Shelters’ New Vet High-Tails It After a Day

There is good news and bad news for the beleaguered Los Angeles Animal Regulation Department.

The good news is that after more than a year with only one veterinarian to care for the 74,000 animals that come through the city shelters each year, the department hired a second vet last week.

The bad news is that he quit the next day.

“He was really not here long enough for me to get used to,” said Dena Mangiamele, the department’s lone vet. “What are you going to do?”

Mangiamele said that Grover H. Ford, a veterinarian with 24 years of experience, was hired July 8 but left the next day to take another job.

Ford could not be reached for comment, but Mangiamele said that he told her he was also frustrated by the animosity between the department and the local humane community.

For years, animal rights groups have harshly criticized the department, accusing it of not doing enough for the care of the thousands of homeless and neglected pets and wildlife in the city.

But department managers defend their efforts, saying they are doing the best they can with a budget that has shrunk by 16% over the past five years, and a staff that has been cut by 19%.

Mangiamele was hired in April 1995 to become one of three staff veterinarians. But one vet died and another retired, leaving her solely in charge of veterinarian services in six shelters. A hiring freeze and snags in the civil service hiring process kept the city from replacing the other two until last week.

According to his resume, Ford had a degree in veterinary medicine from UC Davis and worked as a veterinary pathologist for the Army in Colorado.

Most recently, he worked at animal hospitals in Torrance and Ridgecrest, according to his resume.

Animal rights leaders concede there is animosity between the department and the humane community but reject suggestions they share in the blame for Ford’s departure.

“I don’t buy it because he was only here one day,” said Michael Bell, president of the Wildlife Protection League and a longtime critic of the department.