City Audit's recommendations open the door to more euthanasia at Long Beach shelter

We have completed our review of the Long Beach City Auditor's report and are dismayed to see how bad it is for Long Beach's shelter animals.

We knew it was bad, but never thought it was this bad. The audit reveals that LBACS is a shelter in crisis.

The report clearly shows that the shelter suffers from an inability to assure basic shelter operating practices due to poor management and makes 173 recommendations, many of which Stayin' Alive agrees with.

But there are THREE major things you need to know about the audit that make it a disaster for LBACS' shelter animals:

1. The shelter consultants that the Auditor hired were not oriented to or experienced in no kill approaches and they have essentially given the City the green light to INCREASE euthanasias at the Long Beach shelter.

2. The City, as we suspected it would, has deferred many best practices to an undefined later date, including many low-cost lifesaving policies and practices for adoptions that would save lives in the short-term if the City prioritized them.

3. The City has also deferred a foster program to an undefined later date, (assuming it happens at all) and has embraced the recommendation to increase its reliance on overworked and under-resourced rescue organizations by offloading animals with significant medical needs on local rescue groups.

You can read Stayin' Alive's response to the audit here: https://goo.gl/oBF2TC
​ You can read the audit report here: https://goo.gl/jeeXBw