Your New Best Friend
Yesterday was Friday the Thirteenth. You're done with bad luck. Your good luck starts today, and you're going to do what you've longed to do for ages: save a life and get a loyal friend by adopting a dog or cat from a shelter -- the East Valley Shelter. Here's the plea someone at the shelter sent out last night that shows why you need to make today the day:
ATTENTION East Valley Emergency
Well, it is Friday afternoon and East Valley currently has 95 cats, 192 dogs, and 46 rabbits. With the weekend approaching, I am sure the numbers will definitely rise. I do not have specific impound numbers, nor pictures, nor bios, because we have been so busy trying to get things together here for the move. However, I am reaching out for the help of you guys because I have nowhere else to turn. I NEED YOUR HELP. Please if you or anybody you know wants a new member for their family, please refer them to us. We have plenty to choose from. If any of you have room out there for any...... please come by and rescue from us. We would greatly appreciate your help in any way. I know some of you guys are networking, but I am letting you know that we are at extreme levels beyond our capacity. Please call 818/756-9324 for any info leading to a possible rescue or adoption of one of our furry friends here at East Valley.
ATTENTION East Valley Emergency
Well, it is Friday afternoon and East Valley currently has 95 cats, 192 dogs, and 46 rabbits. With the weekend approaching, I am sure the numbers will definitely rise. I do not have specific impound numbers, nor pictures, nor bios, because we have been so busy trying to get things together here for the move. However, I am reaching out for the help of you guys because I have nowhere else to turn. I NEED YOUR HELP. Please if you or anybody you know wants a new member for their family, please refer them to us. We have plenty to choose from. If any of you have room out there for any...... please come by and rescue from us. We would greatly appreciate your help in any way. I know some of you guys are networking, but I am letting you know that we are at extreme levels beyond our capacity. Please call 818/756-9324 for any info leading to a possible rescue or adoption of one of our furry friends here at East Valley.
Posted by Walter Moore @ 4/14/2007 07:29:00 AM
7 Comments:
And why do the shelters have so many animals? April is not the busiest month of the year. I will tell you why. The new Director Edward Boks is simply holding onto animals as long as possible in order to improve his numbers. They are currently holding record numbers of animals, five dogs to a kennel where there should only be one. More animals are now dying in the shelter due to disease, overcrowding and fighting. Fewer animals are leaving the shelter alive. While Boks is holding onto more cats than ever, their adoption rate is down 30%. It's the lowest adoption rate ever for cats. Holding onto the animals is not increasing their chance at adoption.
Antonio, your Director is not doing a good job. He is juggling the animals in order to try to make it seem he's doing an okay job. Fewer animals are leaving the shelter alive. There are only two vets to service 44,000 animals a year in six shelters. Help!
I just found these on the internet.
Boks stated "March 2007 - A No-Kill Month! 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."
He killed 675 animals in March 2007. He said 18% of all animals that entered the shelter had irremedial suffering, contagious diseases, were feral or aggressive so he had to kill them. As someone who has spent entire weekends at the shelter at intake, I find this hard to believe.
In review of the March 2007 statistics I see a few main problems. One, animals actually leaving the shelter alive has decreased. Two, animals dying in the shelter has increased dramatically. Three, animals being held in the shelter has increased dramatically. Boks is holding onto the animals so he doesn't have to euthanize them. He is not juggling the numbers per se but he is most certainly juggling the animals in order to improve his numbers. Had he not held those animals much longer, his euth rate and numbers would have been up.
To see what's really happening in the shelter we need to look at the out-alive rate. How many were adopted, returned to owner, fostered or taken by New Hope. The number of animals that left the shelter alive in March 2007 was down in number and percentage. Fewer animals made it out alive. This is for cats, dogs, bunnies and others. The point of a nokill director is to get the animals out alive, not to warehouse them in cramped, stressful and unhealthy conditions.
