Vick Signs Contract With Nike--Protests Have Been Limited


Vick, Nike sign new deal

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Michael Vick is back with Nike two years after the company severed ties over the quarterback's involvement in a dogfighting ring.
"Mike has a long-standing, great relationship with Nike, and he looks forward to continuing that relationship," his agent, Joel Segal, said Wednesday.
Segal would not reveal terms of the agreement. Nike declined a request for comment.
The deal was announced during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium by Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick.
The endorsement is the latest step forward for Vick as he seeks to rehabilitate his career and his image after serving 18 months in federal prison. On Sunday, Vick played his first regular-season game since December 2006.
"It is quite evident that athletes that run afoul of the law are by no means relegated to obscurity when it comes to pitching products," said David Carter, a professor of sports marketing at the University of Southern California.
Vick signed with the Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 13. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave him his full reinstatement Sept. 3, saying he could return to the field in Week 3.
Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after theAtlanta Falcons star filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in the dogfighting ring. At the time, Nike called cruelty to animals "inhumane, abhorrent and unacceptable" and halted release of his fifth signature shoe, the Air Zoom Vick V.
Back when Vick first signed with the Eagles, Carter had said he was "too toxic for most companies to even consider taking a chance on him." What's changed? As Carter noted Wednesday, there has been little backlash to the quarterback's return to the NFL.
Protests have been limited, and the Eagles' sponsors have stood by them. That experience could make companies less wary about adding Vick as an endorser, though the biggest determinant might be no different from any other athlete: how well he performs on the field.

Jimmy on the bridge in Northridge Behind Best Buy

I haven’t written much about Jimmy lately and we have gone to court 4 times as of today and nothing has been resolved. There is an organization, PATH, which has offered Jimmy a permanent place at its shelter in Hollywood. They will also allow him to take 4-5 of his cats. Unfortunately, they will be kept in a large cage inside of one of two rooms set aside for animals of the homeless that live there.

Jimmy has to decide what cats to take and arrange for people to take over feeding of the other 22 cats in the area that he feeds.

In the meantime, because of the bad publicity the Deputy City Attorney Atteukennian, and now Trutanich, have been getting, it is rumored that the Devonshire Police are cooperating with Best Buy’s security company to push Jimmy into some sort of violent confrontation so that felony charges can be brought against Jimmy. This way they can pretend Jimmy is really a bad guy not deserving of public sympathy.

It is legally clear now that Jimmy is living on County property and therefore the original charges of trespassing on private property would be dismissed in trial.

Therefore, again it is rumored that the police want Jimmy out and even want Jimmy to come in and file charges against a security officer who roughed Jimmy up, only so that the security company and Best Buy can charge Jimmy with trespassing.

A few weeks ago, the security company posted signs all around the perimeter of the mall forbidding loitering and trespassing. There is a fire lane around the perimeter of the property that Jimmy has to ride on to get access to his tent. A couple of weeks ago the security company began blocking off that fire access and telling Jimmy he cannot walk or ride in that alley.

Then about 12 days ago, when trying to feed a cat a little way down from his tent just off the alley, he was told he could not be there. The cat was not fed for 3 days. This eventuated in a pushing contest when the guard pushed Jimmy around. Jimmy the next day filed a police report, and the suspicion is now that if he presses charges, the security company will go after Jimmy for trespassing with the cooperation of the police and possibly the City Attorney.

Be clear about this. This is Best Buy’s tactic and their security company, and possibly with the full knowledge and cooperation of the Devonshire police department.

Jimmy wants everyone to know that the security agency may not be collecting income taxes on these guards, is not paying them overtime and is paying them cash and he wants to inform the IRS about this matter. Many guards have worked for months before getting their guard cards. One guard a reporter he was carrying a concealed weapon.

Best Buy is apparently upset with Jimmy because one of the cats walks into the multi-storied parking building attached to their Northridge store.

Be clear, the villains here are Best Buy, the sandwich store next to it, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Hold them responsible. 

Petag's Esbilac puppy milk contains heavy metal copper


Independent lab tests of Petag's Esbilac puppy milk have revealed it contains twice the maximum allowed of heavy metal copper as per government standards. Results also revealed that the contents are 17.6% fiber while the label states it has "0% crude fiber." A report was filed against Petag with the U.S. Food & Drug Administration on 9/11/2009.

Over the last few months wildlife rehabilitators across the nation have been complaining about problems with "new" Esbilac. Raccoon, skunk, opossum, squirrel and bunny babies were getting severe diarrhea and dying.

Various organizations contacted Petag headquarters and complained about the problems. They were told by Judy that Petag merely changed their manufacturing process to "spray drying." The product was now supposedly more "digestible." Petag refused to refund unopened bags of Esbilac stating there is nothing wrong with the product.

