Two organizations, one commitment to Los Angeles’ pets

The goal is to help Los Angeles Animal Services build a stronger, safer and more effective shelter system that can better serve animals, staff and Angelenos across the city. That means helping more pets stay with their families when possible, improving care for animals who enter the shelter system, moving animals more quickly into foster and adoptive homes, increasing reunification with families, and strengthening the programs and operations needed to sustain those improvements over time.

Improving LAAS's save rate and helping Los Angeles achieve and sustain no-kill are important measures of progress, but the broader goal is to build a system that can consistently get more dogs and cats out of the shelter and into loving homes.

Best Friends and the ASPCA have both worked in Los Angeles for decades and understand the scale and complexity of the city's animal welfare needs. Los Angeles Animal Services is one of the largest municipal shelter systems in the country, and this partnership creates an opportunity to combine significant funding, operational expertise and hands-on support in one place.

Strengthening a system of this size can make an immediate difference for animals and people in Los Angeles while also providing lessons that can inform lifesaving work in other large communities.

The grant will fund 23 critical Los Angeles Animal Services positions for up to three years. These are City positions, hired and supervised by LAAS. They include shelter leadership, foster program staff, adoption and return-to-home staff, and community cat specialists.

Best Friends and the ASPCA will separately provide two advisory consultants each to work alongside City staff and support implementation, training and operational improvements.

Programs only work when there are enough trained people to carry them out consistently. These positions are intended to address operational gaps that affect nearly every part of the shelter system, including how quickly animals receive attention, how efficiently they move through the system, whether foster and adoption programs can grow, whether lost pets can be reunited with their families more quickly, and whether shelter staff have the leadership and support needed to do their jobs effectively.

The investment is not simply in adding employees. It is in building the capacity LAAS needs to make lifesaving programs work at scale.

Yes. The 23 positions funded through the grant are Los Angeles Animal Services positions. They are hired by the City, operate within the City's organizational structure, and are directly supervised by LAAS. Best Friends, the ASPCA and their advisory consultants do not supervise those employees.

Best Friends and the ASPCA will each provide two experienced advisory consultants who will work inside LAAS facilities alongside City leadership and staff.

Their role is to provide hands-on training, operational expertise, problem-solving and implementation support in areas such as shelter operations, animal care, foster programming, moving pets through the shelter more quickly, and other practices designed to save more animals. They will also participate in ongoing discussions with LAAS leadership to identify challenges and opportunities for improvement.

These consultants do not supervise City employees. Los Angeles Animal Services remains responsible for its staff, operations and the animals in its care.

The agreement requires Los Angeles Animal Services to regularly report on the work, results and agreed-upon milestones, and the partners will meet throughout the initiative to review progress, identify challenges and evaluate what is working.

Success should be visible in the experience of animals and people, not just in a report. Measures such as how many pets get adopted, how long animals remain in shelters, foster placements, lost pets reunited with their families, community cat programs and other shelter data can help show whether the system is improving.

Best Friends also intends to involve Angelenos and animal welfare partners throughout the three-year initiative, listening to their experiences and feedback as the work moves forward. That input can help refine how programs are implemented and where additional attention may be needed within the scope of the partnership.

For Best Friends, increasing LAAS's save rate and helping Los Angeles reach and sustain no-kill will be important measures of progress. But success is broader than a single number. The ultimate measure is whether LAAS becomes a stronger, more effective system that saves more pets and continues to save more pets in the future.

Spay/neuter is an important part of reducing the number of animals who enter shelters, and both Best Friends and the ASPCA already invest significantly in spay/neuter and other preventive services in Los Angeles.

In 2026, Best Friends is on track to support more than 12,000 spay/neuter surgeries for Los Angeles dogs and cats through its own clinics and grants to local partners.

But Los Angeles' animal welfare challenges are broader than any one solution. Animals are already entering LA Animal Services shelters today, and those shelters need the people, leadership and programs necessary to care for them and get them back out of the shelter into loving homes. This grant is focused on that critical part of the system by funding staff and operational support that can strengthen foster, adoption, return-to-home and community cat programs.

Spay/neuter remains an important part of the overall work, and those investments will continue alongside this partnership.

Changing a shelter system the size of Los Angeles Animal Services takes time. Best Friends and the ASPCA are providing up to three years of funding so LAAS can hire and train critical staff, strengthen key programs, and put improved systems and practices into place.

The three-year period also gives the City time to evaluate results, incorporate successful positions and programs into its long-term operations, and plan for future budget needs. Under the agreement, LAAS is expected to make good-faith efforts to seek funding to continue the positions after the grant period, although future City budgets cannot be guaranteed.

The objective is not simply to fund positions temporarily. It is to give LAAS the time, staffing and support needed to build stronger programs that can continue delivering results after the grant ends.

Rescue organizations are an essential part of animal welfare in Los Angeles, and they will continue to be important partners in this work. By strengthening foster, adoption, transfer and other programs inside Los Angeles Animal Services, the goal is to help animals move through the shelter system more efficiently and reduce some of the pressure currently placed on rescue partners.

Best Friends and the ASPCA will also continue their existing work with local animal welfare organizations outside of this grant.

The partnership is designed to support the people already doing this work. The 23 new City positions will add staffing and leadership capacity, while Best Friends and ASPCA advisors will provide training, operational support and additional expertise.

Current LAAS employees remain City employees under City supervision. The goal is to give staff more resources, stronger systems and additional support to care for animals and serve the community.

No. Los Angeles Animal Services remains a City department throughout the partnership. The City hires and directly supervises the 23 grant-funded positions and remains responsible for shelter operations and the animals in its care.

Best Friends and the ASPCA are providing funding, advisory support and training, but their consultants do not supervise City employees.

No. This grant is specifically for Los Angeles Animal Services, which serves the City of Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control is a separate shelter system serving other areas of Los Angeles County.

Best Friends' and the ASPCA's work with shelters and animal welfare organizations throughout the broader Los Angeles region will continue separately from this grant.

The grant is designed to strengthen the Los Angeles Animal Services system as a whole, so its programs and improvements are intended to benefit animals and communities throughout the City. That includes getting more lost pets reunited with their families, connecting people with resources that can help keep pets at home, and strengthening the shelter system when animals do enter its care.

Skid Row also has specific animal welfare needs that extend beyond the scope of this grant. Best Friends and the ASPCA are already working with local partners on separate efforts involving pet food, supplies, spay/neuter and veterinary services for people and pets in that community.