Animal Services seizes 120 pet rats
An 81-year-old Wilmington woman was found Monday afternoon by Los Angeles Department of Animal Services officers in her home with more than 100 rats and 35 other animals she kept as pets.
Animal control officers also seized the animals, which included about 120 rats, most in cages but some running loose, 25 rabbits, a dog, six parakeets, a quail and a cockatiel.
"Langstom basically became overwhelmed at how quickly the rats reproduced. She said it just started with two but it got out of hand," Ramirez said. "Hoarding pets is something we see in Los Angeles frequently so it's not actually that rare a case."
Members of Animal Services' Anti-Cruelty Task Force visited Langstom's home in the 1100 block of Laguna Avenue on Monday to investigate "deplorable conditions," as described by a tip from someone who had visited Langstom's home earlier that day after seeing an ad for a rabbit in a local newspaper. "Once inside, the person saw all the cages and how the situation was bad for both the animals and the resident," Ramirez said.
Most of the animals were healthy, Ramirez said. A veterinarian was treating all of the seized animals, which are available for adoption in San Pedro at the Harbor Animal Care Center.
"Most of the animals were healthy." This is in telling contrast to "deplorable conditions," Again, I aks, how many animals left the shelter alive?
Another document by the LAPD said the ACTF conducted 400 investigations of alleged animal cruelty, 35 for cock fighting and 15 for dog fighting. They also said they investigated cases of hoarding, but did not say how many of the 400 cases involved alleged hoarding.
6 comments:
I know this is somewhat off-topic, but why is Ed Boks still driving a City car? I noticed that as I watched him blow a stop sign this afternoon.
Does his golden parachute include us continuing to pay for his travel to his non-job, as well as the apparent right to break the law?
Just my personal opinion. He was a Minister? Of what? He is a pig. A liar, con artist, ect. He was only able to resign in an effort to avoid embarassing the Mayor (WHo fired Stuckey, and should NOT HAVE} I personally have had experiences with Boks, he is a camera hugging, ass kissing FAKE
I can only pray he NEVBR EVER works with animals again!!!
I will get called on the Stuckey thing..but you know what?? All the ANIMAL ACTIVISTS apparantly don't know shit. He knew how to lead and get things done and was HONEST, and demanded the same of his employees. 13 months? Could you do better? I think not. Who's next? I am eager to see who the ADL and associates nominate, and how quickly they turn on them.
Few people realize this but the kill rate dropped 13% under Stuckey. Surprisingly, the GM that did better was Greenwalt, who got 16% decrease in one year, buy year after year managed to get 13%.
Boks retains his job through the end of June. These are sick and vacation days. He may still be active in dept. affairs, I don't know.
Poster 2 - Myself along with many, many others agree that Stuckey did a good job. He had the respect of the employees at the shelters and was moving in the right direction. He also KNEW the people who worked at the shelters, and would make surprise visits to them during ALL shifts, including graveyard. He also LISTENED to people whether they be staff of rescuers or others, and was always open to new ideas. And when new ideas were implemented, he gave credit where credit was due, unlike Boks, who would never put forth a new idea unless it was his.
I'm so glad Villaraigosa is allowing Boks to run out the clock with a City car, so we can remain open to another whopping lawsuit from his lack of judgment behind the wheel (in addition to his lack of judgment everywhere else).
That's exactly the sort of intelligence and care for his constituency, not to mention the City's bottom line, that should keep Villaraigosa out of Sacramento.
On a different topic, it strikes me that whenever the topic comes up people mention that Stuckey was not in fact a bad GM. I wonder if it's worth discussing Stuckey as GM again. Of course (and this is again a good argument against harassment as a tactic) he might not be interested based on the mistreatment he received from one small segment of the rescue community.
It's well known that eminently qualified, intelligent people who could be great leaders avoid public service because they know the hostility and attacks they'll face just trying to do their jobs. It would be good if some of the less self-controlled elements in the humane/rescue community could face the fact that harassment and childishness is never going to get them what they want.
Boks isn't gone because of picketers. Boks is gone (although sadly not gone ENOUGH) because he was scrutinized and watched and his own failures weren't allowed to go unnoticed. He's gone because every screwup was met with opposition and publicity and calls to the City Council. He's also gone because of his own weaknesses: drinking, sexual harassment, narcissistic disregard for the input of others in his policy decisions.
But the more illuminating question is why was he ever here in the first place? He wanted the job because he wanted the title, the prestige and the money and he thought he could BS the rescue community because he never had any regard for us. He thought all he had to say was "No Kill" and we would fall at his feet.
He got the job because he was moron enough to want it. A competent, humane, intelligent adult is never going to want to put him- or herself in the crosshairs of the radically immature elements of the humane community. No intelligent person would. That's not to say a GM should go unwatched and unscrutinized. But part of the discussion should be that coming to L.A. to head LAAS should not automatically mean kids dressed in black with face masks will start picketing your block with bullhorns simply because no-kill can't be achieved overnight.
It absolutely behooves the humane community to learn from Boks, learn what took him down, and learn what DIDN'T.
On the other hand, Villaraigosa needs to set up a clear, transparent way to monitor the intake and kill numbers that absolutely does not allow for the GM and/or LAAS management to falsify the numbers.
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