Animal Lovers Sue Los Angeles County – Charges Of Abuse & Neglect

From The No Kill Advocacy Center:

The national No Kill Advocacy Center, Cathy Nguyen, a volunteer animal rescuer, and Rebecca Arvizu, a Los Angeles County taxpayer and animal rescuer, have jointly filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, its Department of Animal Care and Control, and the Department’s Director, Marcia Mayeda.

The lawsuit alleges unlawful and abusive treatment of animals at all six Los Angeles County animal shelters.Dying_zephyr_1

Among the allegations in the 29-page complaint filed today in Superior Court, the 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.

LA County Killed Zephyr

This is a healthy Zephyr when he arrived at one of the LA County Shelters. Healthy_zephyr_2

This is a dying Zephyr at one of the LA County Shelters.Dying_zephyr_1_2

This is a Zephyr when he died at one of the LA County Shelters.Zephyr_dead_3

In addition, the County Department of Animal Care and Control unlawfully retaliates against animal rescuers and volunteers who publicize its unlawful treatment of animals. http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/pdf/Retaliation_000.pdf

The lawsuit asks a Superior Court Judge to order Los Angeles County, its Department of Animal Care and Control, and Department Director Mayeda to comply with state laws that protect animals from arbitrary and inhumane treatment. The lawsuit is being handled by the Los Angeles law firm of Eisenberg, Raizman, Thurston, and Wong, LLP.

“The Los Angeles County animal shelter system is supposed to provide a reasonable safety net of care for lost and abandoned animals,” said Nathan J. Winograd, Director of the No Kill Advocacy Center. “Instead, the system betrays the trust of the citizens of Los Angeles County by failing to treat the animals humanely and kindly.”

“Los Angeles County and its Department of Animal Control fought the existing animal protection laws that safeguard shelter animals when those laws were pending in the legislature. They fought the laws after they became effective through a regulatory challenge. Now, it appears they have decided they are just going to ignore those laws,” stated Winograd.

“But Los Angeles County shelters are supposed to enforce laws related to animal welfare, not violate the laws themselves and then retaliate against rescue groups who want to save these animals and make their demands public.

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