Another unjustified death at LBACS

​Yet another unjust death at Long Beach Animal Care Services.  It’s been reported on a local networker’s page that Caleb, a healthy dog that had been at the shelter for 2 weeks, was killed this past week in spite of the fact that LBACS was not full and had multiple empty cages.
 
This happens often in unreformed shelters like LBACS – Empty-Cage Killing.  It happens for a variety of reasons: It’s easier to kill than to care for or socialize animals; the shelter is disorganized; a dog that has been denied proper human care and handling been out of his kennel in weeks is less than a 100% model citizen and growls one too many times. What it all boils down to is an indifferent City that promotes and encourages bad shelter management.

Posts on the networker’s page detailed more horrors out of LBACS:

**Evaluations done by un uncertified “behaviorist” through the kennel slats
**No walks or play yard access for dogs
**Inconsistent rules and lack of follow-through on leads that could save lives
 
**There was even a report of over 2 dozen cats being killed the day before the Mayor visited to make the shelter look less crowded and the shelter staff lying about it.
 
If you’ve been following this page, you know there’s more.
 
** Thor, who had an adopter and a rescue who wanted him last July.  Thor was killed illegally by LBACS in violation of the Hayden Law, a fact the City Attorney continues to deny in spite of a preponderance of evidence.
 
**Charlie, an arthritic little guy who was shuttled around the shelter, bitten by kennel mates, neutered while sick, and then after this ordeal, was killed for “manageable behavior.”

**Punkin Spice, a defenseless kitten killed because she tested FeLV+ at an age where false positives are commonplace.
 
The list is far longer than this and it goes on and on.
 
How is it even possible that these things are happening in our shelter and people are not down at City Council every Tuesday night telling the people whose salaries we pay that they’re not doing their jobs?
 
Mayor Garcia has shown himself to be insincere in his professed desire to help our shelter animals. Since being elected, he has implemented not one significant shelter reform measure to clean up the mess at LBACS.  He went to Sacramento Animal Care Services and met personally with their shelter director, Gina Knepp , who personally oversees 4400 adoptions a year, and Mayor Garcia told no one about it.
 
Working with the City hasn’t worked. It’s been tried over and over.  Nearly 9 years ago, advocates were talking to the City, asking them to reform LBACS.  City Council will listen when they get the message LOUD AND CLEAR from the community that the KILLING MUST STOP. Right now, they’re not hearing that. 

Go to City Council. Protest. Write letters to the editor and your city council rep.  If all you can do is share post, share posts. But don’t wait for the City to listen to reason. They have nearly 9 years of experience in placating the rescue community, in patting folks on the head and saying “thanks for all you do” and then turning around and letting the slaughter continue.

If they keep killing, and we know what’s going on and don’t speak up at City Council, in protests, and in public denouncements of a broken shelter that refuses to change, it’s on US. 

It’s on ME.
 
It’s on YOU. 

It’s the moral obligation of each and every one of us who care about animals to stand up and say stop the abuse and STOP the killing.
 
The City Council meeting schedule is here: https://goo.gl/AnREUm
Facebook pages of City Council are here: https://goo.gl/jXWtKo
E-mail addresses of City Council are here: https://goo.gl/pwHBKc