As Los Angeles continues to deal with an influx of unwanted animals that threatens to overwhelm shelters, a city council committee could take action on a moratorium on breeding permits as soon as next week, officials said Tuesday.
In October, the council instructed the city attorney to prepare an ordinance amending city law to place an immediate moratorium on new breeding permits. The moratorium would be lifted once shelters were at or below 75% capacity for three consecutive months, and could be automatically reinstated if shelter capacity rises above 75%.
Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, who chairs the Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee, told City News Service on Tuesday that the panel is expected to consider the moratorium draft law on April 3.
The City Attorney’s Office submitted the draft law for consideration last week, and it will need approval by the committee and then the full City Council before it can be enacted.
“The importance of a moratorium is to signal to the community clearly that our shelters are not in any position to take in one more animal,” Los Angeles Department of Animal Services General Manager Staycee Dains said last year.
On Tuesday, Dains told the LAAS commissioners’ meeting that the committee was looking to move on the draft law “as soon as possible.”
The city has seen steadily increasing numbers of dogs, cats and rabbits at its six shelters for the last few years, and commissioners and many animal advocates from the private sector have lobbied for a halt to breeding and more robust spay-and-neuter efforts as the two most important steps toward tackling the problem.
At a September LAAS Commission meeting, Dains said the city had issued about 1,200 breeding permits so far in 2023, and was on pace to finish the year with about 1,800.
“Organizations that are pro-breeding are not organizations that do anything to help animals in animal shelters,” she said. “They’re simply creating animals for us to kill later on, and that is not appropriate.”
The LAAS board also voted Tuesday to support Assembly Bill 2133, which would permit registered veterinary technicians to perform male cat neuter surgeries under the direct supervision of a veterinarian.
Dains also told the commissioners that emergency funding was on the way for 120 additional LAAS staff members. Funds have been identified, she said, with council approval “very close.”