ANIMAL WATCH

ANIMAL WATCH-LA GM Brenda Barnette's recent shelter statistics make us wonder where the thousands of homeless, unwanted and stray animals that have warranted her $314,000 salary and $48 million budget (including aggressive Pit Bulls and dangerous dogs that attacked 94 people inside the shelters and 74 US Postal Service carriers in 2019) have suddenly gone. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services' ACO Hugh Briefman, a veteran animal control officer with almost 30 years of experience, responded to an urgent call from LA Fire Department for assistance at a dog attack inside a house at 10:00 p.m. on May 19, 2020, where a male Pit Bull had seriously injured two members of a family after they adopted him that day. 

ANIMAL WATCH-On January 13, Best Friends Animal Society proclaimed, "No-Kill" California Closer than Ever Before," praising CA Governor Gavin Newsom's inclusion of $50 million for an animal-sheltering concept program by the UC Davis' well-funded and influential Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, as "the first step in fulfilling a campaign promise." 

ANIMAL WATCH-A Pit Bull crouches in a yard as a mail carrier approaches in the photo on the USPS National Dog Bite Awareness Week News Release (April 14-20), which reports that in 2019, dog attacks in Los Angeles on U.S. Postal Service carriers rose 23.3%.

ANIMAL WATCH--Another brutal dog attack on an adopter by a Pit Bull from a Los Angles Animal Services shelter received no public expression of concern or sympathy by GM Brenda Barnette.

ANIMAL WATCH-As Los Angeles animal activist Ed Bucks awaits a 2021 federal trial for providing drugs resulting in the death of two black men, Marc Ching, dog rescuer and founder of Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation -- who, along with Bucks, figured prominently in passing Councilman Paul Koretz’ citywide fur ban -- is now under investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Shortly after being appointed Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager in 2010,  Brenda Barnette insisted that the City Council grant a 'rent-free' contract for sole usage of the city's newest animal shelter to Best Friends Animal Society to create a "No Kill" City.

ANIMAL WATCH-As part of her campaign to get Pit Bulls adopted and unweaned kittens fostered—especially during Mayor Eric Garcetti's COVID-19 "shelter at home" program—Los Angeles Animal Services GM Brenda Barnette maintains at least two public, but unofficial, Facebook pages.

ANIMAL WATCH-Without an aggressive, well-funded spay/neuter plan in place for Los Angeles when COVID-19 seclusion ends, two animal populations -- Pit Bulls and feral cats -- will explode at a time when dog attacks are already at record levels and City Hall plans a $2M money-grab to TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) 20,000 feral cats annually into the streets over ten years, under the Best Friends' Animal Society 'No Kill’ decree. 

ANIMAL WATCH-During  tensions over COVID-19,  a conflict which began over USPS dog warnings about an aggressive Chihuahua, heightened to a threat of "turning a Pit Bull loose,"

ANIMAL WATCH-GM Brenda Barnette let Assistant GM Tammy Watson announce the bad news at the LA Animal Services Board of Commissioners meeting that 94 dog bites/attacks occurred in LAAS animal shelters during 2019.

ANIMAL WATCH-While LA Animal Services’ General Manager Brenda Barnette was gushing over the success of her COVID-19 Fostering Campaign and emptying Los Angeles animal shelters, on April 23, TMZ reported, “‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding’s Foster Pit Bull Mauls Smaller Dog.” 

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.