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CBS 2 News goes after abusers employed at L.A. County Animal Care and Control
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Shelter surveillance cameras capture employees abusing a dog Photo: CBS2.com
Allegations of abuse throughout L.A. County's Department of Animal Care and Control have surfaced repeatedly during the troubled seven and a half-year tenure of Director Marcia Mayeda. Tonight those charges have hit the mainstream media with a shocking expose by David Goldstein of CBS 2 News.
The report shows repeated instances of animal abuse caught on shelter surveillance cameras, internal Department documents detailing instances of mistreatment of animals, as well as an interview with a former shelter employee who says certain employees "high-fived each other when they got certified to put the animals to sleep, as if it was a major coup."
Despite multiple instances of abuse caught on tape, in addition to Department reports "document[ing] dogs that were intentionally or mistakenly euthanized, killed in the shelters after being put on hold for adoption or the return to their owners," as well as a lawsuit pending against the County, the Department, and Mayeda herself, in tonight's report Director Marcia Mayeda dismisses the incidents, saying, ""We take in 90,000 animals a year, three incidents over the numbers of thousands of animals that have come in during that period of time I think is very minor."
In 2008 Marcia Mayeda was also accused of deliberately obstructing an investigation by the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency regarding the Department’s non-compliance with state and federal euthanasia record keeping requirements, as well as LACDACC’s failure to obtain proper licenses. An email sent by Mayeda to her staff read in part:
“i agree that everyone did an outstanding job on this matter! However, we do not need a paper trail on this. Everyone, please delete these emails from your computers and empty the trash files.”
When this incident was brought to the attention of the Board of Supervisors, Board CEO William Fujioka did not dispute the email's authenticity, but denied there was any wrongdoing on Mayeda's part.
A pending lawsuit brought by the No Kill Advocacy Center, a national shelter reform organization, "alleges unlawful and abusive treatment of animals at all six Los Angeles County animal shelters."
From a Center press release:
"[T]he County Department of Animal Care and Control routinely:
- Kills healthy and treatable animals before their state mandated holding period expires;
- Misclassifies animals as “ill” or “injured” in order to kill them before their holding period expires even though the animals are not irremediably suffering as required by state law;
- Kills lost animals without making reasonable attempts to find the animals’ owners;
- Fails to provide adequate veterinary care to impounded animals, resulting in animal deaths;
- Fails to provide adequate nutrition, water, shelter and exercise to impounded animals and to treat the animals humanely and kindly;
- Refuses to release animals to rescue groups that are willing to care for the animals until adoptive homes can be found and, instead, kills the animals."
Decisions about leadership of the County shelter system are made by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. In July 2009 Marcia Mayeda will have completed her eighth year as Director of the L.A. County Department of Animal Care and Control. Her salary is reported to be $192,441.00 annually with salary and benefits.
Correction: The lawsuit referred to in this story was settled earlier this year. According to the website animallawcoalition.com the L.A. Department of Animal Care and Control agreed to the following conditions:
[The Department]
1. will not kill an animal during the mandated holding period unless the animal meets narrow exceptions permitted by law
2. will provide veterinary care to ill and injured animals
3. will release animals to rescue groups instead of killing them
4. will not retaliate against rescue groups and volunteers who publicly expose agency malfeasance
5. will restore the volunteer and rescue rights of plaintiff Cathy Nguyen
6. will provide access to shelter records to ensure compliance
In addition, because state law allows animals who are 'irremediably suffering' to be killed immediately upon impoundment, DACC agreed to a specific definition of what constitutes irremediable suffering to eliminate the unlawful killing of animals under this narrow legal exception as follows:
'An animal with a medical condition who has a poor or grave prognosis for being able to live without severe, unremitting pain despite necessary veterinary care.'
Since the entry of this order, the plaintiffs have entered into mediation because they claim DACC has failed to comply. The plaintiffs have documented, for example, animals have continued to be killed for what are treatable illnesses or injuries."
In light of her dismissive response to the revelations in the CBS 2 report, one has to wonder whether Director Marcia Mayeda views the legal terms of this settlement as equally insignificant.
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