Boks says there is nothing in writing about County numbers; everything was by phone

.
Previously I said Ed would not be able to produce the four sets of numbers supposedly supplied from County, the first three of which showed LAAS ahead of County, until a fourth set was received with an extra 6,000 animals placed. Boks supposedly "quickly dismissed" these numbers as having no basis in fact.

Marcia Mayeda says there was no correspondence. Boks now says there was no correspondence, just County numbers from an unidentified County employee over the phone.

How convenient. Four sets of numbers over three years? Mayeda gave three years of numbers and County came out ahead in each.

Thiis LAAS's reply to Brad Jensen's request for records:

--------------------------

A response was received by LA City on Friday, September 21, 2007. Whether your announcement that LA County had responded to your request the day before had anything to do with it is up for interpretation.

The City responds by saying there is no written correspondence between City and County Animal Services regarding this issue; however the City had several phone conversations with the custodian of records on staff at County.

So apparently, neither agency is going to give up any documented proof that four sets of adoption numbers were ever provided to the City without someone specifically asking for what may or may not exist. Could be just some numbers scribbled on a sticky note for all anyone knows.

So... Lacking any credible documentation to substantiate the City's claim that four sets of increasing adoption numbers were provided by County I feel the City's claims should be dismissed as quickly as Boks has dismissed County claims they place more animals than City.

-Brad Jensen

The next step is to identify the County's Custodian of Records for Animal Services to hear his denial of any such conversations. As you will note, Boks did not identify the mysterious employee who is the Custodian since Bollinger left.
.

Who is the Biggest of them all?

.
Today is the tenth day since Brad Jensen submitted a request for public records regarding the alleged four sets of numbers County gave Boks regarding the “adoption” of animals, and WHEN County gave these numbers to him.

Marcia Mayeda said no one in LAAS ever contacted County about animal disposition numbers. That is, Ed is a liar—unless he has those emails between LAAS and the County, dated, as well as the four sets of numbers. So, which do you think he fears most, being found that he was wrong, or publicly outed as a liar?

I think we all know there never was any contact or communication. Ed said there was, Mayeda said not.

History:

In his September 17 blog post he said:

Ed Boks has never claimed to be the biggest or the best, but he does like to boast about the employees, volunteers and rescue partners of LA Animal Services.

However, in his bio on the main LAAS website he says:

"Maricopa County Animal Care & Control in Phoenix, Arizona became the largest pet adoption agency in the United States, under Ed’s leadership, adopting 22,000 pets into loving homes every year, and Ed established the first municipal no-kill shelter in the United States." Hmm, no mention of volunteers or employees here.

In his “About me” section on his blog, after Mayeda said the mayor was wrong, Ed edited it slightly saying:

"Maricopa County became one of the largest pet adoption agencies in the United States adopting nearly 22,000 pets into loving homes every year. Ed also established the first municipal no-kill shelter in the United States while in AZ."

So, Maricopa went from being the largest, to one of the largest.

Also from his blog, in “about me” he says:

"Ed Boks was executive director of both Maricopa County and New York City Animal Care & Control, the two largest animal care and control programs in the United States each rescuing over 50,000 lost pets, exotic, and wild animals annually."

Here we go again about him being head of the two "largest," yet he knows County is at 80,000 animals and counting.

Despite this, he now says LAAS is the largest adoption agency in the country because he says County is lying about its numbers. So which is the largest: Ed Boks’ New York shelter system? Maricopa shelter system? Los Angeles Animal Services, or LA County Animal services?

Wouldn't it be a shocker if Ed actually did have emails from the County and could provide those fours sets of numbers? Well, if he doesn't come through, soon all of Council, the City Attorney, Dov Lessel and maybe a few attorneys will know there were no emails and no mysterious numbers from County.

Who says Ed doesn’t like bragging about being number 1?

By the way, did you notice, NYC and Maricopa "rescued" over 50,000 animals, but only 22,000 were adopted. Well, doesn't that mean 28,000 "rescued" animals died? That is some pretty crappy rescuing..

Mayeda Says County Never Sent Boks any County Shelter Statistics Contrary to What He Claimed

.
Boks claimed LAAS was the number one pet adoption agency in the country, and Villaraigosa repeated and affirmed his claim at a press conference.

A couple of days later, Marcia Mayeda put out a press release that said the Mayor was wrong and that LA County was the number one adoption agency.

Ed shot back in his blog that LAAS had done their homework and that County gave him four different sets of adoption numbers, and in each, the adoption numbers increased. Then, he said, they received a fourth set from the County after Villaraigosa announced the City was number one. He said in that last set, 6,000 additional animals "mysteriously" appeared, which he dismissed as a lie. Actually, he "quickly dismissed them."

Brad Jensen and I were both interested in those emails and numbers and made identical requests for public records to Boks and Mayeda:

Information Requested:

Copies of any and all correspondence between LA City and LA County regarding this issue, including the four sets of increasing adoption numbers provided by County. Date and time should be provided for each correspondence item provided.

MAYEDA’s RESPONSE:

Dear Mr. Muzika:

This email is in response to your public records request of 9/13/07. You requested “Copies of any and all correspondence between LA City and LA County regarding this issue, including the four sets of increasing adoption numbers provided by County.”

There was no correspondence between LA City and LA County regarding this issue. Therefore, we have no records responsive to this request.

Sincerely,

Marcia Mayeda, CAWA

Director Animal Services, County of Los Angeles

A So True Comment on Boks Incredible Lies

.
Boks has a new post on his blog, claiming fewer animals are dying in his shelters than last year. He says animals but he only mentions the numbers for cats and dogs. He does not mention the 600 other animals that died in August, who are not dogs and cats. They are sentient beings just as deserving of life.

Then he said a whopper:

"Ed Boks has never claimed to be the biggest or the best, but he does like to boast about the employees, volunteers and rescue partners of LA Animal Services."

It was really difficult to pick my jaw off the ground after I read that he never claimed to be the biggest or best. He was caught last month saying LAAS was the biggest pet adoption agency in the country, and even got a big smile and pat on the butt from Villaraigosa until the demented Mayeda claimed she was the biggest.

So, a conversation I had:

How can anyone rebut a liar if no one cares? We have torn apart every assertion he has made during the last 6 months, and his whoppers just get bigger and bigger and more complex every month. No one believes anything Boks says, including Blackman and Bickhart; but for now are doing nothing. Unless Council hears it often enough, nothing will happen.

Reply: Boks could say he turned dog shit into gold and the Mayor would go "bravo!" and have a press conference. This is frustrating. I understand where the ALF get their motivation for direct action. You do your research to show that he's not doing a good job, send it to the right people and nothing happens. In fact, the worse Boks does, the more praise he gets.

By the way, I keep getting comments from Naysayer on almost a daily basis claiming she is not Irene Ponce. But hon, if you are not she, why are you protesting so much? I had let the whole subject drop. You haven't.

.

LAAS is Like a Private Shelter, Picking and Choosing Intakes

.
Boks likes to say that LA Animal Services is an open admittance shelter that takes in all animals.It's not. They are now like private shelters. They only take in what they want to take in. They don't take in animals that would be euthanized. Boks is doing this to manipulate the numbers so it looks like he's improving when he's not. Refusing animals is not progress. Any of his predecessors could have done that.
.

Drop in Killing Almost Totally Due to Refusing Kittens

.
LAAS began refusing neonates during late April. When the May numbers came out, we were all in shock; euth had fallen by almost 500. This is when Boks surprised me at the Town Hall meeting when I was standing next to him on camera and he pointed to the 12 month kill numbers for June-May: 18,100.

