Supervisors Remove Animal Control Chief, Top Aide

After more than a year of accusations of mismanagement and negligence and reports of stolen or missing animals, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control has been removed from his job.

The Board of Supervisors, in a closed-door meeting Tuesday, voted to remove department head Brian Berger and his top deputy, George Baca.

Dawson Oppenheimer, an aide to Supervisor Mike Antonovich, confirmed that the board voted 3 to 2 to oust the two officials. On Wednesday, Berger submitted a letter of resignation effective May 1, 1989.

Although both men will leave their positions with the animal care agency, each is expected to be reassigned to another county job.

The two administrators have been criticized for an assortment of problems plaguing the department, ranging from shoddy security, poor employee morale due to favoritism, inadequate training of staff and inconsistent safety practices.

The department operates six animal shelters that handle about 95,000 animals a year. Over the past 1 1/2 years, five critical reports have been issued on the department.

A Humane Society of the United States report found dangerous lack of controls on chloroform, which is used to subdue animals, for example, while a one-month audit at two shelters by the county auditor-controller found that about 200 animals were missing. Department staffers could not say whether they were miscounted, lost or stolen.

Since July, 1987, when the first of the reports by John Barry & Associates said employees felt overworked and ignored by their managers, the Board of Supervisors has been criticized by several groups, such as Actors and Others for Animals, the Pet Assistance Foundation and Last Chance for Animals, for ordering more reports rather than making substantial changes in the way the department is run.

Last month the board moved to create a citizens panel to oversee the department.

Neither Berger nor Baca could be reached for comment Thursday.

In his resignation letter submitted to Ed Edelman, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Berger said the department would be “better served if I can be allowed to leave as director . . . for a new, challenging assignment within the county family.” The new job was unspecified.

In a statement accepting the resignation, Edelman said, “While there were shortcomings with department operations, Brian Berger did some outstanding work.” Edelman cited expanded spay and neuter clinic services and the “lost pet computer” that reunites animals with their owners.