By DAVID WEINER
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced plans Saturday to launch a nationwide search for a new general manager to head the city’s animal services department.
The department has been without a permanent general manager since April 2021 — with Annette Ramirez serving as interim general manager — and has faced criticism from volunteers and rescue groups about animals being neglected and staffing shortages.
“The safety and well-being of all animals is a priority of my Administration, which is why a firm will be selected soon to lead a nationwide search for a General Manager for L.A. Animal Services who will improve the level of care at our city’s animal shelters, increase adoption rates and enforce responsible pet care,” Bass said in a statement released Saturday morning. “As part of the ongoing search process, we look forward to engaging with the people of Los Angeles. What we’ve seen recently is unacceptable, and we are committed to improving the care of all animals.”
The announcement comes as animal advocates continue to lobby city officials to reform the department. A rally is scheduled for noon Saturday at the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter to call for a new GM.
“I’m glad (about Bass’ announcement), but we need to move now. We can’t wait a year,” Haze Lynn, founder of LA-based Take Me Home Rescue and one of the organizers of Saturday’s rally, told City News Service.
“We want Bass to see that we have gone back from being a progressive city to being an antiquated town, where animals are sleeping in dirty areas, in their own feces,” Lynn continued. “I have pictures of water and food bowls with feces in them. This is dire, and the animals deserve better.”
Ramirez took the interim job after former GM Brenda Barnette, who led the department since 2010, retired in 2021.
In October 2022, former City Councilman Paul Koretz — who chaired the council’s animal welfare committee — released a…
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