Out alive numbers for March 2007
2007 2328 63% of intake
2006 2356 67%
2005 2543 54%
More animals are now dying in the shelter than ever before. One, because there are more animals in the shelter. Two, because he's holding them longer and they are getting sick and dying. Three, because the vets are overtaxed and can't treat them all as well. Here is the total dying in the shelter. Over three times as many animals are dying in the shelter than before he got here.
2007 247 11%
2006 167 7%
2005 70 3%
Yes, the euth numbers and rate are down for March 2007. The total euth rate for the last 12 months is 40% as of March 2007. We were at 41% when Boks got here. In 1.25 years he's gotten the rate down 1% which is much less progress than the previous managers. Cat/dog adoptions are only up by two animals in March, which is statistically insignificant. New Hopes up over 2006 but down over 2005. He hasn't increased New Hope since he got here. Foster is up but there was no foster category before he got here.
DOG: Dog adoptions are up, New Hope is up over 2006 but down over 2005. He improved dog adoptions to the public only.
CATS: Cat adoptions way down from last March, down 30%. Cat euth is down because he's holding onto them. Cat intake is the same. Died in shelter the same as 2006, which was way up from 2005. New Hope is up over 2006 but still down over 2005. If Boks hadn't held all those cats, the euth rate would be up. Cats out alive is way down. He failed cats.
RABBITS: Rabbit adoptions down 50%, euth up over 2006, dying in shelter up, intake is down. He failed rabbits.
OTHER: Other adoptions only up by two animals. New Hope is way down, 50% down. Dying in shelter up 100% over 2006. 2006 was 8x 2005 so this is pretty bad. Euth is up over 2006. Intake is up. He failed "others."
In order to try to improve the cat numbers, he kept more cats in March 2007 than before, same with dogs. If Boks had euth'd those animals, his euth rate and numbers would be up overall. As it is his left-alive rate is down from last year. Notice, he is keeping more animals longer but adopting way fewer. Cats 2006 adopted 367, 2007 adopted 259, down 30%. Holding the animals longer is not improving their chance of adoption. In fact, it seems to be making the adoptions go down. Maybe because they look sick, are frightened, stressed out from being kept longer? Maybe because the shelters are full which overwhelms potential adopters? Maybe he's just not doing a good job getting cats adopted. Adopting out cats is very different than adopting out dogs. Dogs are good at mobiles, cats aren't as good.
The below numbers show that Boks is holding onto the cats so he won't have to euth them. He did not increase adoptions so the shelters just filled up.
CATS
March 2007
1,022 came in
576 left alive 56%
+102 net cats, kept in the shelter +10%
March 2006
1,021 came in
644 left alive 63%
-54 cats -5%
March 2005
1,199 came in
552 left alive 46%
+74 net cats 6%
Look at the charts here for March 2007. It was a horrible month compared to years past.
http://www.sheltertrak.com/laas/plot_200703.png
Can someone tell the Mayor that his director is failing? His deputy mayor Jimmy Blackman refuses to tell him because he doesn't want to get in trouble for doing a piss poor job of overseeing him.
One more thing, we need this bill passed. Everyone's for it except Rosendthal and Alarcon. Rosendthal is an animal breeder and Alarcon thinks dogs need their testicles in order to be good "protection dogs." Please, someone educate those two councilmembers, and thank the rest.
Dear AB 1634 Supporters:
Today's Los Angeles City Council Inter-Governmental Relations Committee hearing was a heartfelt one, with approximately 15 people speaking in favor of the resolution and only two opposing. Included among the supporters was staff member Kan Mattoo on behalf of the author Assembly Member Lloyd Levine, Jim Bickhart on behalf of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office, L.A. Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks, both Animal Services Assistant General Managers, and an array of key humane community representatives who spoke eloquently in favor of the legislation.
