Animal welfare groups commit $14 million to improve L.A. animal shelters
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Two animal welfare groups say they will fund a $14-million grant to improve conditions at Los Angeles city animal shelters, in what the organizations say will be a first-of-its-kind investment in a municipal shelter system.The grant will pay for 23 new full-time staff positions at the city’s six shelters, with the aim of improving the “live outcome” rate, which measures how many animals leave the shelter alive.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Best Friends Animal Society are jointly funding the grant.“We saw some pretty significant suffering in the shelter system, and we thought that together, we could bring the skills, resources and experience to create change from within,” ASPCA president Matt Bershadker told The Times.
Both animal welfare groups worked closely with the L.A.shelters to deal with the many animals lost or left behind during the 2025 Palisades fire.“We can take what happened during Palisades and really move it into the future,” Best Friends chief executive Julie Castle told The Times.
The city’s shelters, which are mandated to accept stray and abandoned animals, have come under criticism for inhumane treatment of the animals in their care.The Best Friends group released a report in 2024 highlighting poor conditions at the shelter and criticizing the leadership of the Animal Services Department, including former general manager Staycee Dains.
Dains, in an interview with The Times last year, pushed back against the criticism and said she was powerless to discipline employees she witnessed mistreating animals.On Friday, Mayor Karen Bass named longtime animal welfare advocate Gabrielle Amster to lead the department, which will require approval from the City Council.Annette Ramirez, the department’s interim general manager, said the $14-million grant will work like a pilot program to prove that the nearly two d...