9/10/2009 Animal Advocates sent a sterile sample of Esbilac straight from the Petag factory to an independent lab in California. September 24 they received the results which showed the contaminant heavy metal copper and large amounts of fiber. Copper poisoning causes gastrointestinal distress, kidney, liver failure and death. Excess fiber also causes diarrhea. These results were forwarded to the FDA.

The significant lab results are as follows: 

Protein 24.8%
Fat 31.5%
Fiber 17.6%
Heavy metal copper 2x Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL)


Petag's label states a "guaranteed analysis" as follows: 

Crude Protein min 33.0%
Crude Fat min 40.0%
Crude Fiber max 0.0% 


The actual protein and fat in Esbilac is less than the minimum guaranteed by the Petag label. The fiber is far greater than the maximum guaranteed. The lab has stated that even though the product contains 17.6% fiber, there is no fiber source listed in any of the ingredients on the label.

The FDA regulates pet foods and treats. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) requires that pet foods, like human foods, be safe to eat, produced under sanitary conditions, contain no harmful substances, and be truthfully labeled.

Animal Advocates 
Animal Advocates rehabilitates ill, injured and orphaned wildlife for release back to the wild. They are licensed by the California Department of Fish & Game and are located in Los Angeles, California.
http://www.AnimalAdvocates.us
Mary@AnimalAdvocates.us

Petag 
As per their website Petag produces the number one selling puppy milk Esbilac and the number one selling kitten milk KMR. Their manufacturing plant has been located in Hampshire, Illinois for over 50 years.
http://www.Petag.com
800-323-6878

OVER 1000 People Have Signed the Petition To Stop The County From Killing Feral Cats


...and yet we are hearing nothing from County. Nothing. Call Dr. Fielding directly 

at home; maybe he'll talk to you and you can tell me what he said. 

(310) 394-6040, and (310) 451-1785. 

STOP MASS CAT KILLING IN LOS ANGELES



Target: Los Angeles County Supervisors














Los Angelse County Supervisors


Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Department of Health has contracted with the Carson Animal Shelter to trap cats at various locations across the county.  Hundreds, maybe thousands, of vaccinated, spayed, healthy cats will be killed.  Feral cats are not adoptable. These cats are no more of a threat to human health than the pets that walk through our neighborhoods every day.  This will cost the struggling taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on calculations from previous mass trappings.  Now is not the time to be spending, and killing is not the answer.The Los Angeles County Department of Health has contracted with the Carson Animal Shelter to trap cats at various locations across the county.  Hundreds, maybe thousands, of vaccinated, spayed, healthy cats will be killed.  Feral cats are not adoptable. These cats are no more of a threat to human health than the pets that walk through our neighborhoods every day.  This will cost the struggling taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, based on calculations from previous mass trappings.  Now is not the time to be spending, and killing is not the answer.
signature
goal: 1,000

They all called it Plague when in fact it was a Vangordon Lie



This is a very long and complicated discussion showing in great and documented detail how Vangordon used the threat of Plague to justify her orders to kill ground squirrels in Santa Monica in 2006, when in fact, when questioned, she admits it is only her own and her field inspectors' (Joe Ramirez) opinions that the squirrels should be killed. She admits that her orders to kill are hers alone, not based on science, but on the single fact that Health Code 116125 gives her the authority to order their killing. All the below emails were gathered from a Request for Public Records to Santa Monica. I don't expect any reporter to read it to the end except Dana Bartholomew.


This is what the media was told about the County order to kill the squirrels: They are a health risk for plague; if the City does not kill them, the County will either sue the City or come in and kill them themselves.


Santa Monica Daily Press, June 18, 2004:


CITY HALL A contentious dispute over whether Santa Monica 's ground squirrels should be poisoned to prevent outbreaks of the bubonic plague has pitted local leaders against Los Angeles health authorities.

Officials from the Los Angeles County Health Department twice recently demanded Santa Monica kill off its resident ground squirrel population, saying if City Hall doesn't do the work, they will.

Santa Monica Daily Press
By Carolyn Sackariason

City Hall’s latest plan for the resident squirrels here: Trap them, gas them and feed them to the birds. It’s not a pretty picture, but a necessary plan, according to city, county and pest control officials. Because the squirrels carry fleas which can lead to bubonic plague, they are considered a health threat, officials said. And because Palisades Park is overrun with the rodents, City Hall has been mandated by the Los Angeles County Health Department to kill them. If City Hall fails to comply, it could be sued.

Santa Monica Daily Press
By Kevin HerreraS

Squirrels and other rodents are known to carry fleas which could spread disease such as the bubonic plague, county health officials said. After receiving a summons Jan. 16 from the county Health Department regarding non-compliance with the health and safety code, City Hall was ordered to kill the squirrels or face legal action.

