Transporting Animals

Every year animals die due to inappropriate transportation methods by air and car. The Los Angeles Department of Animal Services (LAAS) recommends that animals not be transported during extremely warm or cold temperatures.  When necessary to do so, appropriate measures must be taken to ensure the health and well-being of the animal.  

When traveling by air, only reputable airlines that have a written policy on animal transportation should be used.  Transportation should be scheduled when ambient temperatures are more likely to be within animal health and safety margins.  When traveling by car, an animal should be confined within a crate or restrained with a seatbelt.  No animal should be transported in the back of a pick up truck or allowed to hang out of a window without being secured.  It is cruel and inhumane to keep an animal in a parked vehicle without air-conditioning for any amount of time when outside temperatures represent a risk to the health and well-being of the animal.  

Wild and Exotic Animals As Pets

It is illegal to own a wild or exotic animal in California except that permits may be obtained from the California Department of Fish and Game allowing exotic animal use for education or use in filming movies.   Permits can also be obtained for wild animals when the animal cannot be released into the wild.  However, LAAS believes most wild and exotic animals do not make suitable pets and that, in most instances, ownership of such animals will result in illness or injury to either the animal or their caretaker.  Most wild and exotic animals never fully adjust to captivity.

LAAS opposes the capture, transport and selling of wild animals.

LAAS opposes the selling of animals as novelties.  The most common example of this practice is the annual sale of baby ducklings, chicks and rabbits in association with the Easter season.

The great majority of animals sold as novelties do not survive for any length of time.  Often, they die from starvation and neglect, or as a result of the stress and conditions they experience as part of the distribution process.  In some cases they may survive but are released and abandoned in locales where their continued survival is questionable.

LAAS opposes these sales because of the suffering it causes animals and because it encourages children to be insensitive to the real needs and suffering of animals.

Nothing in this policy is meant to criticize those events that provide appropriate screening of an individual’s ability to adequately care and provide for a specific animal.

Animals in Biomedical Research and Testing

LAAS is concerned with the quality of life of animals involved in biomedical research and testing, especially as it relates to housing conditions, the research review process, and approval protocols using the animals, the safeguards, and the limited laws in place for adequate protection of animals.  Our preference is that animals not be used for research and testing if their well-being might be compromised in any way.

LAAS supports the Humane Society of the United States’s (HSUS) position on this complex issue.  The following questions should always be asked:  Can the proposed use of animals be replaced by non-animal methods that would yield comparable results?  If not, can the proposed number of animals be reduced to a minimum without compromising the results?  Can the proposed procedure be refined so that any pain, suffering, or deprivation experienced by the animals is minimized without compromising the results?  When employed, the principles of replacing, reducing, and refining animal use constitutes a responsible approach to this issue.

LAAS also believes that some experiments should be outlawed regardless of the possibility of alternative approaches.   These include experiments that are unnecessary and/or are duplicate studies, scientifically or medically trivial, extremely painful, or otherwise fail to balance scientific aims and the public’s concerns for animals.

Study of Live Animals in Elementary/Secondary School Biology

LAAS believes that all Biology classes should focus on an appreciation for animals as living, sentient creatures with an emphasis on normal behavior, life patterns and interaction with normal environment.  If a class has a classroom pet it should be housed, maintained and cared for appropriately and incorporated into a regular educational routine.

The department opposes the use of animals in school-sponsored or approved experiments, lessons or projects that interfere with the normal health or development of the animal, constitute major manipulation of the animal or the animal’s behavior or cause pain, fear, anxiety, or discomfort.   Experiments and activities using live animals should be limited to observation of pets, or normal living patterns of wildlife in the wild or appropriate instructional settings. 

LAAS believes dissection is unnecessary in primary and secondary schools and students should be given the option of an alternative learning opportunity.  A group discussion on a humane ethic should be included in all lessons.

The department does not support the use of shelter animals as a prop in educational programs.  Any animal that is used should be a trained/owned animal with the temperament and stress level evaluated before the program. 

