John Keisler, manager of Long Beach’s Animal Care Services Bureau
BY Nick Diamantides
Staff Writer
John Keisler hopes the name change will help people understand there has also been a change in philosophy. The organization he heads used to be called the Long Beach Bureau of Animal Control. Now it’s called the Bureau of Animal Care Services. Appointed as bureau manager last spring, Keisler immediately set out to change things.
“When I came to Animal Care Services about a year ago, one of the most important things that we needed to do was to create a vision for the future and to really understand what we were shooting for,” he told an audience of about 40 that gathered for the monthly meeting of the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance last week. The meeting took place at Jackie Robinson Academy on the evening of June 4.
“Our vision for the next five years is that Long Beach will truly become the safest large city in California for people and animals,” he said. Keisler described a recent incident in which a small dog found on the freeway was brought to the shelter with more than 300 ticks. The dog was on the verge of death, but the shelter’s veterinarian and staff worked on the canine for about four hours to save its life. After a week of follow-up treatment, the dog fully recovered and was adopted by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), Los Angeles.
Keisler said the story was a good illustration of what he hopes Long Beach will become. “The way we treat our animals is a sign of what we are as an ethical and moral community,” he said.
According to Keisler, there are three pillars to becoming that safest large city. The first of those pillars, he explained, is public safety. “Animal control agencies were originally founded decades ago around the responsibility of rabies control. That is why we exist,” he said. “That is really about licensing your animals and making sure that they have their shots.”
Keisler noted that the second pillar to making Long Beach the safest large city in the state is to have a top-notch animal shelter that provides the best care to stray, injured or unwanted animals. “Anybody who has ever been to the City of Long Beach Animal Care Services Shelter and the P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village at El Dorado Park knows that we have the finest shelter in the state,” he said. “If you have not been there, I invite everybody to come out and see the care that we give the animals and the incredible facility that we have.”
Keisler noted that the financing of the facility was made possible by the city’s partnership with SPCA, LA.
“The third pillar for our strategy is key to advancing our mission,” Keisler said, explaining that an engaged community partnering with the city in the decision-making process is the best way to ensure quality animal care in Long Beach. He stressed that residents must also participate via volunteer programs that focus on animal care and control.
“That third pillar is something that we promote every single day at the shelter,” he said. “We are not just an animal control agency. Animal care is a very important aspect of what we do.”
Keisler noted that his bureau has 48 different service areas divided among eight divisions. He noted that the bureau’s 14 field-services officers respond to more than 18,000 calls for service each year in Long Beach, Signal Hill, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and Cerritos. He noted that the other four cities pay a combined total of about $500,000 per year to Long Beach for the animal care and control services provided.
The Animal Care Services Bureau has a staff of 44 full-time and part-time employees and a $3.6 million annual budget. The bureau recently trimmed $200,000 from its 2009 budget and will likely have to cut even more from its 2010 budget. Volunteers do a significant portion of the work at the animal shelter.
“Right now, because of the revenues that we bring in, we actually only cost about $4 per person per year for the services we provide,” Keisler stressed.
He noted that in 2008 the bureau’s investigations unit undertook 237 formal investigations pertaining to cruelty to animals, neglect, and illegal breeding. “Our customer-support division manages over 39,000 dog licenses,” he said. Keisler said that the bureau estimates there could be as many as 20,000 unlicensed dogs in Long Beach. For that reason, eight months ago it initiated a canvassing program to discover which households have unlicensed dogs.
The shelter takes in an average of 42 animals per day and a veterinarian evaluates most of them before shelter staff gives them follow-up care. “Over 15,500 animals were impounded in 2008 alone,” he said. “It’s a tremendous amount of turnover. We triage them, give them care, and on ‘day one’ we start moving them toward adoption or reunification or redemption.” He noted that the veterinary medical team is composed of three people, and in 2008 they had to evaluate more than 11,000 animals.
Last year the bureau had to euthanize 7,400 animals. Of those, about 5500 were cats, 1400 were dogs and the rest were wild animals, mostly opossums. Keisler said the decision to euthanize is made on a case-by-case basis and usually is due to severe illness or injury, unadoptability, or good reasons why a wild animal cannot be released into its natural habitat.
During his approximately 45-minute presentation, Keisler also talked about federal, state and local laws pertaining to animals. He closed by urging the audience members to get involved in making Long Beach a safer place for animals.
“If you ever see signs of cruelty to animals, neglect or any violations of laws pertaining to animals, please call us,” he said. “This includes unleashed dogs, and any kind of animal bites.”
MORE INFORMATION
(562) 570- 7387
www.longbeach.gov/acs