Santa Monica Lookout, July 29, 2006
By Jorge Casuso

"As you know, the City was ordered to suppress the ground squirrel population" by the County, the mayor wrote. "The coastal belt of California is one of the high-risk areas for plague. Keeping the ground squirrel population down is a precaution against humans and pets being infected."

One can only conclude that both the County and City appear to share a common public face: the squirrels in Palisades Park are a plague and health issue, nothing more, nothing less.

Even in correspondence between the City and County, we find the same reasoning and logic.



From a report dated February 9, 2006 to the Mayor and City Council from the City Manager, Ewell states:

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services environmental health inspectors have been monitoring the presence of ground squirrels in Palisades Park for a number of years and have on several occasions, most recently in the spring 2005, directed the city to reduce the ground squirrel population for reasons related to public health. Fleas on ground squirrels are carriers of disease and ground squirrels and coastal areas tend to have more fleas as a result of human conditions. Proper management of both ground squirrels and fleas is vital to reducing the potential for human disease.

Second Notice to the City to kill the squirrels from the County (Vangordon), dated July 25, 2006:

"More importantly, ground squirrels are implicated in the transmission of plague to humans. For 80 years, human plague cases have been associated with diseased outbreaks among ground squirrels throughout California . (My note: Last was 1925 in Los Angeles County)  Proper management of both ground squirrels and their fleas is vital to reduce potential for human disease."

E-mail from Joe McGrath (Parks manager for Santa Monica ), dated January 4, 2006:



"Management of California ground squirrels and their fleas is mandated by the County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services in order to reduce the potential for transmission of human disease, especially plague."

From Vangordon to Elaine Polachek, Parks Director in Santa Monica, August 2, 2006:

"To clarify, plague is known to circulate in ground squirrel populations within Los Angeles County , and preventing conditions that enhance the risk of an epizotic is a primary goal of our program. As such, this is the standard (2-3 visible squirrels/acre) we have used for over 25 years to determine when notices abatement should be issued. We avoid selective enforcement by applying a standard countywide. [And, this standard is based on the State’s Plague Compendium.]

In a January 10, 2006 email to Dr. Wolch, Urban Wildlands Group, an academic, Vangordon states:

“Our history, and the procedures we employ in addressing rodent infestation Z. include roof rats, Norway where rats, house mice and ground squirrels, can be traced back to the plague outbreak and Norway rat episodic in Los Angeles in 1924-1925. Our ground squirrel inspection and monitoring program was established in 1978 in response to a case of human plague in the city of Diamond Bar."

Therefore, this is all about plague isn’t it? The County is ordering to city to kill the squirrels because of a plague threat, right?

I have an email from Animal Advocates that sample squirrels would be trapped on April 19-20, 2006 and flea samples taken and sent to a State lab to check on the presence of plague bacillus, Y. Pestis. Animal Advocates was to notify Joe McGrath ONLY if a sample were positive. There was no positive finding email sent to McGrath. Therefore, there does not appear to be the remotest threat of plague. Also, there has never been a case of squirrel or human plague throughout Santa Monica ’s history.

So, if it is about plague, what does Vector Management’s own literature recommend to control the threat?

The County’s own Vector Management Program (Vangordon as Supervisor) has published a brochure, entitled “Facts about plague in Los Angeles County ,” which states:



"Health authorities will institute preventive measures when animal plague is found in areas with human exposure. Warnings will be posted. After careful evaluation, the area may be quarantined and insecticides may be used to reduce the risk of flea bites to humans. Insecticide dust is applied into rodent burrows and/or into tube-like containers called “bait stations.” Rodents enter the bait stations and get flea powder in their fur. They also carry the insecticide in their fur back to the nest, killing fleas inside the burrows. This method of flea control is very effective, uses a minimum of insecticide, and does not harm the rodents."

(http://www.labt.org/pdf/Plague/LAC_Plague_Facts.pdf#search=%22vector%20management%20plague%20los%20angeles%20county%22) (THIS BROCHURE HAS BEEN TAKEN DONE BY COUNTY)

When her own publication was brought to Vangordon’s attention by Elaine Polachek in an e-mail dated February 13, 2006, Vangordon states:

“The title should speak for itself: "Facts about plague in Los Angeles County ." The sole topic of the bulletin is plague, not ground squirrel suppression techniques nor does it make any reference to our policies on code enforcement. It is modeled after the States’ Plague brochure, but is specific to plague as a disease that is endemic to Los Angeles in particular. It was never meant to be a technical bulletin on how or why to control ground squirrels.”

“It is not meant to be a guide to managers of natural areas, Parks or other open spaces. As such it is a mistake to think of it as a statement of our policies that relate to violations concerning ground squirrels.” [Ed: Violations concerning ground squirrels?]

“Just to clarify, the presence of ground squirrels in Palisades Park is a violation as stated in both the Los Angeles County and California state codes: 11.30.010 and 116125, which states ‘every person possessing anyplace that he is infested with rodents, as soon as their presence comes to his or her knowledge, shall at once proceed and continue with good-faith to endeavor to exterminate and destroy the rodents, by poisoning, trapping, and other appropriate means.’"