I just about peed my pants because the kill number for calendar 2006 was well over 19,000 and we knew there was no real improvement in performance at LAAS, except for Ed's ever increasing ability to hide the truth.

We struggled for a while to find how this radical change was taking place. Ed wasn't publishing neonate kitten numbers after May, but he did publish the neonate puppies. Guess he figured no one important looking at the numbers, for example, Blackman, would be able to subtract.

To get kittens, you just had to subtract puppies from the total. I could do that.

Finally, Ed has published the neonate kitten numbers. The numbers prove that almost all the drop in killing was from failure to do his job: Finding homes for animals. He just refused their intake.

Here are the numbers:

May -473 euth May -231 intake

June -470 euth June -429 intake

July -565 euth July -519 intake

Aug -606 euth Aug -576 intake

The decreased kitten impounds explain 90% of the drop in euthanasia.

On top of that, the number of kittens dying in the shelter doubled. Instead of being officially killed, they unofficially died.

On top of that, LAAS stopped taking in ferals, but since he does not keep feral numbers, we don't know how many cats that means.

Brad Jensen analyzed LA County stats and they did have figures for ferals. They were 23% of total cat intake.

With 20,000 cat being impounded, that means over 4,000 would be feral. Since he was refusing both kittens and ferals, it is a wonder any cat was killed. That there were still so many killed means that this was an extraordinarily large increase in kitten births, and by kitten, I mean those over 2 months old who statistically become cats.

There was no real improvement.
.

Boks vs. Mayeda; who is the bigger liar?

.
Two identical requests for public records have been sent to Ed Boks and Marcia Mayeda. Brad Jensen made the request to the City and I to County. The request is posted below.

Ed claimed LAAS was the number one pet adoption agency in the country, and Villaraigosa repeated and affirmed his claim at a press conference.

A couple of days later, Marcia Mayeda put out a press release that said Villaraigosa was wrong and that LA County was the number one adoption agency. Naturally, she could not let the supervisors find out she was not doing a better job than Boks, who, of course, is always 100% accurate with all of his claims of being number one in everything.

Ed shot back in his blog that Mayeda kept giving him different sets of adoption numbers, and then sent him a fourth set of numbers after Villaraigosa announced the City was number one.

Boks said that in Mayeda's last set of numbers included 6,000 additional animals "mysteriously" appearing, which he dismissed as lies.Of course he didn't use the work "lie," and instead that the numbers were dismissed because they were not transparent, as were his.

Brad Jensen and I are both interested in those emails and numbers and made the identical requests. Since neither side will know what the other will give us, there is a good chance we will get all the emails and can give you the results.

So, with the same request sent to both parties, we'll see who lied better or best. I want Villararigosa to know that Mayeda is not an acceptable replacement for Boks when he leaves.






By the way, you just have to visit Jensen's http://www.sheltertrak.com/ website. It is filled with numbers presenting the atrocities of the various shelters. It is Brad's numbers that let me in on Boks Hayden violations, which he denied, as he put it, because more detailed investigation of individual cases and how they were classified, turned them into immediatly killable animals, such as neonates, or killer cats who maim and kill any and all handlers.

Winograd says there is no reason to kill any feral cat; it is not as if the cat were going to stalk childred and postal workers on the steets. Ed, at least wants a City-wide policy of TNR. Not getting that, he is just turning them away creating another generation of ferals.

----------------------

This request is being made subject to the California Public Records Act: Government Code د6250-6268. Under this statute you have 10 calendar days from the date of receipt of this request to respond as to whether you will release the records requested as detailed below. It is preferred your response be made electronically to the email address provided below.

Background:

On August 27, 2007 Rick Orlov of the LA Daily News reported a disagreement between LA City and LA County resulting from a recent announcement that LA Animal Services is the number one public adoption agency in the nation. Supposedly, the City was provided four sets of increasing adoption numbers by County with the latest number claiming an increase of over 6,000 adoptions.

Information Requested:

Copies of any and all correspondence between LA City and LA County regarding this issue, including the four sets of increasing adoption numbers provided by County. Date and time should be provided for each correspondence item provided.

Fees:I am willing to pay reasonable copying fees, as defined under law, not to exceed $25.00. Should fees run higher, please contact me.
.

Died in Shelter Rate up 600% for August!

.
Sent to me. An affirmation of my previous analysis.

Ed Boks loves to say he's the "biggest" or the "best" even though it's never true. Finally, Boks has indeed set a record. In August 2007 more animals died in the shelter from illness and injury than during any other month in the history of Animal Services. The previous August, 130 animals died in their cages, but this year a whopping 812 died in their cage. Six times as many died from illness and injury under the "care" of Ed Boks.

In the category of other animals, 670 died in August of this year compared to 65 last year, also under Boks. The year before Boks, in August, 36 died.

In 2005 before Boks arrived the total dying in the shelter was only 1,150. During Boks' first year 2006 the number dying doubled to 2,075. In the last 12 months 3,059 animals died in their cages. The number of animals dying in their cage has now tripled under his mismanagement. The number dying had been going down for years as intake was going down.

Intake is down this year, yet total animals dying has increased three fold! This is animal cruelty and neglect.

Why are more animals dying? One reason is overcrowding. Boks is putting more animals in each cage so he doesn't have to euthanize them. He puts three pit bulls in one kennel and only has to euthanize one because the one pitbull killed the other two. The Animal Cruelty Task Force busts people for dog fighting. Maybe they just take a look in the shelters. There are more dog fights in the shelter than in the rest of the City.

Euthanasia in the shelter in 2006 did not go down. Very recently it has gone down a little. Some of this is attributed to the increase in animals dying, but most is due to Boks refusing to take in the animals most likely to be euthanized.

Let's take a look at the live release numbers. In the past 12 months there was no decrease in the number of animals leaving the shelter dead. Fewer leaving alive, just about the same number leaving dead. This is the first time ever there has been no improvement, yet Boks is telling the world he's the "biggest" and the "best" shelter in the Nation.

Boks keeps claiming that Animal People ranked LA City number five in the nation in euthanasia per 1,000 citizens. He keeps saying "The City of LA is among the top five communities in the United States with the lowest, and fastest declining, euthanasia rate."

He repeated this false claim at the press conference with the Mayor. This is completely untrue. LA City was not even included in the list! Only LA County was included in the list. Note, there is no ranking in the list and there is no mention of any shelter being the "fastest declining euthanasia rate." The list does not even include all shelters in the nation. Boks completely fabricated his own version of the report here.

Here is the actual list and article. It's a large pdf file, article is on page 18 and 19. http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/07/7/7.07.pdf

Only LA County was included in the list. Note, there is no ranking in the list and there is no mention of any shelter being the "fastest declining euthanasia rate." The list does not even include all shelters in the nation. Boks completely fabricated his own version of the report here.

Why is the City allowing Ed Boks to fabricate numbers, "rankings" and articles? Why is the City allowing Ed Boks to torture animals to death with illness and injury? Why is the Mayor backing this guy? He's going to look like a total fool when everyone realizes that he hasn't improved things at all.

Boks only claim to fame here in LA is being known as the "number one animal killer in Los Angeles." Single handedly with his overcrowding "program" he has killed an extra 2,000 animals in the past 12 months alone. In the almost two years that he's been here he's killed an extra 3,000 animals with illness and injury. What type of "NoKill" shelter manager manages to kill MORE animals? This killing has got to stop!

