Head of LA animal control disputes figures in lawsuit




SHELTER–The Agoura Animal Care Center at 29525 Agoura Road.                                              Acorn file photo

 

The head of Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control has disputed figures in a lawsuit filed by two rescue groups accusing the agency of allowing too many sheltered pets to die.

The lawsuit accuses the Agoura animal shelter of euthanizing 64% of its impounded animals over the last 12 months, “in contrast to adopting out only 21% of the animals it had admitted in the same time period.”

Marcia Mayeda, the agency’s director for the past 20 years, said the figures are taken out of context because they include injured wildlife that cannot be saved.

“Department statistics, which are available on the department’s website, show that only 10% of cats and 5% of dogs were euthanized in fiscal year 2020-21,” Mayeda said in a letter to The Acorn. “During this period, the Agoura Hills Animal Care Center admitted 160 cats. Of these, 110 were adopted and 12 were returned to their owners, equaling a 10% euthanasia rate. . . .

“For the same time period, 282 dogs were admitted. Of these, 141 were adopted and 127 were returned to their owners, equaling a 5% euthanasia rate.”

The lawsuit, filed this month in Los Angeles County Superior Court, says the agency is in violation of a California law aimed at preventing only the most troubled animals from being euthanized.

Enacted in 1998, the state’s Hayden Act made it a goal to end the euthanizing of animals in California’s municipal shelters by 2010. Under the act, shelters are required to release any impounded animal scheduled for euthanasia to a nonprofit animal rescue or adoption organization unless that animal was “irremediably suffering” from serious injury or severe illness.

In their complaint, plaintiffs Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center Inc. and Lucky Pup Dog Rescue assert that animal control and Mayeda specifically have flouted the law by routinely denying requests by animal rescue and adoption organizations to redeem, or take over the care of, impounded animals scheduled for euthanasia that are not irremediably suffering.

In addition to the Agoura Hills location, Animal Care and Control operates six other shelters: Baldwin Park, Carson, Castaic, Downey, Lancaster and Palmdale. It employs more than 40 veterinarians and registered veterinary technicians to care for about 19,000 animals per year.

The plaintiffs’ claims of ongoing violation of the Hayden Act are twofold.

First, they say, the department imposes “burdensome procedural requirements” on nonprofits that seek to redeem animals while requiring that the groups meet “a number of substantive obligations nowhere present” in governing state law to become approved adoption partners.

Second, they say, the county denies requests by preapproved adoption partner organizations like the Santa Paula rescue center to take animals that have supposed behavioral issues, which, according to the plaintiffs, “is not a justification for withholding an animal under the Hayden Act.”

For example, in February 2020, SPARC’s request to redeem from Agoura Animal Care Center a dog named Gunnar was denied because the Department of Animal Care and Control “determined he had behavioral problems,” according to the lawsuit. Most recently, in June, SPARC alleges that DACC denied a request pertaining to an impounded dog named Winston for the same reason.

“The consequence(s) of these denials were severe,” the lawsuit states. Both dogs were euthanized.

“The result of DACC’s willful violation of state law is stark,” the lawsuit continues. “While an estimated less than 1% of impounded animals are irremediably suffering from a serious injury or severe illness, in the last 12 months alone DACC has euthanized 30% of its impounded animals.”

The plaintiffs want a judge to order the county to stop refusing requests by rescue organizations and start releasing to them “any impounded animal scheduled for euthanasia unless that animal is irremediably suffering from a serious illness or severe injury.”

Mayeda said euthanasia rates fluctuate. In fiscal year 2019-20, the rate was 14.7% for cats and 7% for dogs. In 2018-19, it was 7.6% for cats and 6.5 % for dogs.

“The Agoura Hills Animal Care Center has many compassionate and dedicated staff and volunteers who work diligently to save animals brought to the care center,” she said.

She said DACC has won local, state and national awards for its animal management and lifesaving programs.