Letters to the Editor: Los Angeles’ animal shelters need to address their ‘systemic barriers head-on’

To the editor: As the leader of an L.A.-based animal rescue dedicated to saving at-risk shelter dogs, I work closely with all six L.A. Animal Services shelters and have witnessed the system’s challenges firsthand. Your article accurately reflects a reality we’ve grappled with for years: As long as union protections shield underperforming employees and the specter of liability stifles meaningful reform, L.A. Animal Services will remain mired in dysfunction (“She ran the L.A. animal shelters. Why couldn’t she fix the problems?,” May 30). This environment breeds disillusionment among staff, leaving many numb to animal suffering and in some cases, complicit in preventable deaths.

Real change will require the will to address these systemic barriers head on, for the sake of the animals and the citizens who care about them.

Jill Dyche, Los Angeles

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To the editor: What kind of reputational rehabilitation of Staycee Dains is this? I was a volunteer at East Valley Animal Shelter from November 2023 through July 2024. Of course our animal shelters are underfunded and understaffed. The staff that I saw and got to know did their best, as did the dozens of volunteers. What’s worse is that the accelerated euthanasia schedule for dogs and cats was designed under Dains. Yet this article makes it seem like none of the shelters’ problems are her fault — just as she does.

Judy Graff, Studio City

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To the editor: Yet another excellent article from the supremely knowledgeable writer Dakota Smith. I was a fairly regular attendee at L.A. Animal Shelters Commission meetings during Dains’ year. I’ve seen her in action and give her high marks. Unless funding for LAAS is dramatically increased and affordable, high-volume spay/neuter services return to Los Angeles, I don’t see any quality general manager candidate wanting to enter that battle.

Lisa Edmondson, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The Los Angeles Times publishes another expose on the dismal conditions of L.A. shelters and nothing changes. What needs to happen for this city to hire an effective general manager who can right this broken system and truly help animals stay well and get out alive? It is sad and frustrating. I, like Dains, stay up at night thinking about good dogs leaving the shelter in garbage bags. If Gandhi was right that the greatness of a society is judged by how they treat their animals, then we are failing miserably.

Melissa Klaskin, Los Angeles