Preliminary August Statistics

.
As per usual, Boks spinned the August stats in a way that made him and the department look like they were the greatest thing since St. Francis.

Below is my unspin of his numbers.

The trend down in killing cats and dogs continues. However, almost all can be explained by refusing to impound neonates and feral cats.

Ed still does not publish neonatal cat stats and has not since May. Therefore, the casual reader would only see the drop in stats of 2,050 of unweaned kittens and puppies during August, which would fool simpletons like Blackman and the mayor who does not give a shit, into believing real progress has been made, although, by this time they must realize Boks’ number have as little credibility as a non-aggression pact with Hitler.

Though neonatal killing is down by 2,050, impounds are down by 1,800, explaining almost all.

However, more are dying in the shelter than last year. New Hope is down 70% by about 100, while foster are up by about 100. They roughly cancel each other out.

So, like usual, the numbers in and out for neonatals is off by 200. Since they don’t survive long in the shelter, why there is the discrepancy is never explained. They are just unaccounted for.

Unbelievably, for Other Animals, during August, the number that died in the shelter shot up from 65 to 670, or a 1,000% increase! Of course, the fewer that die in the shelter subtracts from the 650 that would have been euthed anyway over the next few months. But why did ten times as many die in August?

In fact, the combined DIS and Euth numbers are larger than the impounds, and so instead of a live release of 44% or so, the live release for August for Other Animals actually went negative. The live release for them was -14%!! That is, of every 100 live that came in, 114 did not leave live again.

Tell our jerky mayor that euth is way down because impounds are way down. LAAS is just not doing its job. As I said before, I approve of not impounding because they will not be killed. A good percentage will be killed by the person who would have surrendered them or would be abandoned by some roadside. Not a good way to go. Many of the others will become feral cats causing more problems next year. But in the meantime, Ed's numbers are down and the press and the mayor love it.
.

MY Allegations Against Mayeda

.

Dear Supervisors Antonovich and Yaroslavski, and Mr. Fujioka,

I wish to clarify what appears to be a misinterpretation of my allegations of fraud on the part of Marcia Mayeda.

I do not claim she is falsifying shelter kill/adoption statistics. It is Ed Boks, General Manager of Los Angeles Animal Services that says she does.

He claims Marcia found a mysterious new 6,000 adoptions only after Mayor Villaraigosa announced that LAAS was the #1 adoption agency in the country. From the LAAS (http://www.laanimalservices.blogspot.com/) website, Ed Boks says regarding Marcia Mayeda’s shelter statistics as referred to in Rick Orlov’s article about the disagreement between Mayeda and Villaraigosa:


"The "snit" was the result of LA County animal control providing the City four sets of ever increasing adoption numbers while we conducted our due diligence.



"Their latest number mysteriously claimed an increase in their adoption numbers by over 6,000. This number was not released until the day after the City’s announcement that LA Animal Services is the number one pet adoption agency in the nation.



"Lacking any credible documentation to substantiate the County's claim, it was quickly dismissed.

Therefore, it was the LAAS General Manager who claimed Mayeda’s number changed four times in a few days, and each time claimed ever higher adoption rates, and which he dismissed as untruthful.

My claim of Mayeda’s fraud is different. I stated:

“According to page 47 of the County’s 2004-2005 annual report, Marcia Mayeda claims for Animal Control:

Major Accomplishments 2003-2004

• Placed 91% of adoptable dogs and 89.6% of adoptable cats into new homes.

“As you can see from the pie charts immediately below, this is fraud. How can killing 28,100 cats and 18,500 dogs be considered as having adopted 90% of these animals? Who can believe that 80% of the cats are too injured, too young or too aggressive to live? This is nonsense and totally incompatible with the kill and save rate of other and better large municipal shelters.


For cats, the actual adoption rate is 15% Claimed adoption is 89.6%

For dogs, the actual adoption rate is 31% Claimed adoption is 91%

The fraud I am pointing to is her claim to success based on a fraudulent definition of “adoptable” and that she is forced legally to kill all non-adoptable animals, leading to a “justified” killing (or letting them die in the shelter) of 83% of all cats. Fraudulent in the sense that she has the highest kill rate if any large shelter system in the country, yet is claiming an adoption rate of almost 90%.


Then she said she legally can only adopt out "adoptable" animals. She said she must euthanize the rest legally. She said kittens/puppies under 8 weeks old are not adoptable, neither are ill or injured animals, neither are "dangerous" animals that don't pass their temperament test. That means she legally can kill 83% of cats and 46% of dogs. This makes her job easier. This is a blatant lie to deceive you from recognizing her incompetence after five years on the job.

In comparison, Los Angeles Animal Services, whose performance is a little better than average for large municipal shelters, has a euthanasia rate for cats of 57% and for dogs 27%, 20% lower in each category.

Adoptions include direct adoptions to the public and release to rescue groups called New Hope Partners.

For cats, the actual adoption rate is 50% Claimed adoption is 50%

For dogs, the actual adoption rate is 64% Claimed adoption is 64%

Are more than twice as many LA County cats too young, vicious or unadoptable compared to LA City cats? This appears to be what Mayeda is saying with her statistics and her claim that 90% of the adoptable animals are saved. This is a flat out lie.

This fraud is based solely on how the Mayeda determines an animal is not adoptable. The bases for determining whether an animal is unadoptable are: unweaned kittens and puppies, ill or injured, or behavioral problems. She provides no statistics for these categories. In other words, she is saying trust me.

The presence of behavioral problems is determined by “temperament testing.” If an animal is deemed unadoptable for any reason, including behavior, it can be killed and it would not be counted in when measuring the adoption rate. That is how she can say 90% of adoptable animals were adopted. One can make temperament testing to be extremely difficult to pass.

She quotes County Counsel regarding the use of temperament testing to euthanize cats and dogs according to how she framed the question to them:


“You are on solid ground in enforcing your policy of requiring a behavioral assessment of stray dogs and cats to determine the suitability of an animal for placement, and in not permitting the adoption of animals with aggressive behavior.”

Yet there is no temperament test for cats, not one. All of the temperament tests, including the most common, the Weiss Safer test, are strictly limited to dogs. The same with the other three standardized tests, they apply only to dogs.

Therefore, how can she find nearly 80% of all cats unadoptable? She is just incompetent but pleads she is forced to kill these animals because of public safety issues, which is a lie. No other major agency has such a high kill rate.

Indeed, a sizable segment of unweaned kittens and puppies, ill and injured animals are already cared for by LAAS, Philadelphia AC&C, San Francisco AC&C, and are adopted to the public or to rescue groups. Mayeda said she cannot even transfer most animals to rescuers, because they might pose a danger. How can a six week old kitten be a danger? She is using a dangerous dog argument to justify killing a kitten and she thinks no one can see through her argument.


I urge you not accept the fraud being perpetrated against you and the voters by Marcia Mayeda. The public thinks the County is doing well by the animals. What will happen when they find out this is not true?

Sincerely,


Edward Muzika, Ph.D.

The Selling of Animal Services II

.
A comment to my previous post deserves posting all by itself. Some of the items mentioned I already knew about. There are new allegations which would be easy enough to prove or disprove.

One thing though, how many ex-girlfriends does Ed have? 1,000, 2,000? Who dumps whom?

The comment:

Boks has a history of cronyism. He likes to have his friends in select job positions so they will support him. Here is a short list.

