Dog Squad

A rope lasso gently swinging from his hands, animal control officer Eric Gardner bent toward a growling dog racing past his legs. A quick toss of the rope snagged the snarling mass of matted fur, ending the dog’s invasion of Rosa Soto’s yard in South-Central Los Angeles.

Gardner is part of a new four-member team created by the Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation in response to a citywide increase in complaints about stray dogs.

Their efforts focus on stray dogs and dog owners who refuse to leash pets. Five days a week, the Special Enforcement Unit patrols neighborhoods where complaints are heavy to corral dogs and issue citations.

“The dogs create traffic hazards, they knock over children and elderly people,” said Gary Olsen, the department’s general manager.

Packs of stray dogs are the greatest nuisance. They become neighborhood bullies, lounging on sidewalks, raiding garbage cans and menacing residents--and they get diseases such as mange and ringworm.

“Most of these dogs don’t belong to anybody. They just roam,” said Tim Goffa, who heads the dog-catching unit. “They were born on the streets.”

Although South-Central Los Angeles neighborhoods contain the most loose dogs, the problem is citywide, Goffa said.

In the east San Fernando Valley, neighborhoods from Pacoima to Sunland are rife with them. In Woodland Hills at Warner Ranch Park and Serrania Avenue Park, dogs owners who allow their pets to run free are such a problem that the special unit and city park rangers are coordinating enforcement there. On Venice Beach, pet owners allow unleashed dogs to roam the boardwalk.

Sweeps by the special unit allow more time for animal control officers to investigate animal cruelty and other city code animal violations, Goffa said. Fewer dogs on the streets means fewer people bitten, fewer dogs hit by cars and fewer emergency calls for the animal control officers.

“Before, we weren’t able to get anything done with loose dogs because that was a low priority,” Goffa said.

At every stop during the four hours they spent cruising South-Central on this day, animal control officers were thanked or excitedly told by residents where to find strays.

At Soto’s home, Chris Shaw, another animal control officer, loaded the stray dog into a cage and explained how the animal had simply made Soto’s yard his home.

“The family was afraid to remove the dog because he would growl and bite. He was eating their dog’s food,” he said.

Between Aug. 19 and Sept. 23, the team picked up 274 stray dogs and issued 72 citations for leash violations. Dogs that are sick or injured are usually destroyed. Healthy dogs are put up for adoption.

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The stray dog population mushrooms in neighborhoods where residents tend to let their dogs roam, allowing them to breed with strays. In poor neighborhoods, injured dogs or dogs that can no longer be fed are often abandoned.

In South-Central, stray dogs are so abundant that the team can hardly drive its trucks half a block before residents stop them to point out loose dogs. On this day, they capture 20 dogs.

As the officers close in on two young mixed-shepherd dogs lying on the 62nd Street sidewalk, a woman walking by complains that the dogs often block her passage to a corner store. About a month ago, the dogs appeared on the street and never left, said Tina Fullerton.

“People can’t walk by here,” Fullerton said. “It’s good they are getting them off the street because you don’t know if they are going to bite you.”

Several residents tell the officers what it’s like on their street at 2 a.m. on trash pickup day. Packs of 20 to 30 dogs ramble from trash can to trash can, knocking them over and barking.

City Councilwoman Rita Walters, whose district encompasses much of the worst area, applauds the sweeps but says more animal control officers are needed.

“The [dogs] that are still there breed and new ones come along,” Walters said. “It’s a continuum.”