gaffey St. The most recent explanation was that the misters were in the original shelter plans, but got scrapped as construction costs began to rise and the city had to meet its budget for the facility. Because San Pedro is considered to be in a "coastal" zone, downtown architects figured the misters wouldn't be missed 

We hope to have an update on this later in the week. But if you want to find out how you can help, give Theresa a call at 310-386-7932. Or stop by the business she owns,Dominic's Pizza House at 28360 S. Western Ave. in San Pedro (that's in the Smart n' Final shopping center, near Westmont Drive).  

San Pedro's new animal shelter had its grand opening Saturday (Capt. Daniel Pantoja, left, joins other staffers in applauding remarks by L.A. Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn).

Four Girl Scout troops (Go, Girl Scouts!) were on hand to help greet and escort visitors through the new facility at 957 N. Gaffey St.

Many animal welfare groups were on hand as well to mark the opening, including Kaye Zigrang of Torrance from the Roar Foundation/Shambala Preserve.

There also were representatives from San Pedro's Neighborhood Council. One of them, LInda Marinkovich from Coastal, already is spearheading a drive to collect old newspapers for the shelter.

But what about that heat?? For those of you who were there, you know how HOT it was -- that part of Pedro can get pretty toasty during the summer. So what happened to the water "misters" that were supposed to be installed to help cool down the animals? We'll be following up on that issue this week in the Daily Breeze.

If you want to see some more pictures from the opening (after looking at the shots I took, it became very clear why I never would have been hired as a photorgrapher), check out Daily Breeze photographer Sean Hiller's slide show. 

Finally.

San Pedro's new animal shelter will be formally unveiled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 21. The shelter is at 957 N. Gaffey St., (near Miraflores where the old Big C hardware store was located). See the story in today's Daily Breeze..

This is a HUGE improvement over the the dark and industrial decor of the cramped, 57-year-old former facility on Battery Street. Whenever I'd go there looking for a dog, it was literally impossible to concentrate as the dogs on either side (several in each kennel) jumped and barked. 

The new shelter (which, counting the purchase of the property, cost $18.7 million) not only has triple the number of kennels (79) compared to the old one, but the 2-acre site offers its own medical clinic and grooming facility.

That's a welcome addition. I haven't adopted an animal from LA in a while, but maybe 10 years ago I took an Australian shepherd out of the South Central shelter for a rescue group. I had to personally take him in my car to the off-site clinic for neutering and the poor animal was absolutely filthy. I remember thinking, "Can't they at least wash the animals when they're adopted??"

What a difference from just a couple years before that when I adopted my shaggy dog Ellie from the Long Beach shelter. Before I picked her up, they'd bathed and groomed her, sending her home smelling great and with a bright red bandana around her neck. 

But the L.A.'s Animal Services Department has been catching up and changing over the last decade. These new, state-of-the-art shelters, which are much more people- and pet-friendly, are a big part of the new mindset.  

So stop by on Saturday to join in the celebration. There will be music and tours. And they always need volunteers and donations. See if you can help contribute your time -- or bring along some donations tomorrow to help with the shelter's wish list

Better yet, check out the shelter's available animals and take one home!  .

There are anywhere from 400,000 to 800,000 dogs in the city of Los Angeles.

Know how many of them have dog licenses? About 123,000.

That's just one of the eye-openers revealed in an audit that was released today by Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick.

While the cost of a dog license in L.A. is modest ($15 a year for altered dogs, free for seniors 62 and older), the registration fees are a big piece of the fincancial support for the city's Department of Animal Services. Chick's audit concludes that the department has lost "at least" $2 million over the last two and a half years in missed license fees.

There's a lot more to read in Chick's 36-page audit that takes a look at the department's operations. The audit will also be the subject of a story by Rick Orlov in Wednesday's Daily Breeze.

There are benefits to licensing your dog, including boosting your chances of being reunited with your pet if he or she is lost. The license renewal process every year also provides helpful reminders to dog owners on when rabies vaccinations come due. And from the city's standpoint, the funds are crucial in helping our shelters do a better job of providing for the city's many homeless animals.

If you don't live in the city of Los Angeles, check with your local city hall for dog license information.  

.

Well, sorta.......(but if you have a really unruly dog, you might just get some help here)............

If you can afford the gas, take a drive up to Woodley Park in Van Nuys on Saturday where Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas and the Department of Animal Services will be hosting the First Annual Pet Care Fair.

And guess who will be there?

Yep, Linda Blair AND "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan.

Get the details from our sister blog, Valley of the Dogs.

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the event includes a live show with the heroic dogs of the Los Angeles Fire Department, low-cost vet services, holistic vet care information and, of course, really cute pets to adopt.