ANIMAL WATCH

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.

ANIMAL WATCH-On October 24, two days after LA Animal Services GM Brenda Barnette reported that Dangerous Animal/Dog hearings [mainly Pit Bulls] were up by 26 percent in September, National Pit Bull Victims Awareness Day 2019 commemorated the 582 Americans who have been fatally mauled by Pit Bulls in a ceremony on the steps of the Michigan Capitol. 

ANIMAL WATCH-On October 7, 2019, Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager and Councilman Paul Koretz proudly attended the public unveiling of the long -awaited Draft EIR Citywide Cat Program, to enable an estimated $60-million plan for trapping, sterilization and release of 20,000 feral cats a year in the city. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Two recent horrifying attacks on humans in one month by dogs available for adoption at Los Angeles Animal Services’ shelters -- a Pit Bull (Mugsy) and a German Shepherd (Boss)  -- illustrate the critical need for AB 588,  signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 2, 2019. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Emtech, a 3-year-old colt, was euthanized on the track at Santa Anita on September 28 after a tragic injury that broke both of his front legs, and just as prime-time TV ads announced the 2019 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita in November. 

ANIMAL WATCH-A trial was held in Los Angeles Superior Court last week regarding a Pit Bull named Rocket that attacked and severely injured a woman walking by an apartment house.

Los Angeles-area animal  activist and political donor Ed Buck, who appeared in support of Councilman Paul Koretz' ban on pet shops, was once photographed with such notable Democrats as Hillary Clinton but now faces a 20-years- to-life sentence in prison if convicted of federal and state charges issued this week.

ANIMAL WATCH-Two weeks after a 'fostered' Pit Bull, "Mugsy," from a Los Angeles Animal Services' shelter, viciously attacked and injured the wife of drummer/musical instructor Noel Jasso on July 7, another tragic incident occurred involving a dog being offered for adoption under General Manager Brenda Barnette's "No Kill" policy. 

ANIMAL WATCH-On August 29, LA Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette announced the release of a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared by the City which would require taxpayers  to fund spays/neuters of 20,000 feral cats annually for ten years (about $2,000,000 at today's estimate of $100 per surgery) and release the cats citywide.

ANIMAL WATCH-Dog owners in the city of Los Angeles receive an annual (or multi-year) notice from LA Animal Services to renew their dog's license and provide proof of rabies vaccination, but does General Manager Brenda Barnette have the legal right to use their information for unofficial, non-City solicitations?  

ANIMAL WATCH-The "first ever" Prison Dog Training introduced by LA Animal Services GM Brenda Barnette and AGM MeLissa Webber and approved by the LAAS Commission last December got off to an "insensitive" start when the media release sent out on July 29, featured a Black man with a Pit Bull.  

ANIMAL WATCH-The two largest public animal sheltering agencies in the U.S. are Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control (Director, Marcia Mayeda) and Los Angeles Animal Services (General Manager, Brenda Barnette).

ANIMAL WATCH-On July 7, Los Angeles drummer/music instructor Noel Jasso and his wife responded to LA Animal Services GM Brenda Barnette’s media pleas to “foster” a homeless dog to relieve overcrowding after the 4th of July, and they opened their hearts and home to a two-year-old Pit Bull named Mugsy. 

ANIMAL WATCH-On January 9, Commissioner Roger Wolfson of the Los Angeles Animal Services Commission requested discussion of a horse racing ban in the City of Los Angeles be agendized soon, in view of the recent deaths of horses at nearby Santa Anita.

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette’s plaintive media pleas for pet lovers to “foster” impounded dogs from the City's six shelters during the Fourth of July holiday week touched the hearts of  LA drummer Noel Jasso and his wife, Tori, who opened their home on July 7 to a two-year-old Pit Bull named Mugsy.(Photo above.) 

ANIMAL WATCH-On July 8, LA Animal Services GM Brenda Barnette sent out a media release to the LAAS social media mailing list inviting the public to attend a joint program with UCLA on July 19 on Dog Bite Investigations, taught by Jim Crosby, (photo above) an "expert in canine behavior, dog bites and attacks and shelter management and operations." 

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services' General Manager Brenda Barnette states on the LAAS website “Coyote page” that the department's goal is "to educate the public by fostering a relationship of mutual respect between wildlife and the community so we can live together safely," but apparently Southern California coyotes have a much different definition of respect and safety...AND they are known vectors for rabies. 

ANIMAL WATCH-This is not the article I planned to write for the Fourth of July.

ANIMAL WATCH-On Tuesday, June 25, the City Council will vote on Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette's ordinance to allow any stranger to pick up a stray or lost dog or cat and keep it, with the City's blessing. After 30 days, Barnette proposes, the finder could adopt it through LAAS, although it was never in the shelter.