Activists outline qualities L.A. animal services boss needs
About two dozen animal welfare advocates testified Tuesday before the Los Angeles Board of Animal Services about the qualities that a good general manager needs to run the city’s shelter system.
“I would love to see the new general manager standing with the mayor and declaring an end to the killing of animals in our city,” said Bill Dyer of the animal welfare group, In Defense of Animals.
Making the city’s shelters “no-kill” or very low-kill -- meaning healthy animals are never euthanized for reasons of space -- has long been the goal of the city’s animal welfare advocates.
Last year, the city’s Department of Animal Services euthanized 24% of the 31,869 dogs it impounded and 54% of the 22,260 cats it took in. Residents dump thousands of animals in shelters for a variety of reasons.
“How do you change a public perception that sees animals as disposable?” said Animal Services Commissioner Kathy Riordan.
“It will take more than one committed manager,” she said. “It will take all our leaders, in words and in budgets, and it will take a society.”
City officials have spent several months seeking advice on how to choose a permanent replacement for Ed Boks, who resigned at the end of June amid intense criticism. The city this fall surveyed about 300 stakeholders -- volunteers, rescuers and advocates from the city’s animal welfare community.
A search firm, Citygate Associates, has been hired to solicit candidates and gather input from all constituencies.
The hearing Tuesday, which the City Council’s Public Safety Committee called for, was one of the last forums for input before a job bulletin goes out within a few weeks.
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