Animal welfare

The problem

Every week in Los Angeles, healthy animals are killed simply because there is nowhere for them to go. In 2024, over 1,200 dogs and 1,500 cats were euthanized in just the first nine months because city shelters were housing nearly twice the number of animals they were built for. City Hall responded by cutting the animal services budget, and the department operated without a permanent General Manager for nearly two years during the worst crisis in the system's recent history. There's little reason to think the numbers in 2025 will be less harrowing.

Our plan

Prevention

  • Invest in and fix the city's spay-and-neuter voucher program by increasing funding, bringing participating vets back, and expanding mobile clinics into every neighborhood. We also need to scale up the Citywide Cat Program, which provides trap-neuter-return services for community cats. Spay-and-neuter programs are the only way to reduce shelter intake at scale, and the city has been moving in the wrong direction. Beyond expanding spay-and-neuter services, we will invest in education and awareness about the benefits of spay and neuter and the city's existing spay and neuter law, so that every owner of a pet knows what the law requires and where to get free or low-cost services.

  • Keep pets in their homes in the first place through pet retention programs, including a pet food pantry and accessible veterinary care, so that fewer animals end up in shelters. We will also work to address the housing costs that shut responsible owners out of pet-friendly housing, including excessive pet rent and deposits. Many pets surrendered to our shelters come from families who love them but can't afford to keep them in their homes due to rising costs, a vet bill, or a bag of food. Helping them is a fraction of what it costs the city to house and feed an animal long-term.

  • Invest in pet-inclusive solutions to help with the homelessness crisis by increasing funding for pet-inclusive emergency housing and shelters to keep people and their pets together. This will allow more people to get off the streets, provide services for both the person and the pet, and help them into permanent and stable housing. 

Humane Shelter Conditions

  • Fund the basics that make shelter life humane. That means enough staff, programs, and volunteers to give dogs regular walks and behavioral enrichment; proper care and medicine for sick and injured animals; and the supplies the department needs to meaningfully care for the animals in city shelters. This includes funding positions to provide daily enrichment and daily playgroups at every shelter.

  • Overhaul the city shelter’s euthanasia policy, as other cities have done to make professional and humane euthanasia decisions for shelter animals. We will create and fund a formal behavioral review committee, where certified animal behaviorists, veterinary behaviorists, and veterinary staff oversee the department’s euthanasia decisions.

Protecting animals from cruelty

  • Crack down on illegal breeding and animal cruelty by properly funding and staffing the city’s enforcement teams, targeting the worst offenders with data, and holding the department accountable to measurable results aligned with best practices.

  • Take a targeted, multipronged approach to the animal welfare crisis on Skid Row. Get people indoors into pet-inclusive shelters and housing while providing wraparound services for both people and their pets. Provide free spay and neuter services, including mobile spay and neuter clinics on Skid Row. Provide specialized enforcement teams dedicated to Skid Row to ensure any reports or witnessing of animal neglect, abuse, and cruelty are promptly investigated and addressed. 

Accountability

  • Bring real oversight and accountability to LA Animal Services. The City Controller has launched an independent performance audit of the department. We'll commit to acting on its findings and requiring regular public reporting so Angelenos can see whether conditions are actually improving.

  • Ensure stable, experienced leadership at Animal Services with the authority to actually fix the department. After years of instability, we need transparency about what's happening inside city shelters and leadership committed to real change. Staff, volunteers, and the nonprofits who have been holding this system together and sounding the alarm for years deserve to be part of the solution.

  • Appoint shelter volunteers, animal advocates, and members of rescue organizations to the Animal Services Commission. Under the City Charter, the Commission has the power to oversee the Department, set and enforce its rules, and direct the General Manager. We will fill it with people who know the system firsthand and use that power to fix it.