I promised not to go after Mayeda until Boks was done. But what can I do? Knowledge of the County horrors is spreading everywhere.Below is an email forwarded to me (I am beginning to feel like ADL).
This photo is of a dead dog on top of a transport kennel with a live dog inside at a County shelter.
CLICK ON ANY PHOTO MAKES IT HUGE!
Dear Respected Members of California State and Federal Government and Members of the Press and Media: Last week, some of you reported about the horrific and senseless death of a dog impounded by the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control, under the management of Department Director Marcia Mayeda. That dog, Zephyr, died as a result of the Department's systemic neglect, mismanagement, and violations of its own policies and procedures, as well as both state and federal law. Nothing has changed.
The report about Zephyr's death, including the lack of heat at the Carson shelter, generated as outpouring of support from the humane community. People brought hundreds of blankets and towels to the shelter for the health, safety and comfort of the animals.
But, in another display of unimaginable incompetence, instead of providing those donated towels and blankets to the suffering animals, Department employees stored them outside in the rain, next to the freezer in which the bodies of dead animals (often infested with maggots) are kept. I have photographs depicting this atrocity.
The report about Zephyr's death, including the lack of heat at the Carson shelter, generated as outpouring of support from the humane community. People brought hundreds of blankets and towels to the shelter for the health, safety and comfort of the animals.
But, in another display of unimaginable incompetence, instead of providing those donated towels and blankets to the suffering animals, Department employees stored them outside in the rain, next to the freezer in which the bodies of dead animals (often infested with maggots) are kept. I have photographs depicting this atrocity.
Furthermore, during this past weekend, volunteers photographed medications that should have been administered to the animals carelessly strewn on the shelter floor.
(The photos below show filthy kennels at the Lancaster shelter)
And, not surprisingly, another dog died needlessly after being infected with a deadly disease because of the Department's simple failure to vaccinate him, as per Department policy. These and other egregious violations of Department policy and state and federal law have been repeatedly brought to the attention of Ms. Mayeda and other Department supervisors, who continue to consistently fail to hold those responsible accountable.
Yet another dog dead in its kennel.
We implore the media, state, and federal government to investigate and report on the Department's abuse of the public trust. Photos demonstrating Department misconduct and mismanagement can be downloaded at
http://strongcoders.com/LACDACC/LACDACC.zip.
Among other things, the Department has engaged and continues to engage in the following violations of Department policy and procedure and/or state law and/or federal law. * Use and possession of illegal substances on County property (Federal Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. §§841, et seq.,; California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, Health & Safety Code §§11350, et seq.; LACDACC Substance Abuse Policy HR270)
* Causing unnecessary suffering, sickness, and death due to the foregoing violations (Civil Code §§1834, 1846, 2080; Pen. Code §597; LACDACC Code of Conduct; LACDACC Maintenance of Animal Health Policy OPK140; LACDACC Sick and Injured Animals Policy OPF180)
* Not providing animals requiring veterinary/medical care with veterinary/medical care or stopping veterinary/medical care when veterinary/medical care is still required (Civil Code §§1834, 1846; LACDACC Maintenance of Animal Health Policy OPK140; LACDACC Sick and Injured Animals Policy OPF180)
* Routine failure to provide adequate nutrition, shelter, exercise and water and to treat animals kindly and humanely (Civil Code §§1834, 1846, 2080; Pen. Code §597; LACDACC Code of Ethics; LACDACC Maintenance of Animal Health Policy OPK140; LACDACC Kennel Responsibilities - General Duties Policy OPK130)
* Killing animals without first engaging in reasonable efforts to identify and locate the animal's owner or make the animal available for adoption to the public (Civil Code §§1834.4, 1846, 2080; Pen. Code §§597f, 597.1; LACDACC Euthanasia Policy OPK120; LACDACC Impounded Animals with Traceable Identification Policy OPG150)
There are a lot of more citations I have not attached because of space.
