LA Animal Shelters Overcrowded, Understaffed And Struggling To Care For Animals: Audit

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services lacks sufficient staff and resources to provide humane or adequate care to shelter animals, according to an audit released Wednesday from the City Controller's Office.

City Controller Kenneth Mejia's office released a performance audit of the capacity of the department to care for the volume of animals entering its shelters relative to current resources. The audit focused primarily on shelter capacity, shelter resources, and the effectiveness of certain business management functions.

A representative for the Mayor's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Agnes Sibal, a spokeswoman for LAAS, thanked Mejia and his team for their ongoing commitment to strengthening the city's shelter system. She noted the audit is "candid" about areas for improvement, and the department agreed with many of its findings.

"Our leadership team has reviewed the recommendations, and many align with priorities we identified in our most recent goal-setting process. These include updating standard operating procedures, strengthening staff-to- animal ratios, and improving our volunteer program, all aimed at meeting industry standards of care for animals and supporting the staff who do this essential work," Sibal said in an email to City News Service.

"Planning is underway on several of these areas, and others are built into our 2026-27 goals, each with a clear owner, a timeline, and measures of progress," Sibal added. "Some changes are within our control, and we are moving on those now. Others will require partnership with city leadership, our community, and our partners, and we are committed to pursuing that work together."

The audit covered July 1, 2020, to June 20, 2025.

Findings of the 91-page report showed LAAS assigned 75 animal shelter care staff during the dayshift, not accounting for absences so the count may be lower, when the minimum should be 90 staff based on kennel capacity. During peak overcrowding periods, there should have been at least 185 staff, or 2.5 more than the amount LAAS had assigned.

LAAS received more animals than shelters can handle and its save rate goals may compromise animal welfare, according to the report.

LAAS accepts animals that are surrendered by their owners, regardless of capacity concerns. Long Beach, San Jose, and Fresno and San Diego County generally do not accept — or limit intake — of owner surrendered animals.

During the audit scope period, the City Controller's Office found that daily average of the dog population was 35% over capacity and during extreme periods of overcrowding in 2023 and 2024, 100% over capacity.

The daily average of the cat population was 131% over capacity and during extreme periods of overcrowding, 300% over capacity.

LAAS' capacity for dogs is 737, while capacity for cats is 340.

Los Angeles has paid $15.8 million in liability payments for LAAS cases related to dangerous conditions or professional negligence, according to the City Controller's Office.

"City Hall has failed the animals in our care. From constant budget and staffing cuts to an already under-resourced Animal Services department to the Mayor proposing to shut down three of our six animal shelters and completely eliminating animal food and canine enrichment, animal welfare is clearly not a priority in City Hall," Mejia said in a statement Wednesday.

"Animals have been suffering in overcrowded, under-resourced City shelters. This is a persistent crisis the city must fix. Our office conducted this audit in order to get an in-depth look at shelter policies and determine changes the City can make to improve animals' lives, both immediately and long- term," Mejia added.

Findings also showed that LAAS standard operating procedures are outdated, and no longer reflect current operations, or are nonexistent for issues like unsanitary conditions.

The department has 162 standard operating procedures covering shelter operations, medical services, finance and administrative — but most have not been updated since 2010. We also found that LAAS does not have a formal standard operating procedure for sanitation, such as protocols for removing organic matter and effectively cleaning kennels.

Additionally, dog licensing is low and enforcement is limited, meaning there is less revenue for the city. It also makes it challenging for the city to confirm with pet owners about vaccinating dogs to protect against rabies.

Between the 2021 and 2025 fiscal years, owners failed to respond to 71,128 license renewal notifications for one-year licenses and 8,790 three-year licenses that were sent out by LAAS. Estimates indicate the city may be missing out on up to $14.1 million in license revenue.

In addition, the Los Angeles Municipal Code requires that all veterinarians send in proof of rabies vaccine certificates to the department. However, only 26 veterinary offices (out of the 379 offices that are registered within the city) regularly submit vaccine certificates, or are planning to begin submitting the information to the city.

The audit also raised concerns about the shelter volunteer program.

"While the vast majority of volunteers are positive contributors at animal shelters, both LAAS and volunteers reported that tension between the two groups can create a difficult work environment for all parties," according to the City Controller's Office.

Of 14 volunteers interviewed, who were part of the top 30% of hours volunteered over the last three fiscal year, the volunteers indicated satisfaction with their volunteer experience. However, those interviewed ranked working with LAAS staff lowest.

The audit found that volunteers experienced communication issues with LAAS employees, such as being ignored when asking for help and not being updated about new policies and procedures. The controller's office also found the volunteer program does not have a system to ensure volunteer discipline is being applied in a fair or consistent manner.

Key recommendations to address challenges found in the audit consist of the following:

• Appropriately fund LAAS, and have the department create a comprehensive recruiting, hiring and funding plan for animal care for consideration by the mayor and City Council;
• Establish a policy limiting the intake of animals voluntarily surrendered by their owners;
• Conduct a review of existing policies with the goal of updating them to accurately reflect the department's operations, and address potential gaps;
• Implement new enforcement procedures for city dog licensing requirements and fines for individuals who fail to respond to request to license their pets;
• Identify veterinary service providers who are not submitting rabies vaccination certificate information to LAAS;
• Improve the volunteer program by better understanding volunteer's concerns, as well as to solicit ideas to improve working relationships with LAAS employees; and
• Develop a volunteer discipline system with fact finding requirements, penalty ranges and factors for consideration when making discipline determinations when volunteers violate rules and guidelines.

"Our office will keep advocating for our city's animals and we'll keep providing transparency on shelter conditions, policies, and data. By following our recommendations, LAAS and the city can vastly improve the lives of the thousands of animals that go through the shelter system every year," Mejia said in his statement.

By Jose Herrera, City News Service