Gabrielle Amster, who will take the reins of Los Angeles Animal Services pending approval by the City Council, appeared before the department’s Board of Commissioners Tuesday to introduce herself and briefly lay out her vision for running the city’s six shelters.
“I believe that the bond between people and their pets is not incidental; it is familial,” Amster told the board.
She said her first priorities would be to partner with ASPCA, Best Friends and the department’s other “invaluable” partner organizations to ensure quality of care, and to explore “all possible avenues” for expanded spay/neuter programs to reduce the city’s long-running animal overpopulation crisis.
Additionally, Amster promised to take a “deep dive” into “SOPs and policies” across all six city shelters, to promote effective policies and consistency across the facilities.
Mayor Karen Bass named Amster as LAAS’ next general manager on April 17, following a months-long search after former head Staycee Dains resigned in December 2024.
Amster brings more than 19 years of experience to the role, and was praised by the Mayor’s Office for her diplomatic leadership style.
She was the interim chief operations officer for Furry Friends Humane and Dogs Playing For Life, and previously served as vice president of shelter relations for DocuPet from February to October 2025.
Amster also served as director of the Wallis Annenberg PetSpace from 2021-25, and was executive director of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter from 2018-21.
If confirmed by the council, Amster will take over from Annette Ramirez, who led LAAS on an interim basis for a year and half prior to Dains’ appointment in 2023, and again began leading the department soon after Dains’ departure.
Dains, who formerly led Long Beach’s animal services department, gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times in 2025 in which she alleged mistreatment and neglect of animals by city employees. Dains told The Times it was nearly impossible to fire problematic workers outright, and did not receive support from Bass’ office or the Personnel Department.
During her tenure, a Times analysis found about 1,224 dogs were euthanized between January 2024 and September 2024, an increase of 72% compared to the same period in 2023. Some 1,517 cats were euthanized, a 17% increase from 2023.
Dains defended her policies on euthansia, telling The Times it was just not safe for the animals, staff and volunteers to “warehouse” dogs in kennels for months or years.
A representative for the Mayor’s Office denied Dains’ claims and characterized them as inaccuracies.
The Mayor’s Office maintained they provided support for Dains to succeed.
Meanwhile, the city has settled litigation over shelter dogs attacking volunteers.