-----------
WOW!! She made a sudden flip-flop. The department's own literature about how to control for plague describes nonlethal insecticide applications to destroy the fleas, not the squirrels, is not a statement of their policy on controlling ground squirrel populations!!! Instead, their order to kill relates to LA County health code section 116125 which requires the abatement of a rodent "infestation."

What a shock, plague has gone away as the cause of the need to suppress squirrels, and has given way to a regulation, using an undefined term "infestation" as the real cause to order the suppression of the California ground squirrel population in Palisades Park in Santa Monica !!

In other words, all of the previous talk about the risk for plague, is a red herring, a distraction that makes the killing of endless numbers of ground squirrels a public health threat, and more palatable to a deliberately frightened public, when in fact, it is just a violation of County code, cloaked in the magic term "infestation" which is not defined either on a County or State level. It is a purely arbitrary determination made by their field inspectors in County Vector Management!!

From an e-mail from the academic, dated February 3, 2006, to Kevin Mckeown, the academic (Dr. Wolch from Urban Wildlands Group) states,

"Vangordon states that the source of density requirement of one-to squirrels/acre cited by the County was derived from the States Plague Compendium. [My note: Here Vangordon is citing a State Plague Control compendium as justification of her squirrel density numbers—again, we are back to Plague to set the density requirements.] Based on an e-mail from Dr. Curtis Fritz, of the states Department of Health Services, this recommendation is 2-3 rodents/acre in locations where plague is present. Plague is not known to be present in Palisades Park and has not been known to be present at sea level in Urban Los Angeles since the 1920s. It therefore appears to be an inappropriate application of this state recommendation, which is only recommendation, and not found in any regulation, to require the city of Santa Monica to achieve 1-2 squirrels/acre. The only possible enforceable regulation is Section 116125 which hinge on the definition of ‘infested’."

“In light of the clarification below from the state of California on the absence of any standard for ground squirrel densities in non-plague areas, it would seem to be completely legal and appropriate for the city of Santa Monica to pursue its nonlethal squirrel management program without need to be a standard set by the County health inspectors it is not found in any regulations."

From Van Gordon dated January 10, 2006 to the academic:

To maintain conformity and applied to code uniformly we have relied upon those values stated in the California Compendium of Plague Control. [Plague again!].


The academic (Dr. Wolch, Urban Wildlands Group)  encloses a response from the author of that Compendium, Dr. Curtis Fritz, DMV, Ph.D.:

Dr. Curtis Fritz states:

“As part of our statewide surveillance and control of plague program, we have recommended that grounds rural populations in non-campground public areas not exceed 2-3 rodents/acre. These guidelines are included there our Plague Compendium. It is important to bear in mind that these are recommendations only. There are no enforceable regulations regarding rodent population in public areas at the state level, although local jurisdictions and municipalities may develop their own. In areas where plague is not enzotic in rodent populations, these recommendations would not apply.”

To the academic (Dr. Wolch) regarding the plague content Plague Compendium cited, Vangordon replies:



"To further clarify, the health and safety code [116125] does not mention plague, the potential for its existence, or any risk associated with the in the wording of those sections we applied. The justification for suppression of rodents, including ground squirrels, does not hinge solely on the potential for plague. The section is designed to address all and/or any of the damages that rodents can inflict." She goes on to state that the suppression is required, "when it determines that it is necessary to prevent great and irreparable damage to crops or other property."

Huh! Now it appears that the reason to order the suppression of the ground squirrels in Palisades Park , is not plague, but that they might cause great and irreparable damage to crops or other property.

Well, what would be the crops in Palisades Park ? What about the property? The City never complained to the County about the squirrels causing damage to the Park although Holbrook mentions it. So what skin is it off of Vangordon’s back? There is no plague, there are no complaints from the owner of the property, the City, about the squirrels causing damage—at least in the numerous emails I reviewed.

Well, well, well, notice how Vangordon shimmies and shifts the grounds of argument, as well as her logic, as well as failing to provide any facts whatsoever. Now it is all code and regulations. The 2-3 squirrels per acre, is based on a plague control recommendations for areas where there is plague, and is now being applied to Palisades Park, where no plague exists, or has existed-ever!

She shifts to property damage and “infestation,” which is nowhere defined.

Vangordon states in a January 10, 2006 e-mail:


"16130 states in part, "the department…. of each County, local health officers, or inspectors…. may inspect all places for the purposes of ascertaining when they whether they are infested with rodents.”


"This wording is, and has always been, interpreted by our department to mean that the existence of “an infestation" of rodents including ground squirrels, is a determination we, as inspectors, make based on parameters we have established as a result of over 80 years of enforcement and abatement activities."

