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Mayor sticks with Boks pick for Animal Services head, but questions remain
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Seniors, big dogs, and black dogs and cats face special challenges in getting adopted. Can a leader with experience and compassion help their chances?
Following the departure of Ed Boks as General Manager of L.A. Animal Services yesterday, the Mayor's office said the Mayor has designated Assistant General Manager of Operations Kathy Davis to be interim GM beginning July 1. Davis, who joined the Department in May 2008 after serving as Director of Code Compliance in Dallas, Texas, had been named by Boks to serve as Acting General Manager for several weeks in the period after he announced his resignation, then took sick leave and vacation time during the month of May. Boks returned to serve as GM during June, finishing out the fiscal year, which ended on the 30th.
The Mayor's office did not provide any information on how long they expected Davis to serve as interim GM, nor whether a search is underway for a successor to Boks.
Unlike LAAS Assistant General Manager for Administration Linda Barth, who has appeared at City Council meetings with Boks, and who represents the Department at Animal Services Commissioners Board meetings, Davis appears to keep a comparatively low profile. A source within the Animal Services Department says of Davis, "I don't know anything about her -- I've dealt with her and she seems pleasant."
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The spring/summer kitten season means LAAS leadership needs to strengthen fostering programs as well as cat adoption outreach if it is to avoid large-scale euthanasia of newborns and unwanted cats. Photo: L.A. Animal Services
This leaves open the question of who will be named as Boks' permanent successor. In a June 27 opinion piece in the L.A. Daily News, animal activist Daniel Guss takes aim not just at the departing Boks, but at the power structure within Animal Services and the Mayor's office that he sees as obstructing real progress in tackling L.A.'s animal issues. Guss bluntly suggests: "Move out Boks' enablers, namely Deputy Mayor Jim Bickhart and Assistant General Managers Linda Barth and Kathy Davis, after a transition period. Bickhart, who is fond of snoozing in important meetings, would wake up just long enough to give the mayor the belief that those who complained about Boks were 'disgruntled animal activists.'"
The Guss editorial underlines the tension that has existed for many years between members of City administration and diverse elements of the humane and rescue community, who have long felt that their concerns for the humane treatment of L.A.'s homeless animals, as well as questions about Departmental law enforcement priorities, particularly those of the joint LAAS-LAPD Animal Cruelty Task Force, have gone unheard.
Dogs at the North Central City Shelter. Animals' lives depend on caring, experienced LAAS leadership Photo: Brian Vander Brug - Los Angeles Times
Although Animal Services' own website says "the ACTF primarily investigates the more egregious animal cruelty violations in the City of Los Angeles, such as beatings and poisonings, dog fighting, cockfighting, and other animal abuse violations," local animal care activist and blogger Ed Muzika has written of humane community concerns that the Task Force, which was initially created to provide Animal Control Officers with the protection needed to combat dangerous situations, has instead chosen to focus on simple violations such as people who own or feed any number of cats over the City limit of three. Muzika says he was told by a member of the Animal Cruelty Task Force that the biggest problem the Task Force faced was "people with too many cats." This despite the fact that having more than three cats is a simple code violation.
[I attempted to call the Department twice to verify their standard procedure for addressing code violations, but both times their phone system kept me on hold for over ten minutes without anyone picking up the phone. A police officer I asked told me that standard procedure for addressing code violations is to issue a citation, which is often done by departments other than LAPD.]
Boks' troubled tenure, which was marked by conflict with members of the humane community, unions, his own shelter staff, and the City Council, has once again raised the issue of whether those in the community who have years of experience in helping rescue, spay/neuter, shelter and find homes for L.A.'s homeless animals will have their voices heard when the Mayor decides to pick a new General Manager for Animal Services.
For more info: To read Ed Muzika's L.A. AnimalWatch blog see: http://www.laanimalwatch.blogspot.com/
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