I am an animal foster who has seen too many good animals discarded like trash. With every visit to the shelter, it breaks my heart to see countless loving and loyal animals waiting for a home. They didn't ask to be born into a world that cannot care for them, and they certainly don't deserve the fate they often face.

Los Angeles is facing a preventable animal welfare crisis.

Our city shelters are overcrowded and under-resourced. In 2024, LA city shelters took in tens of thousands of animals and euthanized over a thousand dogs in just nine months because there wasn’t enough space, staff, or resources to care for them.

At the same time, our laws still allow exceptions and loopholes that enable continued breeding and the sale of animals while adoptable dogs and cats are being killed for lack of space.

We recognize that the City of Los Angeles has already taken some important steps — including mandatory spay/neuter and a moratorium on new dog breeding permits. But as the ongoing shelter crisis shows, these measures are not enough on their own. The way we treat companion animals in this city needs a deeper structural change.

We, the undersigned, call on the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County to take the following actions:

1. Make breeding restrictions permanent and close loopholes.
– Make the current moratorium on new dog breeding permits permanent or establish a strict, long-term cap tied to shelter capacity and euthanasia rates.
– Close loopholes that enable backyard breeding, online/third-party sales, and the continued production of litters while shelters are in crisis.

2. Fully fund and expand low-cost spay/neuter and microchipping programs.
– Commit stable, ongoing funding for free and low-cost spay/neuter and microchip services, including mobile clinics.
– Prioritize neighborhoods and communities with the highest intake into our shelters.

3. Implement mandatory, accessible guardian education.
– Integrate short, standardized education about responsible animal guardianship into adoption, licensing, and permitting processes.
– Cover realistic topics: lifetime commitment, housing/landlord limitations, medical and emergency costs, behavior and training needs, and what happens when animals are surrendered to shelters.

4. Increase transparency and public reporting.
– Publish clear, accessible data on intake, adoption, transfer, and euthanasia rates for all city shelters.
– Report regularly on progress toward reducing shelter overcrowding and euthanasia, and on the impact of breeding restrictions and spay/neuter programs.

Los Angeles is home to countless people who foster, adopt, volunteer, donate, and fight for animals every single day. We are asking our elected officials and agencies to match that commitment with policies that reflect reality inside our shelters.

We don’t need more litters. We need more homes, more prevention, and more honesty about what “responsible guardianship” really means.

We urge you to act now to protect the animals who depend on us — and to build a humane, sustainable system for companion animals in Los Angeles.

Please sign this petition. Stand with us for a compassionate future for all of LA's shelter animals. Let's end the breeding crisis in LA shelters.