And now the new central core of her argumentation, that this is a completely arbitrary determination that her department makes. In an e-mail dated January 6, 2006, to the academic:

"We also have the latitude to apply the Los Angeles county safety code 10.30.010 (Notice to abate). This section of the County code is intentionally broad, it makes no mention of any standard, or need to define and infestation.


"It states, in part, ‘no person shall occupy, maintain, or cause or permit another person to occupy or maintain any building, lot, premises, vehicle or other place, in such a condition of construction or maintenance as will permit the breeding or harborage therein or thereon of rodents, fleas, bedbugs, cockroaches, lice, mosquitoes or any other vermin."

She states further, “The lack of legally defined standard in the California code means that we, as health officers, have the authority to define standards, and this authority is provided in section 116130."

Which brings up what I quoted in her January 11, 2006, e-mail to the same academic:

“My staff are career professionals who are well qualified to make informed judgments. The state codes we enforce are not outdated; they are intentionally broad to permit application under various conditions, by properly trained, qualified and responsive individuals whose actions are continually monitored by supervision and upper management."

That is, all of her argumentation is based on a threat that does not exist, using criteria recommended by the state if there were a plague emergency, and when called upon to reconcile her actions with her own plague brochure, states that the order to abate rodents has nothing to do with plague, but is a judgment call of their field inspectors.

That is, “Do as I say, because I say it and demand it. You are nothing but an academic (or City employee) and do not have our expertise. You are a jerk and I can still tell anyone I want, any time I want to, to kill anything I want as long as it's a rodent, bed bug or other vermin, because this is my legally defined area and I intend to keep my job.”

Vangordon is a liar and unprincipled bully whose grasp of logic and science is non-existent, and who has demonstrated an intolerable malevolence such that she certainly should not remain in a position of authority in the County’s Vector Management Program. She should be fired and you should tell the County Supervisors exactly that.

Gloria Molina
Phone: (213) 974-4111
molina@lacbos.org


Zev Yaroslavsky
(213) 974-3333 / Fax (213) 625-7360
E-mail zev@lacbos.org

Don Knaabe
Phone: (213) 974-4444

Michael D. Antonovich
(213) 974-5555
(213) 974-1010 fax

Jonathan Fielding
(213) 240-8117 --- Direct Line
jfielding@ladhs.org

NEW CHARTS ON THE HELL THAT IS LA COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES

Click on charts below to enlarge. The kill rate for cats is obscene.


 c


No Response From County

Someone from Infectious Diseases at the County will meet with Deborah Ackerman from UCLA about the cats sometime in the future. However, no one has responded to any of my phone calls or emails, not Fielding, Vangordon or Ramirez. Nada. No one else appears to have received a response from them either.

If it is not true they do not have a plan to go after feral cats as they have at Rancho Amigas, why do they not state they have no interest in pursuing feral cats throughout the county as alleged? If it is true, I'll bet they are backpeddling like crazy now. In any event, they did go after the cats at Rancho with almost no justification and junk codes that referred to bugs and rodents, not cats.

Where VanGordon and Fielding Live

Several people have expressed an interest in talking to Ramirez, Vangordon and Fielding, especially since they refuse to return phone calls and emails.



Zabasearch lists Gail A. Vangordon, age 62, as living at 9717 Cottonwood Way, Alta Loma, CA, 91737. She lives there with her husband, James V. Vangordon, age 57. It is a 4 bedroom home on a half acre of land. Her office phone is (626) 430-5450. Google maps shows a photo:


Jonathan E. Fielding, age 66, lives at 12735 Hanover St, Los Angeles, 90049 with Karin and Andrew Fielding. This is in the Brentwood area.


His home phone is (310) 394-6040, and another number listed is (310) 451-1785.


Since Dr. Fielding refuses to discuss the County's new feral cat policy with me or anyone else I know, maybe you should call him and talk to him directly. By the way, he does not like people using his private email address: jonathan@drjonathanfielding.com

County's Health Head Fielding flatly refuses meeting with feral cat scientists




Vector Control is headed by Gail Vangordon, and her boss is Jonathan Fielding, the bureaucrat in charge of County Public Health. Several scientists, Cristi Metropole and Bill Dyer have been trying to get a meeting with Fielding over the County’s policy to catch and kill feral cats. In the letter below, he flatly refuses the scientists’ request for a meeting. He states he is forwarding our concerns to those in charge of investigating such things and does not reveal who is reviewing County feral policy with Fielding. I suspect it is only Vangordon and Ramirez who originated the catch and kill policy. 

Fielding has strongly defended Vangordon's kill policies in the past despite enormous public opposition and input from scientists, such as from the Urban Wildlands Group.

The below an official email from Dr. Deborah Ackerman, a UCLA epidemiologist, requesting Fielding meet with other scientists concerning the County policy. Following that is Fielding's go to hell email.

