What is the Real Kill Rate in LA's Animal Shelters?

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As the writer of a previous post pointed out, the real kill rate in Boks’ shelters is euthanasia + died in shelter + missing. This number is a couple of thousand higher than Boks’ numbers show.

Once Boks allegedly gained control of impound and disposition numbers, they began to fluctuate wildly as he, “adjusted them for accuracy.” Then the kill stats plummeted.


Early in 2006, Boks began stuffing the shelters with animals that brought the euthanasia rate down significantly through April, but rose sharply thereafter, and at the end of the year there was no improvement over 2005.

So Ed’s figures have improved based on three factors, his ability to control the numbers, refusing kittens and pit bulls, and warehousing animals.

He did the same in NYC. The numbers posted in NYC have radically changed over the past 12 months in response to very different numbers found by Maddies’ Fund counts in NYC vs. Boks’ numbers vs. numbers supplied by the Mayor’s Alliance, which appear to be based on rabies certificate numbers supplied to the state. Boks’ 2005 figures appear to be about 11% lower than Alliance figures and have been adjusted upwards since he left showing the real drop in killing under him was 3% and 6% for 2004 and 2005.

Boks’ numbers are not to be trusted, especially since May of this year.

So how many animals do our shelters actually kill each year?

Since we cannot trust Boks’ numbers anymore, and he refuses complete access to Chameleon impound and disposition numbers, we are left with the statistician’s method: find the kill rate within a known sample of animals impounded.

How do we get this sample?

The number of animals impounded by a raid on suspected hoarders is often expressed by Boks in a press release. However, we do not know how many animals actually survived even 4 days after a raid, and he refuses access to those records under the guise that he cannot release them because the case is under investigation. He hid both the location and numbers of cats alive from those impounded from Mason for over three months.

Mason estimated he actually has seen 22 cats alive. He has subsequently been told there are no more of his cats at other shelters; therefore, 22 surviving is it.

Altogether, 64 cats were impounded including 28 kittens, but only 59 by the shelter’s count. Mason said they actually took 12 kittens before the raid but they only listed 6 on the list given to him on October 9. At least on that date they did give him a list of animals.

Therefore, out of the 64 (or 59) cats taken, 22 are left alive.

Therefore, anywhere from 37 to 42 cats were killed immediately after impound, and I assume within a day or two instead of the Hayden Act mandated 4 days. I assume this is why Boks is hiding Chameleon documentation.

This yields a real kill rate of between 63% and 66%, or about 43% more than Boks claims are his kill figures for cats (45%).

The kill rate for kittens is much higher. Of 28 impounded, 25 were killed for a kill rate of 89%, worse even than LA County.

Boks may claim that Mason’s cats were in worse shape than an average sample of cats coming in. That’s bull. Does he really expect us to believe that all of the kittens and cats coming in from owner release, feral kittens and old cats were much healthier than Mason’s when he was feeding them, giving water, shelter and medical treatment? Are ferals in the street or parking lot, as well as sick and old cats surrendered in any better shape than Mason’s?

Did not Lt. Boswell say Mason’s cats had food, water and shelter—everything they needed, and that’s why the cats sought out his property?

So Boks can dance and dance with numbers all he wants, but we have a large sample of cats where the kill rate is far higher than Boks' claimed numbers.

This means we have an objective way to check Boks’ numbers: check the kill rate of cats and dogs taken during alleged hoarder raids.

Mr. Boks. Please get your records in order because you can expect Requests for Public Records on all animal busts during 2007. Then we will know your true kill rate.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I heard from an employee that Boks has total control of the numbers. He doesn't let anyone have access to the system except to input. He controls which numbers are put into the final Crystal report and which are not.Boks did the same thing in Arizona and New York. He can fudge the books all he likes and there's no way we can prove anything because he controls the user name and password.

But Boks isn't as smart as he thinks and he's greedy. He wants to make it seem that he instantly made LA nokill so he fudges the books too much. It's extremely obvious.

How can kitten intake go down by 33% instantly? Remember when he first came here jan 3, 2006. At the end of January he said he got euthanasia down 25%. How could someone honestly get euthanasia down 25% in just a little over three weeks? He just held onto the animals. Euthanasia didn't really go down. He held onto those animals until July then he killed them. They weren't saved. They were just kept in a crappy cage scared out of their minds for a few months.

Jane Hoffman is right. Boks thinks nokill is a sprint when it's a marathon. It's 2008 and LA is not nokill even though Boks said we would be.

They should fire Boks and just let Linda Barth be the interim GM. By allowing Boks to be the GM they are condoning his lies and behavior. Animals are being warehoused and allowed to die from disease just to improve his numbers. That is heartless.

Anonymous said...

I think Villaraigosa, and Blackman, and Bickhart -- as well as Delgadillo, Cooley and Bratton ARE condoning Boks' lies and behavior.

I think they honestly don't care if cats and dogs live or die.

Truthfully, we've already seen what Villaraigosa is capable of doing to people he's married and fathered. He's a sociopath as surely as Boks is. And after all, "They're just animals."

Anonymous said...

When you consider that Mason's cats were evidence,private property, and they killed that many, the euth rate is out of control. They weren't allowed to kill any cats. Poor dead Muffin. First strangled in the air on the end of a pole then killed.