L.A.'s Year of the Dog: Why Pratt and other candidates campaigned against animal abuse
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The lunar calendar may say it’s the Year of the Horse, but for Los Angeles politics it’s been more like the Year of the Dog.Spencer Pratt made animal welfare a key platform in his unsuccessful campaign for mayor, taking out billboard space around town showing himself surrounded by dogs and railing against animal abuse in social media posts.But Pratt wasn’t the only one seeking to win the votes of animal rights activists.City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who will be in the Nov.
3 runoff against Mayor Karen Bass, is promising to fix L.A.’s animal shelter system, which she said is in state of crisis, blaming a “broken spay/neuter program” among other factors.Dylan Kendall, a longtime cat rescuer and advocate, made her background in animal welfare a centerpiece in her unsuccessful bid against Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez.
Deputy Dist.Atty.
John McKinney published a 10-step plan to support animal welfare as part of his campaign for city attorney.“Politicians are understanding that this is a significant group of people who can move the needle in races, especially close races,” McKinney said.He finished in second place in the primary and will be in the runoff against Marissa Roy, a democratic socialist who works as a deputy state attorney general.No candidate, however, focused more on animal rights than Pratt during the recent primary campaign.
“I don’t want anybody to endorse me except for the moms and animal lovers in L.A.That’s my entire vote,” Pratt said the weekend before the primary on the Fox News comedy show “Gutfeld!”In a nearly 10-minute long video, Pratt repeated social media posts that dogs on Skid Row are used to test drugs, are bred for drug money and are left in poor conditions by their unhoused owners, among other concerns about overcrowded, dirty shelters across the city.Social media descriptions of Skid Row dogs being used for fights ...