EMAIL, WRITE OR CALL THE COUNTY SUPERVISORS:
The supervisors' email and fax numbers are below. Knabe has a feature that allows you to ask questions and he promises to post a response on the Internet in two days.
Zev Yaroslavsky - zev@bos.lacounty.gov (213) 625-7360 fax
Yvonne B. Burke - seconddistrict@lacbos.org <seconddistrict@lacbos.org> (213) 680-3283 Fax
Michael D. Antonovich - FifthDistrict@lacbos.org (213) 974-1010 FAX
Gloria Molina molina@bos.lacounty.gov Fax: (213) 613-1739
Dan Knabe Fax: 213-626-6941 dsommers@lacbos.org http://knabe.com/askdon/askdon.html
Maybe Boks and Mayeda can share adjoining cells after being busted by the ACTF for 597(b) felony animal neglect.
Email or call the five County Supervisors. Mayeda is worse than Boks. Mention that you saw these photos and email on my blog. My statistics software shows I get a lot of hits from the County, and the more influential this site gets, the more powerful its voice for the animals.
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This is what I don't understand. The City busts Mason, takes his cats, kills them because they say he was neglecting them. They had food, water, veterinary care and a home. His cats were treated better at his home than at the shelter. Who is watching the watcher? To whom do we report the mass animal neglect and cruelty that happens in the city and county shelters?
ReplyDeleteYou might as well start realizing that these things go on in all the shelters in smaller counties in all 50 states.
ReplyDeleteHow many small shelters in other areas have vets or RVTs on staff?
Care to inspect a municipal shelter in a rural Arkansas county?
Emailed to Don Knabe, 9:28, 12/11/2007:
ReplyDeleteDear Supervisor Knabe,
I am very upset about the pictures and news from the L.A. County shelters, and I have some questions:
After news and pictures were published about the death of the dog Zephyr in an L.A. County facility, it is reported that many donations of blankets and comforters were made to help keep the dogs warm. Yet pictures show these blankets and comforters lying on the ground, instead of being given to the dogs. I would like to know:
1. When will these blankets be given to the dogs? Temperatures are routinely dipping into the 40s at night.
2. What disciplinary action will be taken against the County employees who showed such extreme negligence in not giving these donations to the dogs?
Photos also show filthy conditions and medications discarded on the ground, rather than being administered to dogs. By law, I would be prosecuted for keeping my dogs in filthy, almost-freezing conditions, as well as not administering necessary medical care, and leaving controlled substances where they could easily poison dogs.
1. What actions do you plan to take to end this abusive treatment of L.A County's animals by County employees, and how will Dept. Director Marcia Mayeda be disciplined for ongoing similar administrative failures that result in preventable animal deaths?
Re Comment #2
ReplyDeleteWe are not rural Arkansas. We are an enormously wealthy county that allows substandard humans to mistreat dogs, from Marcia Mayeda and Ed Boks, who I'm guessing both make six figures, down to front line staff, who are probably underpaid, although that does NOT excuse them treating animals literally like garbage.
I know there are abominable shelter conditions all over the world. I know some countries poison stray dogs with strychnine, so they suffer agonizing slow deaths.
And what's the difference between that and letting dogs slowly freeze to death or die from disease in one of the wealthiest counties in the world?
We should be better than that. We have the resources. We could and should be an example in action of the humane principles we claim to hold. But it won't happen if we hold our tongues or talk about irrelevant subjects like Arkansas, instead of calling and writing Villaraigosa, Knabe, Yaroslavsky, Molina, Burke, Antonovich and the L.A. Times and the Daily News to demand better for defenseless dogs and cats who need our help.
For the commenter who questioned what Marcia Mayeda makes. She makes $170,000 a year and her deputy directors each make $104,400 a year. What a waste of taxpayer money. It's one thing to be well paid if you do your job, but it's another to do nothing and waste LA County tax payer money.
ReplyDelete