LAAS is opposed to the practice of surrendering impounded animals from public and private shelters for biomedical research and will not do so.  Pound seizure or transfer of ownership to research or training facilities violates our mission and values.

Animal Cruelty

LAAS is against physical and mental cruelty towards any animal.  Cruelty takes shape in many forms and prevention and intervention programs are fundamental to our mission.   That is why we have joined with the Los Angeles Police Department and the City Attorney to form the Animal Cruelty Task Force.

LAAS believes that violence directed toward animals is in no significant way distinguishable from violence directed at people.  We believe that cruelty and violence in all forms are unacceptable and integrally related, and that coincidence and opportunity largely determine the species of the victims.

LAAS is against the intentional killing, maiming or torture of an animal for the purpose of propitiating a deity or for the purpose of an occult or ritual sacrifice.   LAAS is opposed to so-called blood sports such as cockfighting, dog fighting, bull fighting, coon-on-a-log, coon-in-a-hole and other spectacles.  LAAS contends that these sports are cruel and focus on intentional torture for the purpose of entertainment.

LAAS is against cruelty or exploitation in any legal entertainment venue, event, or sporting activity.  This includes but is not limited to circuses involving animals, rodeo, donkey basketball, dog racing and horse racing.  We encourage people to attend non-exploitive forms of entertainment.

The department contends that animal guardians are responsible for ensuring an animal is not in distress caused by mistreatment, tethering, exposure to the elements, extremes of temperature, lack of adequate ventilation or drainage, lack of sanitation, deprivation of proper food or potable water, restraint, restriction of movement, confinement, lack of sufficient exercise space, constrictive gear, injury, illness, physical impairment or parasites.  Guardians are to ensure that the well-being of the animal is not threatened by a dangerous conditions or circumstances.

Responsible Pet Guardianship

LAAS believes that a responsible pet guardian treats their pet with the utmost respect and kindness throughout his/her entire life.  Responsible pet guardianship begins with the initial decision to add a pet to one’s family.    An animal should be added to a home for the reason of companionship and not solely for utilitarian purposes (guard dog, pest control, hunting dog, etc.).  Advance research should be done to find the animal that appropriately matches the family’s lifestyle.   The commitment to adopt an animal should not be taken lightly and should be a commitment for life.  LAAS believes the human animal bond is an important relationship and that the saddest thing a family can do is break that bond by turning their animal in to an animal shelter.  Therefore, all avenues should be explored (behavior programs, housing that allows pets, re-homing, etc.) prior to an animal ever being relinquished to an animal shelter.

LAAS recommends adopting an animal from a reputable animal shelter, rescue group or other animal welfare agency.  We are opposed to puppy mills, pet shops that sell animals or any breeding source that produces and sells animals solely for a profit.  If a person wants a specific breed that an animal shelter or rescue group cannot provide, an animal should be obtained from only a reputable breeder.   A reputable breeder is registered with local animal welfare agencies such as LAAS and respected oversight entities such as the American Kennel Club, breeds only to better the breed, ensures the integrity of the breed, offers health guarantees, screens their breeding stock for genetic health issues, is willing and able to take back any animal when an guardian can no longer keep him, requires spay/neuter of non-breeding animals, and helps to rescue the breed. 

A responsible pet guardian ensures their pet is spayed or neutered, and provides appropriate food, water, veterinary care, training, exercise, socialization, identification and love.  LAAS believes that all animals should be licensed and should have appropriate identification, which includes tags and microchips.

A responsible pet guardian complies with all legal requirements of pet guardianship.  Dogs are licensed and always kept on a leash or contained when outside.  LAAS believes dogs should be kept indoors unless supervised.   When left outside dogs should have access to shade, food, and water.  Dogs are social animals and need to have regular contact with humans.  LAAS believes that cats, while not required to be licensed in Los Angeles, should be kept indoors at all times to protect them from reproducing, injury, disease, getting lost, and causing a nuisance to the neighborhood.

