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NEW ORDINANCE - Reminder, tomorrow March 5 is the last day to notify your landlord if you live in a rental unit that does not allow pets, but you have a pet from the Covid time period.
Please see the following Urgent Alert from the Los Angeles Animals Services Department:
It says:
URGENT ALERT: For Those Who Adopted Pets During COVID in Violation or Your Lease or Rental Agreement.
Did you adopt a pandemic pet prior to February 1, 2023 in violation of your lease or Rental Agreement in the City of LA? If so, you can protect yourself from eviction or having to give up your pet. But you have (to) ACT NOW!
You must inform your landlord about your pet by March 5th for eviction protection - even if the pet wasn’t allowed under the lease or rental agreement.
Visit the link for a Sample Letter to Provide Your Landlord.
The new law passed by the City Council, Ordinance Number 188108, which provides for this eviction protection, states that it is required because “the City is currently experiencing a local homelessness emergency and many tenants who obtained companion animals necessitated by the COVID-19 emergency are at risk of eviction for having unauthorized pets when the current protections expire on January 31, 2024; in addition, many City animal shelters are full or near full and additional pets would strain the City’s system of shelters.”
It is an extreme understatement that many City animal shelters are full; all of the City’s six animal shelters are very overcrowded with dogs. To deal with this overcrowding emergency, the Mayor and City Council should also appropriate additional funds for spay/neuter. Funding for additional free and discounted spay/neuter vouchers is urgently needed to reduce the number of dogs, cats, and rabbits coming into the City shelters. Failure to appropriate sufficient money for spay/neuter now will result in animal deaths and necessitate putting up much more money in the future; it is penny wise and “pound” foolish. Please see CityWatchLA article Crucial City Funding: Spay and Neuter Saves Money and Lives, December 2, 2019: Link. The Animal Services Department should also more strictly enforce the spay/neuter laws, especially against backyard breeders; please see: Link.
Thank you to the Animal Services Department, Shelter Volunteers, animal welfare activists, Tarzana Neighborhood Council, City Council, and Mayor for their efforts, such as Ordinance Number 188108 (Council File 21-0042-S6), to deal with the overcrowding emergency in the City animal shelters! Let’s do more!
(Jeffrey Mausner (www.mausnerlaw.com/) is on the Executive Committee of the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils (VANC) where he serves as the Liaison to the Los Angeles Animal Services Department; he is 2nd Vice President of the Tarzana Neighborhood Council and Chair of its Animal Welfare Committee; and is a Volunteer at the West Valley Animal Shelter. He was previously a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate and is now a Budget Representative. He is a retired attorney and law school professor and was formerly a Federal Prosecutor for the U.S. Justice Department, where he received numerous awards from the Attorney General of the U.S. (Link) Jeff is a Featured Writer for CityWatch. His other articles can be found here. In September 2023, Jeff received the Guardian of the Animals Award from the organization In Defense of Animals. (Link) This article is written in his private individual capacity, not on behalf of the Animal Services Department.)
