Today on my way to the dog beach with my dogs, I stopped by one of the Los Angeles County Animal Pounds. I wanted to test the Appointment Only Managed Intake system.

My first test was "could I simply walk into the kennel areas and video tape the dogs in need of adoption and rescue." So, I drove onto the parking lot and parked. I walked from my car up to the gate that until today was always locked. The gate still had a padlock on it but today it was unlocked. I looked around for someone to ask me if I had an appointment. I waited for 5 minutes and literally did not see ONE employee. So, I simply lifted the latch and walked in. I immediately walked to the kennels and began to take video of dogs in need of adoption. I passed a total of 4 people (no employees). Two of the four people were looking at dogs in the kennels. The other two were waiting for an employee to bring them a dog. Not forgetting my dogs were back in the car, I decided to leave the dog kennel area and leave. As I drove away, I thought that was certainly easy enough.

So....

I drove back onto the parking lot a second time. I parked right in front of the window in a parking space. This time I went and waited in a newly formed line of 4 people. I asked the four people why they were in line. All four people had lost their dogs and were at the pound reclaiming their dogs they found on the Internet. No one was adopting. I calmly waited for the officers to help those residents. When it became my turn, the officer asked how he could help me. I said I'd like to go see the dogs. He asked if I had an appointment. I said no. He asked if he could see my identification. I said it's in my car. He sent me to go get it. I went back to my car because I had intentionally left my ID in my car to see if they REALLY, REALLY planned on requiring it. I gave the officer my ID. I was then asked to sign a form. I filled it out and gave it back to the officer. Oddly, they handed it back to me and told me to keep it on me while I walked through the pound. They said having the form in my hand is what allowed the animal control officers to know that I was allowed to be there. I thanked them and walked back to my car and left.

A total of 9 people in the entire animal pound including myself: excluding the officers. I will say that the dogs did seem more relaxed than normal. HOWEVER, I also noticed the dogs were barely tolerating the heat. One dog looked at me with begging eyes....please save me. So, despite being calm, they were all slowly roasting which no one seems to be talking about because the public seems to have abandoned the pounds. Don't believe ANY of the HYPE of these animal pounds. The ONLY animals being saved are because of ANIMAL RESCUES AND NETWORKERS. IT IS NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING THEY ARE DOING. 

What is really going on here? One of my goals with this petition/protest is to help wake us all back up from the hibernation that Covid-19 has placed us all in. WAKE UP! Someone is PUSHING Los Angeles County Animal Control to participate in this Managed Intake program. One animal networker told me that she believes one of the BIGGEST ANIMAL RESCUE ORGANIZATIONS that brings in almost $93 million each year is either paying/donating money with the condition Los Angeles County Animal Control implement the Managed Intake policy or that it's strongly encouraged. It is hard for me to swallow that Director Marcia Mayeda after 20 years of leading Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control has second guessed her prior years policies and traded it in for experimentation. Either way, something has changed.

In conclusion, the Animal Pounds occur to me as if they are OPEN. I didn't actually need an appointment. I literally walked in without one.  Why does Director Marcia Mayeda feel so compelled to use this BY APPOINTMENT distinction? It's killing our animals. It's causing our animals to suffer. Hey Marcia, animals who are suffering in the heat aren't calm. They are suffering from HEAT EXHAUSTION. They are dying and you aren't doing anything about it. Los Angeles County Supervisors WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE IS YOUR LEADERSHIP AND COMPASSION? PLEASE HELP OUR ANIMALS. WE ARE WATCHING.

If you don't do something soon, I'm already exploring what it would look like to put together a Voter's Initiative. OPEN THE SHELTERS NOW!