Mopsy Should NEVER Have Died at LBACS

As a reminder of what needs to change at Long Beach Animal Care Services - today, we’re telling Mopsy’s story.
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Mopsy was a 5-year-old brown and white pekingese who arrived at LBACS last October 16 as a stray. LBACS records indicate that on arrival, Mopsy’s fur was matted, she had overgrown toe nails and she had crust on her eyes. She was itching due to a suspected skin allergy, and she had crust on both ears, likely from an ear infection.

Mopsy must have felt awful going into the shelter, feeling sick and rundown in a loud, scary shelter environment. However, all of her issues were treatable, so in a humane shelter with an adoption/foster safety net in place for animals, she should have been saved.

But at LBACS, Mopsy had to wait, feeling uncomfortable and sick, until her second day in the shelter to be examined. When she was finally seen by a vet, her medical notes say that she needed a medicated bath and an ear-cleaning. However, instead of getting that much-needed medical attention, Mopsy sat languishing in a kennel for FOUR FULL DAYS after arriving at LBACS to get that bath and the ear cleaning she needed. She must have felt terrible. On top of it all, her eyes were most likely red and painful. Her medical notes say that she diagnosed her with dry eye – a painful but treatable condition.

Not surprisingly, Mopsy caught a cold on her 10th day at LBACS. This isn’t surprising, since LBACS doesn’t have a strong adoption program or foster program to get animals out of the shelter quickly. Mopsy’s medical notes say she had “honking cough and sneezing.” She was put in isolation and apparently recovered after 5 days. Her medical notes say “prognosis good.”

And then, just 2 days later, on November 3, after enduring 18 DAYS in a noisy, scary shelter environment, fighting a cold and doing her best to hold on and stay alive, Mopsy was killed by LBACS. The reason given for her death on her euth record was “moderate illness.”

Mopsy’s medical issues were minor. There was no reason for her to be killed. But because our shelter does not have a strong adoption and foster program, she suffered at the shelter for 18 days only to be killed in the end.

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LBACS needs a strong adoption and foster program and proper medical protocols to prevent the unnecessary and heartless killing of animals like Mopsy.

The Mayor has asked for an audit of LBACS, but as his behavior has shown over the past 2-1/2 years, he is a consummate politician who is willing to use our shelter animals to get elected. He has spread “alternative facts” about the shelter’s progress, and he no doubt he has re-election on his mind, with the mayoral election only 14 months away.

More than 4000 animals have been killed at LBACS since Mayor Garcia was elected.

If he truly cared about our shelter animals, Mayor Garcia could have used his considerable influence to ask a member of City Council to pass a resolution making Long Beach No Kill. It would have been faster and it would have saved lives.

Instead, Garcia requested an audit that will take MONTHS to complete while animals continue to be killed.
The Mayor has encouraged the public to reach out to the Auditor about this issue. Please take him up on his suggestion and respectfully let the Mayor, your City Council member and the Auditor know that you are concerned about shelter animals like Mopsy and want to see a strong adoption and foster program in place at our City shelter.

Giving the job to SpcaLA is not working – we NEED a strong adoption and foster program in place on the City side of the shelter.

Please be Mopsy’s voice. Our shelter animals need US to be their voice TODAY. Please SHARE.

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