The dog in this photo went from being a healthy, vibrant 10 month old puppy to an emaciated, frozen corpse in less than two months.
I know what to call it when a puppy mill commits this kind of cruelty on an innocent animal, but what do we call it when the perpetrators are an animal SHELTER – the very people we charge to save and protect animals from this very kind of cruelty?
Apparently, you call it Los Angeles County, and its Department of Animal Care and Control.
Nathan Winograd, the National No Kill Advocacy Center, and two pet rescuers have “jointly filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, its Department of Animal Care and Control, and the Department’s Director, Marcia Mayeda. The lawsuit alleges unlawful and abusive treatment of animals at all six Los Angeles County animal shelters.” I’ve attached their 29 page press release, which you can read in PDF format.
Some of the charges contained in this report are:
(T)he County Department of Animal Care and Control routinely:
- Kills healthy and treatable animals before their state mandated holding period expires;
- Misclassifies animals as “ill” or “injured” in order to kill them before their holding period expires even though the animals are not irremediably suffering as required by state law;
- Kills lost animals without making reasonable attempts to find the animals’ owners;
- Fails to provide adequate veterinary care to impounded animals, resulting in animal deaths;
- Fails to provide adequate nutrition, water, shelter and exercise to impounded animals and to treat the animals humanely and kindly;
- Refuses to release animals to rescue groups that are willing to care for the animals until adoptive homes can be found and, instead, kills the animals.
In addition, the County Department of Animal Care and Control unlawfully retaliates against animal rescuers and volunteers who publicize its unlawful treatment of animals.
The shelter, btw, REFUSES to co operate with breed rescues, even while animals of those breeds are being systematically euthanized. They use bogus, unproven ‘temperament tests’ as a blanket reason to kill healthy animals, and thereby fudge their shelter’s stats to enable them to say they place ‘90% of all adoptable animals’. This ‘amazing’ figure is easy to accomplish, when you euthanize 85% of the animals you take in as ‘unadoptable’.
More links, including hi res graphic photos and details on Zephyr’s fate:
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/whatsnew.html
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/pdf/LACountyPressRelease_000.pdf
http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2007/12/20/lawsuit-alleges-la-shelters-neglect-abuse-animals/
http://laanimalwatch.blogspot.com/2007/08/open-letter-to-marcia-mayeda.html
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/558767
Media coverage of Zephyr’s death:
http://cbs2.com/video/?id=54196@kcbs.dayport.com
Carol