Hello Dr. Fielding-
 
 Last week I wrote to you requesting a meeting to to discuss the County's current murine typhus control program.  I'm an epidemiologist on the faculty at UCLA.  It has just come to my attention that the LA County Department of Public Health has begun rounding up stray and feral cats.  The attached flyer posted at the Imperial Avenue School in Hawthorne indicates that the contact person is Joe Ramirez, an environmental health specialist.  Upon further inquiry, I have learned that similar measures are being taken at the Del Aire Park in Hawthorne.  
 
Mr. Ramirez has stated that these measures are being taken because there has been an outbreak of murine typhus and this will prevent its spread.  However, feral cats found free of the disease are not put up for adoption, as the flyer misleadingly states.  They are killed.
 
As an epidemiologist I question the public health necessity for rounding up feral cats to prevent murine typhus.  As a taxpayer I question the expense of this program and wonder if a cost-benefit analysis has been performed. And as a citizen who assists organizations that manage numerous feral colonies, I question the methods of such a program.
 
I am working with a group that includes veterinarians, wildlife experts, doctors, and animal welfare advocates. We would like to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss the County's program.   
 
In the meantime, I ask that you suspend this program until such a meeting can be held to discuss the scientific evidence and appropriate preventive measures.
 
Please let me know your availability for this meeting.
 
Sincerely,
Deborah Ackerman
 
Deborah L. Ackerman, M.S., Ph.D.
UCLA School of Public Health
Director, Health Outcomes Core
 
Jonathan Fielding's official reply:
 
 
Thank you for your email
 
I will be forwarding your note to those who are working on this issue and ask that they get back to you.  You may also want to address your concerns to the animal care and control dept of the county and of relevant cities who determine the disposition of the feral cats.
 
Since this is an official matter please in the future use my county email jfielding@ph.lacounty.gov
 
 
This shows the utter contempt County bureaucrats have any scientific input or public input as I can document in emails from Vangordon I acquired through a request for public records on an earlier case involving County Vector Control, Ramirez, Vangordon and Fielding.  Fielding does not reveal to whom he is forwarding Ackerman's request for a meeting regarding County policy on feral cats. They are utterly resistant to do anything but implement their will of killing.

Dr. Fielding has written several journal articles stating his opinion that Public Health interventions must be evidence based, and consistent with community acceptance of County’s interventions. In this case, no one is offering any evidence that feral cat colonies and stray cats are a reasonable threat to human health, or that catch and kill is the best program to control feral/stray cat populations.


Call Mark Ridley-Thomas about County Vector Control and Jow Ramirez

The Supervisor assigned to deal with the feral cat roundup in Hawthorne is Mark Ridley-Thomas. His assistant, Randy, is dealing with the issue. Flood her with phone calls.

Mark Ridley-Thomas: Phone (213) 974-2222

Search Opens for new Animal Services General Manager




Los Angeles Animal Services is looking for a new Director to replace Ed Boks who was recently fired by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The exact requirements for the position have not been finalized.
newgeneralmanager.jpg
newgeneralmanager.jpg

Being the Director of Animal Services is not a job for the faint of heart. It is a demanding job dealing with Union employees, City Hall red tape, a few militant animal activists, rescuers, volunteers and the public. If you think you can effectively and positively lead everyone to work together to save more animals' lives in a humane manner, then send in your resume.

You do not need a college education or degree. The last Manager Ed Boks had no college education or degree at all. You do need to be able to get along with people from all walks of life as LA is a diverse town of animal lovers. If you are a drunk, skirt-chaser, who generates lawsuits and causes controversy, do not apply. LA is not interested in liars who fudge the numbers and books.

We are sending out this notice because the City merely places a tiny ad in some obscure private civil servant website. We want all potential candidates to have a chance to apply for this position in hopes of finding the best candidate. As soon as they post the exact requirements, we will resend this notice with that information.

Please, send resumes to Steve Rivera in the Personnel Department at 
Steve.Rivera [at] lacity.org, cc'd to Jim Bickhart from the Mayor's office Jim.Bickhart [at] lacity.org May the best candidate become the new Director.

LA's Animal Lovers

The Horror That Is Los Angeles County Animal Control-AMMENDED

The following pie chart speaks for itself. Both the raw number of animals and percentages of animals being euthanized in Mayeda's shelters has increased substantially since 2006. The pie chart was constructed by Brad Jensen of http://sheltertrak.com. Numbers are going up even as this is written: http://www.sheltertrak.com/stat_lacacc001.php


The pie chart shows a 79% euthanasia rate, and 8.1% "Other." "Other" refers to animals that died in the shelter while under County care from disease or poor care, or that were somehow lost. In effect, we have an 87% kill rate!


