Sacramento's Shelter Animals Getting Help this 4th, while LBACS' Animals are Abandoned by the Shelter that Takes Them in

Knowing that the 4th of July weekend will result in many scared animals entering the shelter, Sacramento's Front Street city shelter worked their tails off and got 111 animals adopted in just about a day and a half.  More are expected as the weekend progresses.

One part of their success is due to the fact that the shelter is making adoption fees free this weekend. Some will look at this and protest that these people won't take care of the animals they've adopted. This is actually not true. It's not the fee that people pay that determines a good home -- it's the screening of the applicants that is key to getting a good home.

Studies have shown that there is no correlation between how much a person pays for an animal and how much the person bonds with or cares for the animal. Eliminating adoption fees can bring good people into the shelter to adopt at a critical time, when they might otherwise have waited a month or two when the shelter's need was not that great.

Unfortunately, on the busiest, most crucial weekend of the year for adoptions, LBACS is doing nothing special on their Facebook page. There is one mention of fireworks being illegal in Long Beach.  This law is rarely enforced - my family always had to leave Long Beach on the 4th to take our dogs to a city where they actually enforced their laws about fireworks.  And there is no information about how to help animals on the 4th on their Facebook page.

LBACS has said that they're understaffed right now, yet they work with rescues, community members and volunteers who have expressed to us repeatedly that they would be willing to help with the LBACS Facebook page. LBACS has not taken them up on this.

Our shelter animals were abandoned once, and now they're being abandoned again, by the very shelter and City that has said they would work to save their lives.  

Sacramento shows us that it doesn't have to be this way.  Please contact City Council and tell them you want shelter reform at the Long Beach animal shelter.  Here's the contact info for LB City Council and a link to other ways you can help.

The longer we wait to act, the more animals will die. It's as simple as that.

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