Senate Panel Hears Pet Owners’ Poignant Stories

A state Senate hearing on allegations that the city’s Animal Regulation Department kills and neglects too many pets produced such heart-rending stories that it brought several speakers and audience members to tears.

The hearing was called by Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) in response to a lawsuit by animal activists who charge that the Animal Regulation Department fails to abide by its own care and euthanasia rules.

But the hearing was a one-sided debate because Animal Regulation officials declined to address the charges, on the advice of the city attorney’s office due to the pending lawsuit.

Perhaps the most moving story came from Phyllis Becker, a Studio City resident whose deaf and blind dog, Akasha, escaped from her home, only to be killed at the West San Fernando Valley Shelter two hours after it was impounded.

Becker tearfully recounted the story as several audience members dabbed at their eyes with tissues.

Although a city policy calls on all shelters to hold a pet for at least five days before it is killed, Becker said department officials told her the dog was euthanized because it was comatose and had suffered from heat stroke.

The dog had no collar but had an identifying microchip embedded under its skin.

Another story came from Diana Grilli, a Westchester attorney, who found her dog, Baby, in a nearby city shelter about two weeks after it had escaped from her backyard last summer. But because she identified the dog just as the shelter was about to close, she and shelter officials agreed that she could return to claim it two days later.

Still, the dog was killed before she returned to claim it, even though shelter officials had placed a note on the dog’s cage indicating that the owner had been identified.

“What the city did was not negligence, it was gross negligence,” said Grilli, who is now suing the city.

The hearing attracted about 40 people, mostly animal rights activists who have long criticized the department over operation of its kennels, where about 50,000 dogs, cats and other animals are put to death each year.

Hayden is no stranger to the issue. During his failed bid for the mayoral post last year, Hayden teamed up with many of the same activists to criticize Mayor Richard Riordan and the management of the troubled agency.

In fact, Hayden on Wednesday began to echo the charges issued in the lawsuit even before the sworn testimony began.

“It is apparent that state laws requiring humane treatment of animals have been flagrantly violated in Los Angeles, which has led to the deaths of many thousands of cats and dogs that could have been adopted or returned to their owners,” Hayden said.

Hayden said the hearing was designed to come up with ideas for legislation that he could introduce in Sacramento next year to improve the department.

The lawsuit, which includes 600 pages of evidence and affidavits, charges that the department has put animals to death before the prescribed five-day period and has failed to crack down on illegal backyard breeders. It also charges that animal technicians have neglected animals in the shelters, among other allegations.

The suit asks a judge to order the department to abide by its own laws. Activists won the first round in the battle when Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien ruled Monday that the suit includes enough evidence to schedule a hearing next month on the case.

Several speakers at the hearing suggested the department adopt a “no-kill” or “low-kill” policy, such as agencies in San Francisco and San Diego, where euthanasia rates are much lower than in Los Angeles.

Although Animal Regulation officials declined to respond to the charges, department Commissioner Gini Barrett attended the hearing, but spoke only as a representative of the American Humane Assn., where she is the western regional director.

In an interview, she called the hearing a “witch hunt” intended to provide publicity for Hayden. But she also submitted written testimony, saying that cities with no-kill policies are much better funded than Los Angeles and must still destroy hundreds, if not thousands, of sick and dangerous animals annually.