2010 was the highest kill year of the past five for cats and dogs in LAAS' custody.
Euthanasia of unweaned kittens is 80% higher than 2007 despite the October 2009 Mandatory spay/neuter law which most people except Winograd and I thought would curb killing. It hasn't.
The stats are not specific as to where the unweaned kittens are coming from, but they are likely ferals, which is perfectly explainable as Longcore and the Audubon people forced the city out of TNR support. Does the 80% increase in unweaned kittens impounded in 2010 over 2007 mean there are now 80% more feral cats on the streets on LA? The number of unweaned kittens, as well as cats killed have increased each year since the city got out of TNR support.
If this is true, Longcore's cat hatred has backfired, with many more cats on the street and many more birds being killed.
Los Angeles City Hall is said to be infested with rats. Instead of killing all of these cats why doesn't the City put some cats to work keeping City Hall rat free?
ReplyDeleteSome claim a lack of enforcing the mandatory s/n law is why we are seeing larger numbers of kittens killed.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't have current records to nail down the specifics, previous year's records for LAAS show a lot of the cat impounds showing up in East Valley, North Central and West Valley shelters. Most are documented by LAAS as strays turned in at the counter. The months April through October having the greatest numbers. I think the larger numbers in those months represent the annual increase in litters. Areas having the largest number of cat impounds (at the 3 shelters previously named) are LA Council Districts 1, 6, 7, 12 and 14 but I can't get any more specific than that with the information I rec'd.
I don't think comparing this past year with 2007 is a fair comparison. In 2007 roughly 9,000 cats were killed while in prior years there were 12,000 - 15,000 being killed. Impounds in those prior years (on average) were in excess of 20K.
I'm almost certain Longcore's assumptions about the role of feral cats being responsible for declining wild bird populations is pure crap because there seems to be no lack of wild birds here where I live. There's also a greater chance of them being hunted and killed by local birds of prey than by the ferals we have roaming the neighborhood. I say this because I see it. Our hawks and falcons are not being fed by caretakers, the ferals are and that is what I think makes the difference.
Brad Jensen
My take is that the pet sterilization money was not targeted to the areas where people are most likely to dump them at the shelter.
ReplyDeleteIn 2009, alot of the voucher money went towards FixNation for rescue efforts on ferals. FixNation does great work. It's just that the resources going to them seemed to be the very people who would never dump at the shelter. Chances are, it did reduce feral colonies from populating. Unfortunately, that would be hard to measure with shelter impounds. Meanwhile, people who were told to come to the shelter for vouchers were told there were none.
Maybe vouchers is the wrong way to go. I heard the commission got rid of the 30 dollar vouchers. I wonder what they'll do with that money, or was it just cut from the budget. If so, that will be tragic since the s/n subsidies seemed to have made a big difference. They better not dump the van too.
"Some claim a lack of enforcing the mandatory s/n law is why we are seeing larger numbers of kittens killed."
ReplyDeleteBrad, it is the very existence of mandatory sterilization laws that drive up shelter numbers. Punitive laws that impose fines, fees and mandated expensive (and unnecessary) surgery will only cause more animals to be impounded. In every locality that has enacted MSN, intakes rise. That is why the No Kill equaltion of Nathan Winograd does not include MSN, that is why the ASPCA, the AVMA and the American College of Theriogenologists all OFFICIALLY OPPOSE MSN laws.
You will find that the rise in LAAS intakes coincides with the enactment of the MSN law. Prior to that, numbers had steadily declined for decades.
Any deaths can be laid squarely on the shoulders of shelter directors who elect to kill rather than TNR feral cats and implement aggressive adoption techniques. Disgraceful!