Last week the Los Angeles Times Unleashed blog reported that LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has appointed Brenda Barnette as LA Animal Services General Manager replacing the inept Ed Boks. After a year of searching and various campaigns supporting no kill candidates by local organizations, the appointment of Brenda Barnette had many people scrambling to find out any information they could about the new appointee. ADL-LA has a fantastic write-up commending Mayor Villaraigosa on his appointment stating:

From all our research, which we began right after we heard that Barnette was going to be appointed by the Mayor in an LA Times blog last Wednesday night, we have learned that not only did Jim Bickhart, the Mayor, Jimmy Blackman and anyone else who was behind her appointment make the most intelligent choice, but it’s a monumental choice that will finally accelerate the LAAS shelters from being evil killing dungeons into the beacon of a life affirming sheltering system.

I would highly suggest reading the full article on ADL-LA’s homepage here.

It is extremely exciting that LA Animal Services will finally have a progressive and innovative leader at the helm, truly steering Los Angeles towards being the first major metropolitan ‘No-Kill’ city in the United States.

Starting today through Father’s Day, LA Animal Services is offering a special discount adoption special for both cats and dogs. You can visit any of the 6 local shelters where they have reduced the adoption price of cats to $50.50 and dogs to $78.50. The discounted adoption fees include spay/neutering, microchipping, and a license for your pet. Most vets will also give your new pet an initial checkup completely free if you tell them they are from LA Animal Services. You can click on the image to view the flyer for all the details.

It’s warming up (I know, I know, it’s raining here today, but “in general”) so that means it’s about to be kitten and puppy season. LA Animal Services is calling on volunteers to become a foster parent to kittens and puppies without a mother and too young to survive on their own.

If you don’t have the time or space to be foster, they are also looking for donations of the following items:

• - KMR and Esbilac (neonate, formula)
• - 4 and 2 oz Nurser Bottles
• - Small Scales (to weigh babies)
• - Litter boxes
• - Blankets
• - Wee Wee Pads
• - Litter
• - Heating Pads
• - Small Carriers
• - Shallow food or water dishes
• - Newspaper

The best way to start is to visit their website at www.laanimalservices.com or to contact an LA Animal Services representative at 888-452-7381.

Last month, LA Animal Services announced their new Kennel Sponsorship program at all 6 service facilities. For a $300 tax deductible donation, animal lovers can sponsor a dog run, cat cage, bird cage or rabbit cage at any one of the City’s animal care centers. The sponsor gets their name engraved in a plaque that will hang on the cage for a year and at the end of the year’s sponsorship, the sponsorship can either be renewed or the plaque will be returned to the donor. Most importantly, all donations will directly benefit the animals and will not be used for administrative costs. As most people know, one of the hardest hit areas with Los Angeles’ current budget crisis has been LA Animal Services. I was pretty skeptical of the program until I actually spoke with someone who assured me that funds will be used for animal care, not salaries or general office expenses. You can click on the image to view the flyer for more details.

If you’re still looking for the perfect Valentines date, don’t miss the 1st Annual “Adopt A Valentine” pet adoption event happening Saturday, February 13th at LA Animal Services’ North Central shelter (3201 Lacy St LA 90021 – two blocks east of Figueroa off Ave 26). This special pet adoption benefit will include substantial discounts on adoption fees ($78.50 per dog and $50.50 per cat), plus an extra $25 off the first 10 adoptions of the day. Click on the image to view the flyer with all the information.

This past Saturday we had the opportunity to distribute the items that we had collected at last December’s vegan drinks. A few fabulous people gave up their Saturday afternoon to join us giving in out a huge pile of toys, treat, blankets, food and beds to animals at LA Animal Services’ North Central shelter. We want to thank everyone who showed up (or attempted to show up)! We had a great time and could tell that it made the day a little bit brighter for the animals waiting for new forever homes. You can check out a few photos from the event below:

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As part of last December’s Vegan Drinks, The Vegan Collection asked people to bring toys, treats, beds, blankets or cash donations to be distributed to homeless pets. We were taken back by the outpouring of generosity of the Vegan Drinks crowd! We ended up with a complete carload full of items to be donated to LA Animal Services as well as a nice sum of cash which was used to hit up after X-mas sales to maximize our buying power. We have contacted LA Animal Services and set up an appointment to give out all these items this Saturday, January 23rd. We would like to invite anyone who is interested to join us for an hour or two spending time with us handing out treats and giving a little attention to these unfortunate animals who somehow ended up in the shelter system. We will be meeting at the North Central Shelter which is located at 3201 Lacy Street, Los Angeles, CA 90031 at Noon this Saturday. If you would like to join us, please e-mail kevin@thevegancollection.com to RSVP. Once again, we can’t thank those who donated enough!

Halloween is right around the corner and once again LA Animal Services is looking for donated costumes to dress up animals for their mobile pet adoptions. LAAS is asking for help in getting donations of costumes or if you’re the creative type, you can making a costume for a dog or two. Maybe you have an old costume from years ago or your dog it is a bit more *ahem* “fluffy” than last year and the costume is to small to fit them any longer. They’ll take it. You can drop off your donation at any of the 6 city shelters.

As most people hopefully know by now, all dogs and cats 4 months or older must now be spay or neutered unless the animal has gotten special exemption. The penalty is a misdemeanor and the fine for not doing this can be up to $500. This Saturday, August 29th, you can bring in your dogs into the East Valley shelter and have this procedure done for free. You must make an appointment (call 1-888-349-7388) and all vaccines are included with the surgery. The one catch is that your family household income must not exceed $31,700. Click here for more information.

As disheartening as volunteering for LA Animal Services can sometimes be, it’s more critical now than ever to put aside those feelings and step up and help. FOX 11 news (a.k.a. FoxLA) did a short piece which you can view below about the extreme overcrowding currently happening at LA Shelters.

And remember, if you don’t have time to personally volunteer, donating funds to rescue organizations that pull animals from the shelters is also extremely helpful.