ANIMAL WATCH

ANIMAL WATCH--Los Angeles Animal Services' General Manager Brenda Barnette shared a public on-line 'message from Brenda' on April 10, explaining that Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the closure of two L.A. City shelters because of the "COVID-19 crisis and safety precautions for our employees."

ANIMAL WATCH-"Dogs should be treated as pets, not livestock," the Chinese government announced in a public document on April 8, filling the hearts of animal activists with hope that the brutal dog-meat trade will end in the world's third-largest country. 

ANIMAL POLITICS-Two weeks ago, Shenzhen became the first city in China to ban the production and consumption of dog and cat meat. See: “Chinese City of Shenzhen Bans Eating Dog and Cat Meat.”

ANIMAL WATCH-On March 16, when Animal and Coronovirus - What are the Real Dangers? appeared in CityWatch, it was already obvious that the Chinese government would soon lift its March 5, 2020 ban on wildlife consumption and animal “wet” markets, due to the severe economic and employment impacts such closures would have on the Chinese national and local economies. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Primate-center scientists have found that rhesus macaques, human-like monkeys, can be infected with SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus behind COVID-19 -- although they develop different symptoms -- so experiments are beginning at the University of California Davis, "to prevent outbreaks in their colonies,"  according to The Scientist. 

ANIMAL WATCH-In what is believed to be the first human-to-cat transmission of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the Brussels Times reported on March 27 that, "A Belgian woman from the Liège province has infected her cat with the coronavirus," according to FPS Public Health. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Lacey Cassidy, a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, is recovering physically from severe injuries to her arm and hand caused by an attack by three Pit Bulls while she was delivering mail in Hilliard, Florida, in December 2019, but, the fear will remain long after the wounds heal. 

ANIMAL WATCH-A German Shepherd is the second dog in China reportedly testing positive for the COVID-19  (SARS-CoV-2)  coronavirus, but a second mixed-breed dog in the household of a coronavirus-positive human does not. 

ANIMAL WATCH-The World Health Organization sounds a little less sure your pet can't contract Coronavirus from you after the discovery of a pet dog in China testing "weak positive" while living in a home with an infected human.

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles General Manager Brenda Barnette complains at most Commission meetings that she is understaffed in the shelters.

ANIMAL WATCH--Best Friends Animal Society may be losing friends, but not Los Angeles Animal Services' GM Brenda Barnette,

From attacks in the Los Angeles Animal Services shelters to the streets of Canada and India, children and adults are being killed, disfigured and maimed for life by dog attacks--especially Pit Bulls--in an epidemic ignored by political and health leaders.

ANIMAL WATCH-If you have worked, volunteered or visited a Los Angeles Animal Services' Animal Shelter, or know someone who has, this information is important to you. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Why aren't Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Paul Koretz, Chair of the Personnel and Animal Welfare Committee (PAWS) for the LA City Council, holding General Manager Brenda Barnette responsible for the unending series of aggressive-dog attacks -- mainly Pit Bulls -- on both employees and the public in Los Angeles Animal Services' shelters? 

ANIMAL WATCH-Less than 40 days into 2020, there have already been four deaths and 43 media reports of Pit Bull attacks on humans in the U.S. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette found time between saving Pit Bulls and feral cats on January 29, 2020, to send out an invitation from her official City email, to her entire staff, including Animal Control Officers, Animal Care Technicians, etc., which begins with this personal message: 

ANIMAL WATCH-Two women in Los Angeles government, Jan Perry, former-Los Angeles City Councilmember, (photo left) and LA County's  District Attorney Jackie Lacey, (photo right) have introduced and vigorously supported laws and programs -- including creation of the Los Angeles Animal Services -- LAPD Animal Cruelty Taskforce and the DA's Animal-Crime Unit -- to address such heinous crimes as dog fighting, cockfighting, hoarding and all forms of animal abuse, neglect and abandonment. 

ANIMAL WATCH-In 2017 Los Angeles Animal Services was proclaimed an "almost-No Kill' shelter by GM Brenda Barnette and Mayor Eric Garcetti. In 2020, the City still falls short of that goal. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Cockfighters in the United States made more than 500 illegal shipments of fighting birds to Guam from 2017 to 2019, according to a report  released on January 6 by Animal Wellness Action, a new group formed by Wayne Pacelle, former President of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). 

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services GM Brenda Barnette announced last week that MeLissa Webber, LAAS's first Assistant General Manager of "Lifesaving," who introduced the “Prison Dog-Training Program” for Pit Bulls (Paws for Life K9 Rescue), will be leaving on January 24.

ANIMAL WATCH-Pit Bull attacks are increasing  at a terrifying rate, as agencies like LA Animal Services and major humane organizations are following or considering the Best Friends Animal Society plan for "No Kill," No Breed-Specific Legislation (BSL), no breed ID in shelters,  and increased or no  animal limits.  

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services' GM Brenda Barnette sent out an official City media release this week--using the LAAS logo, official City Seal and listing City employees as  contacts--urging the public to foster LAAS or Best Friends Animal Society; 'long-stay' pets (primarily Pit Bulls) in January 2020. 

ANIMAL WATCH-If you live in the city of Los Angeles, the "Finders, Keepers" law, developed by Los Angeles Animal Services GM Brenda Barnette, allows strangers to keep found dogs and cats without an impound period at your local shelter, unless the pet is microchipped or is a dog with a license tag. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette issued a media release with three Pit Bulls at the top,  just before Thanksgiving, announcing a Short-Term Foster Program that invites the public to foster shelter dogs and cats for a few hours, perhaps for a Furry Field Trip, or up to a couple of weeks, until January 10. 

ANIMAL WATCH--Criminals may not approach you in a busy, surveillance-monitored parking lot, but no matter where you live, while you are out shopping or having your pet groomed, a thief could be watching you come home because of a common thing most of us do.

ANIMAL WATCH-On November 6, Janet D’Aleo, 95, was savagely mauled and later died at the hospital after an attack by an adopted Pit Bull at the home of Annie Hornish, The Humane Society of the United States' Senior State Director for Connecticut.  

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette recommended on April 23, 2019, that the Animal Services Commission approve expanding Aimee Sadler's "Dogs Playing for Life (DPFL)" program from an initial trial at the East Valley Care Center to all LAAS shelters. 

ANIMAL WATCH-On November 12 the Los Angeles Animal Services Commission failed to uphold the decision of GM Brenda Barnette that a Pit Bull involved in three incidents of investigation by officers, including two serious attacks on neighbor's dogs, should be declared 'dangerous.' 

ANIMAL WATCH-The PACT (Prevent Animal Cruelty and Torture) Act, making "heinous" acts of animal cruelty a federal felony offense -- and specifically targeting the conduct involved in sexual-fetish "crush videos" -- was unanimously approved by both houses of Congress and is on the desk of President Donald Trump for signature. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Katy Todesco would be 16 years old now if a Pit Bull-mix in Simi Valley, CA, just north of Los Angeles, had not stolen her life.