Board Rejects Ban on Animal Sales

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday rejected a motion that would have prohibited the county Department of Animal Care and Control from selling animals picked up in Altadena to researchers.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who recommended the ban, was not able to get a second for his motion.

The 14-member town council of unincorporated Altadena, which is in Antonovich’s district, had unanimously approved a resolution supporting the ban March 21.

“It’s like being hit with a lead balloon,” Altadena resident Rita Bernier said of the defeat. Bernier, a former volunteer at the county’s Baldwin Park animal shelter, had originally brought the issue to the town council.

Antonovich’s press deputy Dawson Oppenheimer said the supervisor was disappointed but not surprised because the board has rejected similar measures in the past.

“I don’t intend to give up,” Bernier said, adding that she was considering asking the town council, which has no jurisdiction over the animal control operation, to continue to press the Board of Supervisors for a ban. She said it was cruel to use animals for experiments and that researchers should use tissue cultures or computer models instead.

Earlier this year, Bernier persuaded the City Council of Bradbury, which is served by the Baldwin Park shelter, to adopt a similar resolution.

Seventeen of the 35 cities that contract with the county for animal shelter services have approved similar “pet-protection” measures within the past four years, said Bruce Richards, assistant director of the county animal control department.

Department employees check a computer after animals are brought in to determine whether they were picked up in cities covered by a “pet-protection” resolution, he said. Those animals are not sold for research.

“We hold animals for seven full days,” during which time the animals can be claimed by their owners or adopted, he said. After seven days, the animals not sold for research are put to death.

Of the 95,000 animals the department takes in each year, 20,000 are adopted and 800 are sold to research centers such as the USC Medical School or the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, he said. Department figures for 1987-88 show that 6,764 pets were claimed by their owners.