Healthy Pets Are Being Euthanized in LA Shelters for “Bogus” Reasons

It was a late April day in Los Angeles, and Bobby, a wiggly Pit Bull-type / Lab mix, was in for a treat. It was National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, and the city-run East Valley Shelter needed a well-behaved, camera-ready dog to be featured on a local news segment. Although sometimes reactive around other dogs, Bobby was an easy choice. In the 10 months he’d lived at the shelter, the goofy senior had been selected to greet high school volunteers and attend library events. 

“He’s a ham who loves everyone he meets,” a volunteer wrote in Bobby’s official notes, describing a teen-filled event that required dogs who were “bomb-proof” around people.

So, on that sunny day, Bobby trotted into the play yard, wagging his tail throughout Good Day LA’ s interview with Staycee Dains, Los Angeles Animal Services’ (LAAS) general manager. “We have the ability to care for about 737 dogs,” she told Good Day LA. “We have almost 1,500 dogs in our six shelters across the city … so we are looking for every way possible to save their lives.”

After the interview, Bobby returned to his rarely trafficked row of kennels. According to May 3 notes we obtained from volunteers, he didn’t leave that small enclosure for days. On May 17 — two and a half weeks after Dains was photographed rubbing the dog’s belly in an LAAS social media post that read: “We have tons of wonderful pets, like Bobby, who are ready to be adopted and go home with you!” —  her office authorized Bobby to be euthanized unless rescued by June 1 at 4 p.m., sharp. The LAAS later posted on X that Bobby had become a “safety concern” for having a “hard time with other dogs” — though we obtained records that showed there weren’t any physical alterations, rather “reactive” incidents, like barking. 

Per these volunteer-provided notes about Bobby, he was unable to be “safely housed with other dogs.” Some anonymous volunteers question if that could have been a factor in an overcrowding crisis that requires dogs to double or even triple up in kennels — but LAAS denies any claims that they kill dogs for space.

The very next day, a shelter volunteer picked Bobby as a “fool-proof” dog for a visiting Girl Scouts troop. Allowing himself to be pet by groups of three children at a time, he was unaware that he’d joined more than 100 other dogs on the LAAS “Red List,” which, at the time, was a list of dogs who need to be adopted immediately because they are at risk of being euthanized. This is just a snapshot into what some LA animal volunteers are calling an “Armageddon.”  

Note: Throughout this piece, you’ll find Instagram posts from LA shelters. Visit their individual accounts, which feature dogs who are on the euthanasia list and need to be adopted or fostered immediately — with deadlines listed. Please share those posts (and the accounts posting them) widely to help save these dogs.

LA shelters have a big problem.

LA City shelters are overwhelmed, understaffed, underfunded, and often around 200 percent over-capacity — forcing large dogs to double or even triple up in kennels or small pop-up crates lining hallways, sometimes confined for weeks or months at a time without going outside to walk, play, or defecate outside of their urine-soaked cages. In the words of a volunteer who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal: “Some things are worse than death.”

“There’s 100 percent retribution against any volunteer or staff member that speaks out,” says Shira Scott Astrof, founder of The Animal Rescue Mission. “Long-time volunteers that are so essential to getting the dogs out and love the dog so much, they won't take any chances by speaking out because they know that they’ll get blocked.”

Volunteers we spoke with mentioned fear of or past experiences with being asked to leave their shelters, and thus, losing access to the animals they so tirelessly try to save. Some have sought legal representation to fight alleged unfair dismissal after publicly criticizing the shelter system, which relies on unpaid volunteers for social media, rescue efforts, dog socialization, and more. 

If their volunteers or staff publicly call out any issues within the system, rescues risk losing their New Hope partnership status, which reduces adoption fees and aims to “eliminate obstacles” in rescuing city-run shelter animals. According to the LAAS’s public handbook, New Hope Rescue Partners can only refer to their alliance with shelters in “a positive way ... whenever using any form of media to publicize the needs of animals within our care.” LAAS did not immediately respond to comment about the allegations of retribution.

“But people should be told, ‘If you drop your dog at the shelter, your dog may be killed, your dog will not receive good care, and your dog might not be walked for months,’” Astrof says. “I remember when I first saw Bobby on the news; I knew I’d have to save him.”