Insiders Predict Budget Cuts Will Kill Record Numbers of Animals Over the Next Year

An unnamed City employee told me that no matter who the new GM turns out to be, budget cuts are going to kill the dpartment's performance, at least over the next 16 months.


The new numbers are out:


http://laanimalservices.com/PDF/reports/CatNDogIntakeNOutcomes.pdf


This is the highest kill year for dogs and cats in the past 5 years. Adoptions are down. New Hope rescues are down, and even impounds are down by almost 700. However, the decrease in impounds did not translate into any improvement in the live save rate.


New Hope rescues for cats are down about 25%, or about 500 cats, reflecting the lack of funds in the non profits.


Since this has been the worst kill year in the past five, and kill numbers are expected to increase due to staff and budget cuts, we may be heading to the highest kill year in a decade.


Most people associated with the department don't believe No Kill is possible in LA. There are too many obstacles, and most point to the employees as the number 1 obstacle.


Even Winograd has suggested the only solution may be a private takeover of the department which could lead to large scale changes in personnel.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

"New Hope rescues for cats are down about 25%, or about 500 cats, reflecting the lack of funds in the non profits."

Was there a lack of funds for non-profits in April and May of last year?

These are the two months were the largest differences in New Hope rescues can be found in the stats.

Brad Jensen
Cypress,CA

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Ed Muzika said...

Do you have an alternative theory Brad? New Hope has been down ever since Boks started in 2006.

Anonymous said...

The incompetent employees should be fired. Someone should ask how many employees in LAAS have been disciplined in the last year. Other Departments are successful, with disciplining their employees, why not LAAS?

Anonymous said...

Sorry. No, I was just asking because I don't remember hearing anything about New Hope rescuers experiencing a lack of funds in April and May of last year. Well... any more than usual that is.

It would be nice if whoever generates these reports would at least have someone else look them over a little before publishing. They got the months at the top all screwed up again. And the bunny report only goes up to Feb of this year but the report heading says its through March 31. Makes it difficult to believe there's any credibility to the numbers they're showing.

Brad Jensen
Cypress,CA

Anonymous said...

Isn't the Heigl Foundation subsidizing the New Hopes now? They've been doing that for a few months. Maybe that explains any improvement there might be at the moment.