He fired an experienced shelter worker to hire his buddy Richard Gentles. Richard had a felony conviction and was fired from a NYC job. Gary Kaskel Boks best friend told Boks about the guy's history but he didn't care. Now there's a lawsuit.

Boks dated Sara Hobel who was on the Commission that oversaw him in New York. She's also a friend of Gentles. Boks lived at her house. It's in the deposition papers for the above lawsuit.

Boks dated then hired Pia Salk to do the Humane LA consulting program.

Boks suggested to the Mayor's office that Irene Ponce should be the commissioner. Irene is the new "Animal Lover." She attacks people online and calls them a "terrorist" if they disagree with Boks. Boks encourages her behavior.

In the Department website he advertises his friends' books for sale. In the Department website he advertised cartoonist Piraro and linked to his website until an employee said that his website was offensive. It was ultimately removed. In the Department website he advertised Irene Ponce's blood drive. Nothing wrong with a blood drive but he took away the spay and neuter button to put the blood drive button. This drive was not to raise money or anything for the shelters. It was only to help the blood bank which takes this free blood and sells it to people at exorbitant prices.

Years ago the shelter had this issue on the agenda. They have to let everyone advertise, not just select people. This had to do with flyers and papers like Pet Press in the shelters.
.

The Selling of Animal Services

.
Just in line with the obvious selling of Commission seats to friends and donors, there is more about Boks using his friends to get favorable press in the LA Times. Boks also uses the City LAAS website to promote and sell his friends’ books, one of whom is Matthew Scully, a Washington columnist, who wanted $5,000 to write a favorable article about him in the LA Times. Boks then solicited friends for the $5,000. At least this is what Boks wrote to me or told me and others.

It is one thing to get the media to write something good about you, it is another thing for the subject to pay a “journalist” to do it. Actually, Scully is a great friend to animals, but still a Republican at heart; he sells his services to his friends. http://www.matthewscully.com/

Scully was living in Phoenix at the same time Boks was there and highly supported Ed in stories/editorials. This is how Boks got his start. Now Scully lives in LA.

Ed has been paying him back by advertising Scully’s books on the LAAS website: http://www.laanimalservices.com/news_recreading.htm

Ed also told people that ALL of the authors listed in the above site link to recommended reading were his friends.

Ed was told “It might not look good for you putting your friends’ books online." His response was, “Let's see if anyone does anything about it." He promoted his friends’ events. He promoted a music event that had nothing to do with animals at all. He told his webmaster to put it on the LAAS start page.

I rediscovered all this when going through my emails written during June of last year:

In a message dated 6/3/2006 6:48:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time, edboks@hotmail.com writes:

The New Yorker is asking about doing a story on me but they said it could take weeks or even months. Matthew Scully said he'd do an article but that he needs to get his regular fee as a Washington columnist. $5K. Bit out of the question I think. Maybe I'll approach him again.

A volunteer offered to write an oped piece about him, to which he replied:

In a message dated 6/4/2006 9:25:14 AM Pacific Daylight Time, edboks@hotmail.com writes:

My concern is "who" the article comes from. Someone like a Matthew Scully can easily get 1500 words in the LA Times. I'm scheduled to talk to him on Monday. If he is willing to edit and submit it under his name.

Now, this announcement came out today. Ed is going to hire two people to:

Communication from the Mayor, dated September 4, 2007, relative to the approval for the designation of two (2) exempt Director of Field Operations positions for the Department of animal Services, pursuant to Charter 1001 (b), for the employment of persons "to provide management services or render professional, scientific or expert services of an exceptional character."

Now which of Ed's many friends will be hired to provide scientific or expert services of an exceptional character? Pia? Ed Muzika? Brad Jensen? Marcia Mayeda? Marie Atake? Mary Cummins? (A lot of you don't get my humor, but this is sarcasm.) No, the positions will go to, as usual, Ed Boks' friends.
.

ABC-TV Piece on Atake/Boks

ABC TV today Commissioner Quits, Highlighting Animal Services Conflict
Claims Mayor's Office Pressured Her to Keep Quiet

By John North

Los Angeles Animal Services has always been a magnet for criticism. One of the city's Animal Services commissioners has resigned in protest. A current commissioner agrees with her. And at least one city councilmember has problems with the agency.

On August 21, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Los Angeles as the number one public animal adoption agency in the United States. Animal rights groups in Los Angeles County came up with their own statistics and loudly disagreed, saying the mayor was wrong.

Ten days after the mayor's news conference, one of his five appointed Animal Services commissioners resigned with harsh criticism of the department.

I talked with Atake by phone. She told me, "They (the mayor's office) pressured me to be quiet. And Jimmy Blackmun (the mayor's deputy chief of staff) ordered me to be quiet."

"I don't believe that for a moment. ... We're doing a great job," said Mayor Villaraigosa. "She's resigned, and she's given reasons for it, but we're going in the right direction. I'm very proud of the efforts."

Current Commissioner Archie Quincey won't go on camera but he did talk to me on the telephone regarding Atake's resignation letter.

"It was the truth (in Atake's letter)," said Quincey. "I agree with everything." Another current commissioner who does not want to be named, agrees with both Quincey and Atake and says most of the blame is on current Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks.

L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine doesn't have a problem with being quoted regarding Animal Services. He told me, "I've had serious issues and concerns about Mr. Boks and his running of the department."
.

Villaraigosa Sells Commission Seat to Campaign Contributor

.
Villaraigosa wasted no time in replacing Marie Atake. He sold the seat to longtime LAAS Volunteer Irene Ponce who bought her seat in September of 2004 with a $500 contribution to Villaraigosa’s mayoral campaign.

Ponce is no friend of ADL, but she is a close friend of Ed Boks and Pia Salk—another close and alleged ex-girlfriend of Boks, who Ed gave a $20,000 contract for a trivial study. This $20,000 bought Ed access to Big Money and a shot at celebrity-hood in Southern California. Villaraigosa and Boks both belong to the Tammany Hall school of the spoils system.

Irene is Boks' lap dog although he describes her as his pitbull.

She says about ADL and an article written by Ann Angelino:

This article is totally misleading! If these ADLLA folks who wrote this article would help stage adoption events or help to pass legislation in the best interest of animals that would be great! But all they do is make inflammatory remarks! They are just home-land terrorists! ADLLA does not lift a finger to really help the animals in the shelters. It would help if they staged spay/neuter events, rather write these stories that are full of lies.

Well Irene, hope when you get to know Ed better you can see through his charm and that the ADL is doing exactly what has to be done to save animals—getting rid of Boks.

Irene Ponce Los Angeles, CA 90032
Antonio Villaraigosa 1267602 - Villaraigosa for Mayor 2005
A - Monetary Contribution Received (IND - Individual) [Period:
01/01/04-09/30/04] $500.00
.

I Am Changing Course

.
It has been called to my attention that concentration on the horrendous conditions at the County shelters detracts from critical efforts to reform LAAS and find a replacement for Boks that we can all accept and support.

After the Boks situation has been resolved, I will return to Mayeda and the County shelters.

In the meantime, I have taken several posts down regarding the County, which will go up again when County becomes the target.

Marcia, I will not forget you.
.

What Will We Do After Boks Goes?

.
It is obvious Boks will not be here for another year. I hope he has been looking for a new job and will leave on his own. Of course, he will be leaving with a lot more baggage than when he left Maricopa or New York, making getting a new shelter management job more difficult.