Council Members Greig Smith, Herb Wesson and Dennis Zine all made wonderful caring statements regarding the plight of abandoned and shelter animals. We truly thank them for their strong support, compassion and leadership. The vote was 3-0 to recommend that the full City Council support AB 1634. On Tuesday, when we (hopefully) win that vote, it will mean officially the City of Los Angeles is a sponsor of the bill! This sends a positive message to the Assembly Members at the Capitol, and lends even more credibility to our effort.
The City Council resolution supporting AB 1634 will be heard on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 and is item 10 on their agenda.
Council meetings start at 10 a.m. in City Hall 340 (the Ferraro Council Chambers) at 200 North Spring Street, LA 90012. Please come!
This meeting agenda has only 19 items, so it's likely to be a compact meeting, with item 10 probably coming up in the first hour. Please check in when you get there (fill out the white card), if you’d like to speak. Each person is given one minute, I urge you all to do this.
The Los Angeles City Council needs to hear from you that AB 1634 is a huge step forward to combat pet overpopulation and to reduce the killing of hundreds of thousands of animals in California's shelters, and save tens of millions of taxpayer dollars every year. Mandatory spay/neuter has been proven to be a smart, sensible, compassionate and effective approach wherever it's been tried, including Santa Cruz and the state of Rhode Island. Stepped-up spay/neuter over the last eight years has already helped Los Angeles reduce euthanasia and AB 1634 will be a strong tool to help the state's largest animal control jurisdiction do even better in the future.
Send your supportive e-mails to all Council Members by Monday afternoon. Here are their e-mail addresses (yes, the council members accept email):
councilmember.smith@lacity.org (in strong support, please send email thanking him and urging his continued support)
councilmember.wesson@lacity.org (introduced the motion, in strong support AB 1634)
councilmember.zine@lacity.org (in strong support, please send email thanking him and urging his continued support)
councilmember.reyes@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.greuel@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.labonge@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.weiss@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.alarcon@lacity.org (not in support, thinks dogs need to be unaltered to be a good ‘protection dog’) (213) 473-7010
councilmember.parks@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.perry@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.rosendahl@lacity.org (not in support and is a breeder, please urge his support (be nice)) (213) 473-7011
councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.huizar@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.hahn@lacity.org (?)
councilmember.cardenas@lacity.org (in strong support, introduced the motion to support AB 1634)
If you speak to the staff or the council member and find out that they are in support, please let me know. Thank you for your on-going support of AB 1634 California Healthy Pets Act, we must put an end to this needless slaughter.
I hope everyone who cares about animals in L.A. now finally "gets" that Villaraigosa doesn't give a damn about them; neither does the City Council. This isn't just a matter of mismanagement by Boks, but instead indifference of career politicians. They just don't care.
Anyone out there who DOES care needs to put his money where his mouth is and contribute to my campaign via MooreIsBetter.com. With all due respect: put up or shut up.
Hey I deeply believe in the fact that animals can be the best friends that one can ever have in their life...they understand love and sympathy and reciprocate that also, unlike humans! So go ahead and adopt or befriend an animal and get a lifelong friendship.
I believe one one of the reasons they got all of the council members to vote in favor of AB1634 was the incorrect information given to councilmal Rosendahl. When asked if he could breed his dog under the new law he was told YES if he paid $100. That is a lie. He would have to have a kennel license and business permit and participate in AKC or UKC events.
Is this the reason why LA ANIMAL SERVICES seems to be too busy to pick up a loose pit bull in my neighborhood ? This pit bull (not on a leash, after jumping it's fence) attacked another animal on Monday and East Valley has YET to show up - with this occurrence being the second (possibly third) one. Now the pit is back with the owner - who is a negligent (insert expletive here). I know this is not the forum to vent about this, but I thought you might offer some insight on this type of issue.
Since the only service provided by LA ANIMAL SERVICES/EAST VALLEY is a recording, 30 minutes of hold time, then finally a dial tone. I was beginning to think there WAS no system at all.
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