Responsible pet guardianship follows through to the end of an animal’s life.  At this time, LAAS believes an animal deserves a humane, quick death by lethal injection only.  LAAS does not support any other method of euthanasia.  Further, LAAS believes all animal welfare and control programs should be actively designing and implementing programs and policies to end euthanasia as a methodology for reducing pet overpopulation.  

Assistance Animals

LAAS recognizes that certain animals help certain special needs individuals lead more independent lives by assisting them in the performance of necessary tasks or by acting as a buffer for loneliness or depression.  These animals include guide dogs, hearing-assistance animals, resident pets at skilled nursing facilities, and animal assisted therapy and activities.  

LAAS believes that for such a relationship to work the needs of both the human and animal have to be accommodated.  The training of such animals must be based upon positive reinforcement and not utilize coercive or abusive techniques (e.g. striking, food deprivation, choking, electric shock).

Only medically and behaviorally screened animals should be used in any animal-assisted therapy or activities program.

Zoos and Aquaria

LAAS believes that the proper place for wild animals is in their natural wild habitat and supports efforts to protect wilderness and native species of animals, fauna and flora.  LAAS recognizes that there is a spectrum of facilities that house wild animals, including the Los Angeles Zoo.  LAAS believes that any facility that houses wild animals should do so for the following purposes: education, conservation, rehabilitation, or to serve as a sanctuary for injured or abused animals.   The department believes that all facilities should put the animals’ welfare and needs over the public’s entertainment wishes and that every effort should be made to ensure the housing of the animal is as natural as possible.

Training and Behavioral Modification

LAAS believes that a well-trained pet is a happier pet that leads to a happier guardian.  Often untrained animals are subject to neglect and abandonment.  We support humane behavioral modification and dog-training programs that adhere to the most humane and up-to-date methods of training.  All training methods should be non-invasive and free of physical abuse, adhering to positive reinforcement techniques based on the natural behaviors of the animal.   LAAS opposes any training method that is based on coercive or abusive techniques.

Cosmetic Surgery on Animals

LAAS is against any unnecessary surgical procedure on animals when such a procedure is performed solely for the convenience or pleasure of the animal’s owner.  This includes declawing cats, cropping ears, and docking tails.  If a veterinarian feels that any of the above need to be performed for the safety or health of the animal then the procedure must be performed in the most humane manner possible.

The department is also against any behavior that puts undue stress or pain on an animal for the purpose of human pleasure i.e.; dying an animal for decoration, ear piercing and other invasive procedures.

Fur as Garments or other Luxury Animal Products

LAAS believes that trapping, raising and killing animals for luxury fur garments, trinkets or novelties is a source of significant animal pain and suffering.  The department opposes these practices.  LAAS encourages individuals to engage in non-lethal forms of entertainment.

Feral Cats and Colonies

LAAS supports the concept of a trap, neuter, return (TNR) program that stabilizes feral cat populations, reduces birth rates and improves the overall health of feral cat colonies.  It is the department’s belief that TNR stabilizes (and ultimately reduces) feral cat populations and with the support of sympathetic neighborhood volunteers, the felines live safely and peacefully within their territory.  Typical feral problems such as yowling females and spraying toms are practically eliminated.  The incidence of disease and malnutrition are greatly reduced.

FARM ANIMALS

LAAS believes that egg, dairy, meat and poultry products must be produced with the welfare of the farm animal in mind. Farm animals must be kept in conditions that meet high standards of animal care, allow animals to engage in their natural behaviors, have sufficient space, shelter and gentle handling to limit stress, and ample fresh water and a healthy diet without added antibiotics or hormones. Producers must also comply with local, state and federal environmental standards. Processors should comply with the American Meat Institute Standards, a higher standard for slaughtering farm animals than the Federal Humane Slaughter Act.

Click for pdf version