Maybe it is time for Ed to start a new career. He has such a great need to be a celebrity that maybe he should get into politics, such as running for mayor. Everyone in the animal community would support his campaign as a way to get rid of him. And, we know he will not interfere with any future GM running LAAS, and will spend all of his time as far from animals as possible.

Any suggestions concerning potential candidates for a new GM?

Three years ago I was part of a committee trying to find a replacement for Greenwalt. I called big deal animal honchos all over the country. One name kept coming up over and over: Nathan Winograd. Nobody else wanted the job. Even Nathan turned the job down when it was offered and even declined to consult with the City.

Recently Nathan told me he would not have much time even to consult with the City after January 1 of next year. Since, I predict, Ed will be leaving about March, we are apparently out of luck using the Nathan/protege model he has been using successfully for the past 2 years.

Laura Beth Heisen's name keeps coming up. People say she is extremely hard working, knows everything and everyone connected with the LA animal community and is liked/respected by all. Of course she has a history to overcome, and probably couldn't become GM without the entire LA animal community behind her.

Susan Cosby has left Philadelphia to go to another shelter system, so she is out of the picture, but Nathan's proteges at other shelter systems may be available.

Carl Friedman, director of SFAC&Csaid he wouldn't come here--ever. He has an 80% save rate and a fraction of LAAS's budget.

Perhaps Blackman can find another well-known failure to appoint head of LAAS, like Ed Sayers. He must not appoint Marcia Mayeda who I plan to put out of business at the County. Of course, since she is terrified of the ADL, she'd probably not come here anyway.

In any event, whoever steps in will inherit a department that is much better functioning than when Stuckey left. There have been a lot of positive changes that make staff more accountable, such as creating an employee manual, written Standard Operation Policies (SOP), much better finacial management by Linda Barth, and now we have four vets and more in the wings. Of course we also have Eric Jones, the grossly over-paid and grossly under-productive head of the spay/neuter clinic at SLA.

So what to do now???

Please send comments on search methods or specific recommendations for a new GM.
.

The Beginning of a Deluge of Resignations?

.
Honorable Mayor Villaraigosa

It was with great dismay that I read about the resignation of one of the best Commissioners we have had in recent memory in the City of Los Angeles. Marie Atake has dedicated the past two years of her life to enact policies that would improve the Department of Animal Services and help achieve better care for animals in this city.

Her appointment indicated your administration’s commitment to real positive change for a troubled Department. Her resignation comes on the heels of stymied attempts to wrench accountability from a General Manager who will not take direction and who has trouble working cooperatively with anyone whom he fears might take the spotlight off himself.

Having worked with a succession of General Managers beginning with Dan Knapp to improve LAAS policies, particularly for the rabbits, I too cannot begin to express my disappointment that this administration does not see and act on the obvious: The current General Manager is not competent to do the job. His disregard for the authority of the City Council, the Board of Animal Services Commissioners, and the Rule of Law has been demonstrated repeatedly with the implementation of policies that have not yet been approved or are plainly illegal.

The history of my attempts to work with Mr. Boks is as follows. In March of 2006, based on my prominent position in the rabbit welfare community and proven record of achieving a high adoption rate and dramatically improved shelter conditions for the rabbits in one City animal shelter over the course of more han six years as a LAAS Volunteer, Ed Boks sent a directive to senior staff, “Heidi Huebner and I are putting volunteer Michelle Kelly in charge of the LAAS Rabbit Rescue and Adoption Program effective as of now. Michelle will issue appropriate policies and procedures for our rabbits and all staff are expected to support Michelle fully. It is my expectation that we will make our rabbit rescue and adoption program second to none under Michelle's leadership and with your full support!”

When he did this, I expressed concern that without an official, paid position and consistent support from the administration such that the staff understood they were expected to follow my recommendations, I could not effectively fulfill his expectations. He insisted that I would have his full support, yet at the first indication of conflict he chose to side with the staff and to sacrifice the lives of untold numbers of rabbits.

The outpouring of support from members of the animal welfare community —including caring LAAS staff with whom I have worked closely over the years--notwithstanding, Mr. Boks allowed staff and a paid contractor to harass me and undermine my efforts to improve the rabbit adoption program.

The ways in which LAAS’s rabbit program has suffered because of Ed Boks’s refusal to work cooperatively with me include, but are not limited to: rabbits live outdoors in the new, multimillion-dollar facilities in dangerously high temperatures, rather than indoors in an air-conditioned environment as recommended; rabbit cages are not locked, resulting in theft of rabbits for unknown purposes; rabbits are adopted without proper advice on their care; rabbits have been adopted unsterilized and improperly sexed; rabbits are not consistently cleaned or cared for in the LAAS facilities.

I no longer wish to volunteer for an organization whose administration so consistently puts politics before the animals that the animals pay with their lives. Therefore, I am resigning my position as Volunteer for LAAS. Enclosed please find my volunteer identification card, cut in half.

Sincerely,
Michelle Kelly

Atake Resigns! Blames Boks and Blackman

.
Finally, maybe this action by Animal Commissioner Atake will force the Mayor to really take a close look at Boks and LAAS.

August 31, 2007
Honorable Antonio Villaraigosa
Mayor’s Office, City of Los Angeles

Dear Mayor Villaraigosa,

For two years, I have worked very hard to help improve the Department of Animal Services (LAAS) and protect the integrity of the Mayor’s office as your appointed Commissioner.

However, my seeking transparency, clarity and honesty is apparently what Mr. Blackman, your Deputy Chief of Staff, does not want me to do. His consistent refusal to hold Mr. Ed Boks, the General Manager, accountable — for his actions, including making false, misleading and inflammatory comments to your office, staff, City Council, the public, and the media
— has made my efforts ineffective at every level.

When I told Mr. Blackman that Mr. Boks would not shut down his city website blog, against the advice of the LAPD’s Threat Management unit, Mr. Blackman dismissed my concerns and called it merely “one of the many wrong things Boks has done” that he’s already aware of and would not take any action.

On the city website, Mr. Boks recently bashed the Director of LA County Animal Control and attacked one of the most reputable animal-welfare organizations which has provided invaluable assistance to the city’s department. Instead of allowing the Commission to keep Mr. Boks under control, it is my opinion that Mr. Blackman conceals critical facts and
protects Mr. Boks’ misbehavior from your view.

As a result, one such distortion made you appear uninformed at a recent press conference about the state of the city animal shelters. Consequently, several media outlets are presently investigating your claims of LAAS success.

Mr. Blackman looked the other way on another serious problem when Mr. Boks grossly misled City Council on August 3rd, during Item #41. As a result, City Council had to table an innovative program when it was discovered that Mr. Boks failed to consult with the Commission, Personnel and SEIU.

Recently, the Commission discovered its serious procedural problems with a past appeal. I was not involved with this particular appeal, however, I felt it was the Commission’s sworn duty to right its wrongs, and restore its integrity, when the process was violated, with unfairness and prejudice appearing high and harmful.

Unfortunately I have learned that certain members of your administration, this department and the Commission are incapable of acknowledging errors, therein misleading the public. Such actions (or inactions) are resulting in the needless suffering and death of many animals, mistreatment of the public, and wasting of financial and human capital.

You are welcome to contact me if you wish to be further informed about Mr. Boks’ crises, including, but not limited to, the veterinarian shortage; unopened spay/neuter clinics; zero foreign language outreach; shelter overcrowding; delayed shelter openings; end-runs on key stakeholders; and a tidal wave of public relations disasters.