There is no other large shelter system in the United States nearly as bad. Los Angeles City now has a kill rate (Euthanized and D.I.S) of 57% http://laanimalservices.org/PDF/reports/CatIntakeNOutcomes.pdf while N.Y.C. has cat kill rate of only 37.75%, almost 230% better than County. http://www.nycacc.org/pdfs/DOH_Reports/2009/July2009/intake-outcome-2009-cats.pdf.


The 86% kill applies to all cats impounded, lost strays, owner turn-ins, kittens and ferals. A feral cat is almost impossible to adopt out. The kill rate for ferals is near 100%.

mail (647×364)







Ed Boks Refuses to Help Stop County From Killing Ferals

Several people including myself, have asked Ed Boks help us stop County from rounding up and killing feral cats. Instead of helping, we have all gotten the silent treatment, and even a Facebook entry asking for help on his Facebook page was deleted by him.

One would think the former champion of TNR in Los Angeles would take a stand here, but it appears his hurt and desire for revenge against the LA animal community trumps his apparently phony desire to help feral cats everywhere.

I guess Boks' true colors are showing.




Vector Control Implementing Final Solution For Feral Cats


This is a notice to suppress feral cats signed by Joe Ramirez's boss, Gail Vangordon. It is 11 months old. I hear it resulted in 150 cats being impounded and 120 killed.

Here, Van Gordon does not even bother to supply any evidence of a disease risk other than it could happen, just as she did with ground squirrels in Santa Monica. Joe and Vector Control may have already been suppressing ferals all over the County and we have not known about it.


Click the image to enlarge.


When Talking to Dr. Fielding and the Supervisors...

When anyone talks to Dr. Fielding, they should remember this is not about the suspected and alleged outbreak of Typhus in Hawthorne, but about Joe Ramirez and his boss, Gail Vangordon's alleged plan to begin county wide roundups of feral cats as a planned extermination throughout the County.

If this is just about Typhus, why are they planning to round up cats at Harbor and Peck Park in the future? If there is suspected Typhus, why are they not there now? What evidence is there that there is Typhus in Hawthorne wildlife and ferals?

Joe has expressed in public meeting after public meeting dozens of different reasons for rounding up and killing feral cats from the very remote possibility of being a vector for pneumonic vs. Bubonic Plague (1998), or as the potential to being used by terrorists for biological attack. The latest reason is suspected Typhus. Two weeks ago or less he told someone they (Ramirez and Vector Control) are going to go from park to park to round ferals up because they are a national security risk.

In this instance, an allegation of Typhus is the excuse. But, is there a plan they are not enunciating? Is it that Joe in his increasing insanity, has gone off the deep end and just wants to kill ferals without evidence of anything but the most remote of threats?

I know there has been six cases of human Typhus, and one of a cat having Typhus carrying fleas Typhus in Orange County in 2006 and 2007, hardly an outbreak. Even then, Orange County Vector Control there did not suggest trapping and killing cats, only that owners of outdoor cats give their cats flea treatments, because fles are the disease vectors, not the cats.

Fielding has written many articles on Health Dept. policy where he repeats over and over the need for evidence-based interventions that take into consideration the community's involvement and acceptance. Everything appears to have been done in secret here, and the trapping signs put up by Ramirez only say cats will be trapped and adopted out at the Carson shelter. This is pure deception contrary to Fielding's espoused principals.

I think this whole thing is Joe Ramirez and Gail Vangordon's busywork to give their office more to do and fulfill Ramirez's mission of ridding the County of feral cats. Fielding has gone along with him in the past and provided cover. I think Joe and his boss Vangordon are loose cannons who Fielding has supported post facto in the past. Vangordon thinks of scientists as pompous blow hards that can be swept away because she has the power. I have emails from her to that effect.

Latest Info on Vector Control

I have gotten no official feedback from anyone. I know people are calling Fielding and the Supervisors.

4 cats have been caught and are at Carson. Arrangements are being made to bail them out after blood test results are returned. Apparently Ramirez is now saying the reason for impounding is suspected Typhus. Of course that is why he plans next to go to Harbor Hospital, then two weeks later, Peck Park, and then... If you have suspected Typhus you go immediately, not plan to go sometime in the future.

He needed a cover after being caught on this.

No newspapers called me. No TV or radio.

There is a private company doing the trapping, Stanley Pest Control and we are contacting them about stopping as well as the principal of the school where they are being trapped, to do TNR instead.

That infor is 20 hours or more old. Nothing new since then.

COUNTY SHELTER KILL STATS RISING DRAMATICALLY

A few days ago I posted the 2006 County kill rates for cats: 78% and another 3-4% died in shelter.

Two years later the numbers are much worse. The following 2008 numbers are from Brad Jensen of sheltertrak.com. LA County has slipped into hell.

In 2008, 80% were killed at County and another 6-7% died in the shelter or were "lost" (other). Of the 40,975 cats impounded (alive), only 4,603 were adopted, or 11%.

