LA Missing Animals: Officials Probe Missing Animals At LA Shelters

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles police and other officials are looking into the disappearance of 64 animals, most of them dogs, from city shelters over the past year.

The Los Angeles Times reported on its website Tuesday that 49 of the missing dogs, cats and other critters disappeared from one shelter in the city's Lincoln Heights neighborhood.

Animal Services Department general manager Brenda Barnette said some could have been incorrectly listed as missing because of clerical errors, but she described at least some as having "wrongly disappeared."

"They were the young ones, the cute ones," Barnette said. "They were ones that would have been likely to have been sold or be a nice gift for someone."

Investigators with the city's police and personnel departments began probing the disappearances in April. Since then, the animal services agency has added new locks at the Lincoln Heights shelter and changed some of the personnel assigned there.

Barnette would not say if any employees had been placed on leave.

Comments

[Halsey]

10:33 AM on 06/02/2011

I fear both dog fight bait puppies AND medical labs. This got me thinking about the torture of animals for research. I myself, HOPE/Believe now 2 years out, that I've beat aggressive cancer; yet it is a clouded happiness as I know many animals suffered so I could live. I think (don't know) that if I had to WATCH the experiments before getting chemo, etc. I'd probably say, better we just die that cause so much pain. We all die anyway. Sorry, I got off track worrying about these animals. This certainly warrants much deeper investigation and jail time if/when the perps taking these dogs (cats,etc) are found. Losing their jobs is NOT enough.

[BluePrideStephen]

07:33 PM on 06/01/2011

I'm convinced there's somethin' awry @ the pounds in LA County... In eighteen months of earnest looking, each and every puppy I inquired about was somehow 'on a wait list' 'not ready to be adopted' 'in quaranteen' 'too soon to release' 'on hold' etc... Not until I cornered a vet and asked insistently why NONE of the pups were ever available did I receive a satisfactory response and was led to 3 adoptable pups which had just been brought in that morning.

I don't know if it's the puppy mills, the pet stores or fighters, but there's definately something amiss in LA County.

[kkmousse]

02:54 PM on 06/02/2011

It is sickening some of the horrors that are out there. I just wish that people would have their pets neutered to prevent unwanted puppies or kittens or what ever. If you do not want to take care of the results, then be sure to prevent it from happening. There are many programs out there to help pay for these services or do them free of charge. This is the first place I would look at.
If there were no unwanted there would be no need for a shelter at all. Then the evil doers would have to look elsewhere or even at themselves to use as bait. ugh! Only in a perfect world. My sister in TN told me stories of the local dog warden that would put animals down without the three day waiting period so that the owners might find them. Send them to a research lab. It is just sickening. You wonder sometimes about the workers but you can have a evil doer employed and not even know it.

[mlaiuppa]

06:05 PM on 06/01/2011

Or bait to train fighting dogs.

I was warned in my neighborhood to keep my puppy indoors or in the backyard behind a really tall fence as puppies were known to be stolen from the front yard by people just reaching down to take them to use as bait.

Dog fighting is beyond disgusting. It's the owners that are animals. (And no, I don't forgive Vick. Ever.)

[oxford85]

10:06 AM on 06/02/2011

AMEN!!

[mad catter]

04:49 PM on 06/01/2011

Just because she said they would make good gifts doesn't mean she thinks giving animals as gifts is a good idea. That's not logical. If she said they might be for dog fights does that mean she is pro-dog fighting? No.

[DMSmith]

04:33 PM on 06/01/2011

Management needs to be investigated - how many missing is needed before they investigate? 5? 10? 30? How about two - establishing a pattern. It should never have reached 6, let alone 40 or more.
FIRE the management.

[cratic497]

03:00 PM on 06/01/2011

Free the dogs and cats....

[HHUA]

11:39 AM on 06/01/2011

Sadly, some or most of these animals were stolen to be used as bait for dog fighters.

As for this comment by the manager there "They were ones that would have been likely to have been sold or be a nice gift for someone." Gives some insight into the irresponsible nature in general of this particular shelter. It is NEVER recommended to give animals as "gifts".

[oxford85]

12:35 PM on 06/01/2011

This is just sickening. If they weren't stolen for bait, the young healthy ones were probably sold off to class B kennels for experimentation. Humans should be registered before aquiring or breeding any animal and steep fines should be imposed on those who don't. That would clean up the kill shelters in no time.

[HHUA]

01:08 AM on 06/02/2011

I agree 100% that people should have to get a license to own a pet. Not only for the sake of the animals but our irresponsible throw-away culture where pets are concerned puts a huge costly burden on society. It's not the dog that needs the license... It's definitely the people!!!

[camanokat]

12:37 PM on 06/01/2011

I was thinking it meant that parents were getting pets for their children.