Best Friends withdraws offer of support to Los Angeles Animal Services
It is no secret that today, LA Animal Services is struggling under the current city administration, which has deprioritized the department’s needs.
Over the past year, Best Friends has extended numerous offers of assistance to the department — each of which has been deflected, deferred, or rejected. And the difficulty of trying to force our support on an unwilling bureaucracy reached a breaking point over the past two months. On July 17, Best Friends submitted a formal offer of support to the mayor’s office and LA Animal Services that totaled about $6 million in the form of staffing positions, training, agency restructuring, public and staff safety, and continuing rescue partner support.
This offer sat without a response from the city for nine weeks. After being strung along with no decision and then brushed off with the message that nothing could be done for months, we withdrew our offer because it was clear that the administration is not committed to the change needed to ensure lifesaving success. But be assured that our presence in Los Angeles will be undiminished.
The below video is from our all-staff meeting regarding this decision, featuring a conversation between myself and Brittany Thorn, Executive Director, Best Friends Los Angeles. I implore you to watch to further understand both the decision to withdraw our offer and our maintained commitment to the people and pets of Los Angeles.