These statistics are from animal records provide by
LACDACC.

Brad Jensen

Cypress,CA

NOW JOE RAMIREZ AND VECTOR CONTROL WANTS TO ADD TO THAT EXTREME DEATH TOLL. I AM CERTAIN MAYEDA'S SHELTERS ARE BY FAR THE WORST LARGE SHELTER SYSTEM IN THE COUNTY.

One wonders how things can possibly be getting worse at County, but they are.

Is L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich Screwing Over a Little Guy?


By Patrick Range McDonald in City News,crime, politics


Ever since his arrival as the new Los Angeles City Attorney this summer, Carmen Trutanich has loved to come across as a man of the people.
Carmen_Trutanich_Los_Angeles_City_Attorney.jpg
L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich

Trutanich has sparred with the L.A. City Council to the delight of many community activists; he has also personally held a town hall-type forum inside City Council chambers in August that was jammed with ordinary citizens who talked directly to Trutanich, and he applied pressure on a wealthy real estate developer to
demolish slum properties in Hollywood after community activist Ziggy Kruse asked for his help.

But now that reputation may be in danger, especially since the City Attorney's Office is going after a homeless man -- the littlest of little guys -- in a way that looks shadier and shadier by the minute.

The homeless man is Naser "Jimmy" Nasralla, whose story was featured in L.A. Weekly in late July. Titled "Jimmy on the Edge of Town," the article examines Jimmy's battle with the Union Pacific Railroad Company and the L.A. City Attorney's Office, who want him to vacate his makeshift home near a stretch of railroad tracks in Northridge.

From all accounts -- from the LAPD to local citizens and businesses -- Jimmy hasn't bothered anyone. But Union Pacific gave him a ticket for trespassing on its private property. The case went to court, with Apraham Atteukenian as the prosecutor from the L.A. City Attorney's Office.

As events unfolded, though, it became questionable if Jimmy was actually living on Union Pacific property. The LAPD, for example, was unsure if the homeless man lives on railroad land, and L.A. City Councilman Greig Smith's office, which represents Northridge, told the
Weekly that Jimmy lives on "county property." Longtime real estate expert Mary Cummins, in fact, said that she had no doubt Jimmy resides on county land.

Since two of the three charges against Jimmy involve trespassing on Union Pacific land, the findings were a major blow to the city attorney's case. Incredibly, the private/county property question came as a surprise to Atteukenian, whose boss is Carmen Trutanich.

When Atteukenian was confronted with Cummins' findings during one of Jimmy's court hearings this summer, the prosecutor was caught off guard, said he would make some calls, and asked for a continuance. Atteukenian obviously hadn't done the basic homework of finding out if Jimmy lived on private or county property -- if justice, in fact, was being properly applied to the homeless man's case.

Atteukenian's less than exemplary work as a prosecutor only got worse from there.

At another
court hearing on August 3, Atteukenian started to realize the impact of Cummins' and City Councilman Smith's findings. Before the hearing started, the prosecutor approached Jimmy and his friend, Edward Muzika, holding out a business card. With his fingers purposefully obscuring most of the card, Atteukenian used it as proof that he had a contact with the county's Department of Public Works, and said that the unnamed official wanted Jimmy off county land.

Muzika asked for a better look of the card, but Atteukenian refused. The prosecutor pulled a similar stunt at another court hearing this past Friday on September 11. This time, Jimmy, who had been representing himself, went to court with a public defender, Joseph McInnis.

At the hearing, Atteukenian forgot all about Union Pacific railroad and claimed Jimmy lives on the private property of someone else. Atteukenian told Judge David W. Stuart that he "wasn't comfortable" with providing the exact name of the property owner, but assured the judge that the person owned Nordhoff Plaza, a shopping center that Jimmy lives directly behind and home to such corporate chain stores as Best Buy and Bed, Bath and Beyond, and wanted the homeless man to leave the site.

The claim was not only astounding because Atteukenian refused to say who approached him -- the prosecutor must turn over such information to the defense -- but the man who operates Nordhoff Plaza, Pat Murphy, told the
Weekly that Jimmy doesn't live on his property.

During the reporting for the "Jimmy on the Edge of Town" feature story, Murphy told the
Weekly he looked into whether or not Jimmy lived on his land, with the idea of getting the homeless man away from his shopping center. But Murphy said he found that Jimmy was not living on Nordhoff Plaza property, and couldn't take legal action against the homeless man.

Atteukenian's newest claim, therefore, doesn't seem to add up, and it's just one more example of a prosecutor who appears more interested in putting the screws to a homeless man than getting his facts straight and making sure justice is being properly carried out.

Jimmy's next hearing is September 29. L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich still has time to clean up a mess that's going down on his watch.

Contact Patrick Range McDonald at pmcdonald@laweekly.com.