As I recall, one of your campaign platforms was to uphold the ethical standards expected by the city residents. Most recently, you stressed the importance of accountability. While these values may not matter to some of your key staff, I hope they still matter to you.

In closing, I am resigning my position as a Commissioner because I can no longer, in good conscience, be a part of such demoralization. I wish that I were allowed to apply my business skills and expertise as a nonprofit organization leader, (the reason why you appointed me), to fully serve the people and animals of Los Angeles, which is supposed to be the City of
Angels.

Graciously,

Marie Atake

Apparently the Killing has begun big time

.
For the past few months there have been 1100 dogs, 1000+ cats and 1100 others in the shelters almost all the time. For the past few weeks, the number is down for cats and others. I think Boks is refusing a lot of cats and others. Officers never round those up. Dogs they do round up. I predict cat and other intake to be way down for August. Of course another reason the numbers may be down is that a lot of cats have been killed.

Dog (1082)
Cat (694)
Other (514)

Two weeks ago Boks said he would kill all bunnies that have been in the shelter longer than a month. Now about the annex cats. No one can see the annex cats. It's just a holding place before they die or are killed.

An email received this morning:

Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 9:12 PM Save the Annex Cats!! - All are RED LISTED!!

The Annex has some very sweet kitties! Unfortunately they are not seen by the general public! They have almost no chance of getting adopted! I can't take them to the Main SLA Shelter because there is no room for them! All these kitties are just wonderful, sweet, friendly, playful luv-dolls!Every single cat listed here is R E D L I S T E D ! ! !

A896046 "Sandy", mom w/ 5 kittens (about 2 weeks old) Sandy is all black and lotsa loooooooooooooooong! She takes good care of her babies and doesn'tmind if I need to handle or move them. She loves attention and scratches behind the ear.

A874080 Queenie" F 3 yrs. is a gorgeous blue tabby who wants to be a silver tabby. I think she *may* be pregnant.

Another sweet girl who craves attention! "Nisa" F 4 months brown tabby, I don't know what else to say that I haven't already said. ALL my kitties are just so darn cute and friendly!

A888178 "Jade" 3 yrs. black Poor jade had 3 kittens but they got sick and died. She is doing well and enjoys my company.

These two kittens are sick and under medication:

A887474 "Harry" M 5 months, black Harry has a mild URI and is on medications. An adorable little boy who sometimes goes for shoulder rides. A888599 "BooBoo" M 4 months brown tabby BooBoo has a problem with his ear, possible ear infection? He is on medication but he doesn't let that stop him from playing hard and just enjoying life.

These extraordinary felines can be euthanized at any time. Does anyone have room for any of them? I do not have photo capability.
SLA Annex Shelter. Phone: 213-485-1120. New email address: Cat.Howell@lacity.org)

County Kill Numbers, stonewalling and Possible fraud

.
I had stated that LA County was less transparent than most shelter systems, including LAAS. Brad Jensen opined that County’s figures were more accurate because he was given raw figures that he could crunch, while Boks has been stalling on providing info he requested in January of this year. This may be true, but there is still a lack of transparency in the sense he had to make a request, pay for the material and crunch the numbers. No one else but Brad is likely to do that; therefore I contend County is less transparent than LAAS.

Then again, there is transparent, and "apparently transparent." With Ed's rapidly changing statistics and his wild exagerations lately, we do not know how phony his transparency is.

There was also a comment to a previous post saying County was forthcoming about supplying stats by Bob Ballinger over the phone. I questioned the validity of numbers relayed over the phone. They probably had the same validity as any of Boks' unchecked claims.

I have now received an anonymous email stating Ballinger was no friend of rescue groups and himself would stall on Requests for Records. So we hear two sides of the same coin.

The point I was trying to make is not the ease with which Brad or others receive numbers, nor even the total accuracy of the numbers, but the performance of both agencies, as both are claiming to be the best. Since Mayeda has the data Ed questions, I think it is to her to give him the raw numbers to crunch for himself. Actually, she should also send them to Brad and me, and we'll also crunch her numbers.

County's numbers may be more accurate or not, but my point is that County has a vastly higher kill rate and raw numbers than LAAS. I think if half of LAAS' staff quit and there were no replacements, and Ed were fired with no successor, LAAS would kill fewer animals even given his questionable stats.

Then I received another anonymous email claiming County was bad news and that a former employee was running a shelter that pretended to be a rescue group, which in fact was killing pets with a Schedule II controlled substance—Fatal Plus—without a vet being present.

Rumors such as these are usually inaccurate, and I acknowledge that. However, since I have contacted County supervisors alleging that Mayeda has perpetrated a fraud on the public and supervisors by falsely claiming that 90% of adoptable pets were indeed adopted from their shelter, when in fact they were killing the vast majority, I do expect to receive other allegations of fraud, if not within the County department itself, at least about rescues associated with County employees.

I alleged that her definition of “adoptable” was fraudulent in the sense that no one could believe the County adoption figures based on her definition of adoptable, as they were wildly out of sync with other large public shelter systems and depended Mayeda's use of behavior testing that allowed County to kill about 8,500 dogs for behavioral problems, which is a significant percentage of their impounds.

As I said, these allegations may be entirely made up or are hearsay and totally inaccurate. I don’t have the time to be an investigative reporter, and I await further information to be sent to me.

The emails:

Bob Ballinger used to be the person who would approve or deny a public records act request. You are correct, there's no way that an accurate assessment of records can be made over the phone, and frankly, I would not believe anyone who said X amount were killed. Just like now, suddenly overnight County has a 90% adoption rate!

Bob Ballinger retired around six months to a year ago, but he was no friend to rescue and would stonewall in order to not produce documents or “accidentally” send the wrong information (i.e., I requested impound numbers of owner surrendered animals for a few of the shelters for a two month period, and he sent me a letter with the numbers of animals surrendered, not the impound numbers which I clearly did not ask for. I had to resubmit my request, thus taking even more time.

LA County is bad, bad news.

There is a reason why LA County management is leaving! I just wish I knew someone who would do investigative journalism on why Judy Meraz was "relocated". There are some whopper rumors circulating now.

I do know that Judy Meraz and her husband Jaime, used to borrow Lavonne Rodstein's cabin in Lake Arrowhead. Lavonne Rodstein is or was the Director of Pet Harbor in Gardena, a place that should be investigated. It's a private "rescue" where most of the dogs and cats, if any get adopted, were euthanized on site which is illegal, unless it is done by a vet.

I wonder how they got hold of that "blue juice" aka, Fatal Plus, a DEA controlled substance Schedule 2 Drug? I believe, but I'm not certain that Pet Harbor would tell people that they would adopt out their pets, but were or still are euthanizing them. Sounds like fraud to me, especially if they are accepting donations for intake of someones pets (with the understanding that the pet would be adopted).
.

Interesting emails from Ed Boks to Animal Lover--Ammended

.
As you know, Boks is being sued by the author of my sister blog, LA Animal Lover. She filed a lawsuit against him and he may recently have been retaliating against her by spreading untruths. I don't know that for sure, as Ed never emails me anymore. So, in her own defense, she is posting emails from him to prove she worked on the blog as part of her volunteer services at his direction, including Ed's planned attacks against ADL and going legally after others.

http://laanimalfriends.eponym.com/

Actually, this is interesting stuff to me, as I was involved up to my eyeballs, but there is a LOT more happening now such as the Mayeda/Boks "snit" with Ed taking on Marcia in terms of who spins better numbers, and the massive improvement in the LAAS kill numbers with no commensurate increase in the live-save percentages.

