Long Beach has ended its agreement with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) due to contract violations, City officials announced on Monday.
Long Beach Animal Care Services (LBACS) and spcaLA entered a lease agreement in 1998 to lower animal euthanasia rates, and have been operating out of the same facility since then. City officials said that due to numerous violations of their contract, they are ending the 27-year agreement with spcaLA, and giving them 30 days to leave the facility.
“We’re not hoping to shine a negative light on SPCA,” Mayor Rex Richardson said at the press conference Monday. “The decision to terminate our agreement with the organization comes from years of an inequitable partnership that has negatively impacted our operations and affected the safety and wellbeing of animals in our care and has limited our ability to prioritize the best service for the Long Beach community and Long Beach animals.”
Although City Manager Tom Modica cited numerous violations, he only brought up three at the press conference.
The City claims that spcaLA had taken over a majority of their shared space, leaving LBACS with only 19% of the space they fully control. The other 49% was fully operated by spcaLA, and 32% of the space was meant to be “common use,” but Modica said City staff had to reserve that space two months in advance in order to use it. Modica said the City attempted to address this issue multiple times “to no avail.”
SpcaLA is required by law to annually report the number of adoptions, animal transfers or sales to the city, but has not done so since 2020, according to City officials. The organization also has not been providing any insight into their operations, Modica said.
Although it was the “primary responsibility” of spcaLA to assist the City’s animal care services with the intake of adoptable animals, the amount of animals they’ve taken off the City’s hands has drastically decreased over the years. According to the City, LBACS assists 4,000 animals a year, and last year spcaLA only took 76 animals into their adoption program.
In 2011, spcaLA took 2,856 animals from LBACS. This decrease has made Long Beach ramp up its adoption efforts to mitigate overcrowding in the shelter, City officials said.
“As a result of these violations of the lease, among other violations, we’ve determined spcaLA no longer aligns with our vision nor uplifts our animal care efforts in Long Beach,” Modica said. He added that if spcaLA does not leave the facility within the 30-day period in a “professional and respectable” manner, the City will pursue legal action.
LBACS will take over all operations at the shelter, including adoptions, groundskeeping, maintenance, animal control issues and intakes. Melanie Wagner, bureau manager for LBACS said she does not anticipate there being any “immediate public facing impacts” and they will continue operations like normal.
Wagner also announced the department’s goals moving forward:
- Having a fully open intake facility, meaning never turning animals away.
- Moving dogs into more spacious kennels and cats into open-air spaces.
- Creating proper medical isolation areas, which Wagner said “has not been obtainable due to our inequitable shared space.”
- Allowing longer stays for animals.
- Working with nonprofits and community groups.
- Creating an in-house trap-and-neuter program.
LBACS is located at 7700 E. Spring St. and open Wednesdays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