Impounds are down 2,500 animals over the past 4 months, adoptions are up a few hundred, but New Hope is still down, while died in shelter has more than doubled. When all is said and done, there are fewer bodies coming out of the shelter but not because the euth rate has been cut in half. The number of animals impounded is what is being cut.

In the short term I agree with this policy. If Ed were able to do his job of actually rescuing, treating and adopting animals, I would not say this. But he is not saying this. He is not doing his job; he is doing numbers.

By the way, I talked to some people in Philadelphia who say Philly may do the job this year and the save rate may reach 60%. In 2003, the save rate was 11%.

Given that they have 1/6 the budget and 1/7 the employees of LAAS, that's quite good.

Yaroslavsky's email to Mayeda asking her to Explain Herself

.
Got this today from Yaroslavsky. Maybe when I get Mayeda's response and my rebuttal, I can send it to Ed Boks for his review and comment:

August 23, 2007

Marcia Mayeda, Director Department of Animal Care and Control 5898 Cherry Avenue Long Beach, California 90805

Dear Ms. Mayeda:

I am in receipt of correspondence from Edward Muzika, Ph.D. alleging fraud being perpetrated within your Department. I have enclosed a copy of his letter with attachments for your information.

I would appreciate your looking into this matter and responding to his concerns at your earliest opportunity. Please provide me with a copy of your response to him.

In advance, thank you for your attention to this request.

Sincerely,

ZEV YAROSLAVSKY Chairman of the Board Supervisor, Third District
ZY:rpm

Well, Zev got it a little wrong, I didn't say a fraud was being perpetrated within her department, I said she was a fraud and a liar. I'd have to prove fraud was being perpetrated to say it; I just called her a fraud and a liar, which is an opinion.
.

Orlov is Number Impaired, But Boks May Be Doing Something Right.

.
Rick Orlov Daily News:

Even more telling, perhaps, is the number of workers who have left Boks' department.

The department has 69 vacancies among its budgeted staff of 300 - a significant gap usually not seen in government agencies.

http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_6727686?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com

It all depends on whether he is getting rid of deadwood or good people.

LAAS Lowers Killing by Refusing Neonates--Ammended

Death in the shelter doubles under Boks.

Interesting statistics for those who are interested or who can understand them.

During the past three months, dog and cat killing decreased by 2,507.

But, neonate impounds dropped 1,536, meaning Boks was not killing them because he was turning them away. He is also refusing feral cats which also decreases impounds. Neonates and ferals have a very high euthasia rate, including 100% for ferals. Since feral cats do not have their own statistical category, we don't know how many were refused. I do know that when I tried to get a trap from them some months ago to trap a feral living under a friends house, I was told they no longer rent out traps.

But 60% of Boks improved kill numbers are not accomplished through any dramatic improvement of LAAS' ability to save animals, but because he simply is not doing his job.

In addition, because of increased crowding, disease and fighting, 271 cats and dogs did not leave breathing. Live in, dead out.

Also, take a look at this. The number of all animals dying in the shelter from disease, injury, etc., has more than doubled since Boks started. From 1,149 2005 to 2,371.

That is, for all animals, not just cats and dogs, the death rate has doubled under Boks.

June 2007 …2,371
May 2006 …1,433
April 2005 …1,149
March 2004 …931

Ed can get award after award, but he is just pushing them out onto the street or letting them die in the shelter from disease, or kill each other in the shelters.

He will whine that no matter what he does, he can’t catch a break. True, we are on to him. No matter what he does, it is not working.

There is an important comment below from a person who works at the Las Vegas shelter who had witnessed increased a huge "died on Premise" numbers at the Lied shelter. Shortly thereafter, HSUS had to kill 1,000 of the animals in one week due to disease outbreak. I posted about this happening in Maybe April on this blog.

Many of us have worried exactly about this, knowing that Ed is playing with fire. However, knowing Ed he will find an excuse for not taking responsibility for preventing an outbreak when it happens.
.

ABC Pulls Story About Boks National Honors

.
ABC pulled the story about Boks' national honors as relayed by the Mayor. Robin Kramer and Jim Blackman make the Mayor look like an idiot because they did not check Boks' facts.

If ABC admits its mistake, isn't it time for the Mayor to rebuke Boks?

What makes Ed say these things that are patently untrue? He knows I will find him out, yet he says these whoppers anyhow. Jees, Ed is self-destructive.
.

My Sources for Shelter Statistics

.
For those of you who want to check my numbers, the following are the official and unofficial sources by URL.

Notice that you can get nothing out of LA County's Marcia Mayeda without a request for public records. I wonder why.

Maricopa County

http://www.maricopa.gov/pets/pdf/MaddiesStats.pdf

New York City:

http://www.nycacc.org/stats.htm

Philadelphia

http://phillypaws.org/downloads.cfm

Los Angles Animal Services

http://laanimalservices.org/about_stats.htm
http://www.sheltertrak.com/downloads/

LA County

http://www.sheltertrak.com/stats_lacacc.php
http://sheltertrak.com/stat.php
http://www.sheltertrak.com/downloads/

San Francisco Animal Care (Municipal) and SFSPCA

http://laanimalwatch.blogspot.com/2007/03/san-francisco-animal-control-director.html
http://www.sfspca.org/numbers.shtml

LA County's Dismal Failure at Saving Animals

.
Which hospital would you rather go to, one where 90% leave alive, or one where only 60% leave alive? Same with prison; which would you rather go to, one where 95% leave alive, or one where 70% leave alive?

This percentage of “leaving alive” is called the live release rate, or the live-save rate. Unfortunately for the animals, only one large municipal shelter provides even these dismal save rates for its animals.

The live-save rate is measured by the number adopted, the number rescued and the number returned to owner divided by the total number of animals impounded. Live save is not the obverse of euthanasia. Euthanasia is only one of the possible outcomes. Died in shelter is another outcome that subtracts from live saves, as well as the number of animals remaining in the shelter—i.e., warehoused. Some of the shelter systems below include the number of animals in the shelter at the beginning of the year, but most don't.

Below is the tale of the tape. These are the numbers for calendar 2006 and do not take into account the improvement or worsening of numbers for the last six months as these are not available for some of these systems. Also, the numbers for the first six months do not include the heavy kill months of summer, July, August and September, which would artificially raise the live save percentages contrasted to a full year’s numbers. For example, LAAS' live release rate has improved by 2% during 2007 as a result of warehousing and refusing to impound some animals with the highest kill rate, i.e., neonatals. Philly's first half rate improved to a remarkable 60.4%!!

Live save rates for cats and dogs at:

LA County..........................35.7%

Maricopa County................42%

Philadelphia.......................47%

LA Animal Services.............52.1%

New York City.....................54.3%

San Francisco/SFSPCA........87%

Once again Los Angeles County wins the national award. Not only does it place as number one in terms of adoptions, but it is also number one (worst) in terms of the number of cats and dogs killed, AND also is the worst shelter in terms of the percentage of animals leaving alive.

Mayeda is such a champ. I doubt she will hold a press conference about this.
.

Mayeda Goes Ballistic; Calls Boks Out

.
Mike Bell, little devil he is, passed on my email where I challenged Boks' claim that LAAS was the largest adoption agency in the country, to Marcia Mayeda, who heads the county's much larger shelter system. She just made this press announcement to set Boks and the Mayor straight.

Marcia is no slouch; she did the last three fiscal years and beat Boks heads down on all by all measures.

Marcia did not mention that the county slaughters 250% as many animals as LAAS. Nor, like Boks, explain all the elements of her claim.

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Marcia Mayeda, Director, 562-728-4610

Yesterday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that the City of LosAngeles’ Department of Animal Services is the largest animal adoption agency in the United States.This claim is inaccurate. The County of Los Angeles’ Department ofAnimal Care places more animals each year than the City of Los Angeles.

The City of Los Angeles placed 25,279 animals last year, compared to 28,309 animals placed by the County. In the 2005-06 fiscal year, theCity placed 24,515 animals compared to 27,670 for the County. In theyear prior to that, the City placed 24,190 animals and the County placed 28,203.

The County of Los Angeles’ Department of Animal Care and Control is the largest animal control agency in the country, serving all unincorporated Los Angeles County as well as 51 contract cities.

“Our staff and volunteers work diligently to place abandoned animals into new, loving homes” stated County of Los Angeles Director MarciaMayeda. “They should be recognized and congratulated for their effortsthat lead the nation in the numbers of animals adopted”.
.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa fails Los Angeles' animals, then lies about it

.
August 21, 2007 Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on the steps of City Hall that Los Angeles Animal Services was the number one and largest pet adoption agency in the nation. That's wonderful news except for the fact that it's completely untrue.

LA Animal Services isn't even the largest or best in the immediate area. LA County Animal Control takes in more animals and adopts out more animals. Other shelters save more animals and euthanasia fewer than the City.

Marcia Mayeda who runs the much larger LA County Animal Control got wind of his press release and sent this to the media.

"Yesterday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Animal Services is the largest animal adoption agency in the United States. This claim is inaccurate. The County of Los Angeles’ Department of Animal Care places more animals each year than the City of Los Angeles. The City of Los Angeles placed 25,279 animals last year, compared to 28,309 animals placed by the County. In the 2005-06 fiscal year, the City placed 24,515 animals compared to 27,670 for the County. In the year prior to that, the City placed 24,190 animals and the County placed 28,203."

The Mayor made a few other "inaccurate" statements. He stated "for the first time in LA history, LA's animal shelters have saved and adopted out more animals than euthanized." This again is not true. LA City has saved more animals than it's euthanized since 2004, two years before the Mayor appointed the new General Manager Ed Boks and a year before Villaraigosa himself was elected Mayor. Does anyone in his office bother to check their facts?

The Mayor's press release went on to say “LA Animal Services has consistently reduced euthanasia over the past five years in the double digits." They have "cut the euthansia rate in half since 2002." Again, not true. The euthanasia rate did not go down at all during Boks' first year on the job in 2006. Very recently it's gone down a small percentage due to number manipulations. Boks is putting more animals in each cage so he doesn't have to euthanize them. Twice as many animals are dying from disease and fights caused by this overcrowding. He also is refusing to take in some animals. The current small reduction in euthanasia is equal to the increase in animals dying from overcrowding and the reduction in intake. There has been no double digit decrease ever. The records clearly show the euthanasia rate has not been cut in half since 2002.

Next the Mayor said that they reunited 16% of cats and dogs with their owners. Try 9%. The year before that it was also 9%, before that it was 10%. Fewer animals and a lower percentage are being reunited and the City is lying then bragging about it?

The Mayor's staff contacted ABC reporter John Gregory to cover this "historic" event, and that's when the story gets even wilder. Gregory reported that "L.A.'s Animal Services Department received a very special honor on Tuesday. The department's animal adoption agency won top national honors." The only thing is that the Department didn't win an award of any kind from anyone for anything. The Mayor merely framed a certificate of appreciation and showed it at the press conference. In effect he called a press conference to give a certificate of appreciation to himself. Many reporters have said that our Mayor has a big ego but this indeed does take the cake.

The Mayor's press release went on to say “LA Animal Services has consistently reduced euthanasia over the past five years in the double digits." They have "cut the euthansia rate in half since 2002." Again, not true. The euthanasia rate did not go down at all during Boks' first year on the job in 2006. Very recently it's gone down a small percentage due to number manipulations. Boks is putting more animals in each cage so he doesn't have to euthanize them. Twice as many animals are dying from disease and fights caused by this overcrowding. He also is refusing to take in some animals. The current small reduction in euthanasia is equal to the increase in animals dying from overcrowding and the reduction in intake. There has been no double digit decrease ever. The records clearly show the euthanasia rate has not been cut in half since 2002.

Next the Mayor said that they reunited 16% of cats and dogs with their owners. Try 9%. The year before that it was also 9%, before that it was 10%. Fewer animals and a lower percentage are being reunited and the City is lying then bragging about it?

The Mayor's staff contacted ABC reporter John Gregory to cover this "historic" event, and that's when the story gets even wilder. Gregory reported that "L.A.'s Animal Services Department received a very special honor on Tuesday. The department's animal adoption agency won top national honors." The only thing is that the Department didn't win an award of any kind from anyone for anything. The Mayor merely framed a certificate of appreciation and showed it at the press conference. In effect he called a press conference to give a certificate of appreciation to himself. Many reporters have said that our Mayor has a big ego but this indeed does take the cake.

Reporter Gregory had one last thing to add, "City shelters have a no kill policy, but that doesn't mean animals are not euthanized." The shelter does not have a nokill policy which is exactly why they are euthanizing them by the thousands per year. The City has since blamed the mistakes in ABC's reporting on the reporter.

99% of what the Mayor said in his press release and at the press conference was untrue. I only tried to verify this one press release. It makes you wonder how many other press releases for other Departments are completely untrue. It also makes you wonder why the Mayor is supporting and promoting a General Manager who most likely provided him with the untrue information. Ed Boks has made the Mayor look a fool.
Ann Angeleno
AnnAngeleno@yahoo.com
.

Boks' Claim of Being #1 Adoption Agency Exposed

.
O.k. here are the numbers for Boks claim to be the largest adoption agency in the US..

This is for LA Animal Services for FISCAL 2006-07,
and for Calendar 2006 for County Animal Care and Control.

Ed chose fiscal 2007 because those numbers are better for him. If we used 2006 for complete comparison, he’d do even worse.

.................................FY06-07 ....2006
Cats&Dogs ..............LAAS ..........LACACC
RTO .........................4,321 ..........6,182
Adoptions ..............15,113 ..........18,276
NewHope/Rescue ...5,840 ..........2,882

LAAS adopted 15,113
County adopted 18,276

Add rescue groups (Why? This is not something LAAS did, it was non-profit rescue groups, but Boks is taking credit for them.)

LAAS had 5,840 cats and dogs released to rescue groups
County had 2,882 released to rescue groups

LAAS Total 20,953 Adopted + Rescued
County Total 21,158 Adopted + Rescued

So Ed is dead wrong on two counts, adoptions for cats and dogs, and adoptions and rescued for cats and dogs. Beside, if you compare his calendar 2006 figures against County, he would fare even worse.

So what does Ed do? He throws in Rabbits and “Other Animals.” No other shelter really keeps those stats publicly available. We’d have to do a request for public documents to get the County’s rabbit and Other Animal figures. Mayeda certainly is not giving him those figures, and he knows no one else can produce data to prove him wrong. So he can freely say anything he wants in this area.

But on straight out adoptions of dogs and cats, he is a liar by 20%.

Even adoptions and rescues of dogs and cats he is off by 200, and if we compared his calendar 2006 against County 2006, he’d be worse off by almost 900.

The spreadsheet with data can be seen at:

http://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=pVc6YQelmdXWAkzEstmlaSA