spcaLA to continue providing lifesaving animal care services to Long Beach and surrounding communities
Los Angeles, CA — The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) has secured a significant legal victory against the City of Long Beach (the City), successfully preserving the 150-year-old charity’s right to continue operations at the spcaLA P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village and Education Center (the Village). The ruling blocks the City’s attempt to prematurely terminate spcaLA’s tenancy, which exists through a longstanding 55-year lease agreement and prevents the attempt to forcefully evict spcaLA from the Village, where it provides lifesaving care to thousands of animals each year (Case Number 25STCV07086).
“With yesterday’s result, the City’s strongarm tactics, manufactured allegations, and efforts to cover-up its own ineptitude and failures were exposed for what they are: the actions of a bully,” spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein. “The City’s efforts to terminate spcaLA’s tenancy would put the well-being of our community in jeopardy. spcaLA will always be on the side on the people and animals we serve.”
“This is a victory for the animals and people of our community,” Bernstein continued. “We are grateful to the Court for finding that spcaLA is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim and that the City’s efforts to terminate spcaLA’s tenancy are invalid. We remain committed to providing lifesaving care for animals and essential education and violence prevention programs to our community.”
On June 25, 2025, the Los Angeles County Superior Court granted spcaLA’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the City. In her tentative ruling, adopted as final, the Honorable Judge Doreen B. Boxer stated that spcaLA is “likely to succeed on the merits of its claims based upon allegations of no material violations of the terms of the contracts that would justify terminating them.”
spcaLA and the City have been partners since 1998, when the City first sought spcaLA’s assistance to address the City’s shelter overpopulation crisis. Since that time, spcaLA has helped to reduce the City’s annual animal intake from approximately 14,000 to less than 5,000, demonstrating a significant drop in the population of homeless and abused animals in the Long Beach area.
Since spcaLA established operations at the Village, more than 45,000 pets have found loving homes through spcaLA adoptions, and more than 11,500 youth have participated in spcaLA summer camps and education initiatives. Hundreds of students have graduated from spcaLA’s Teaching Love & Compassion (TLC)™ violence prevention program in Long Beach area schools, and in just the past year, more than 700 students have completed spcaLA’s dog training classes.
spcaLA continues to care for hundreds of animals at the Village, providing adoption and essential support services. The organization employs more than 40 staff and instructors at the Village, many of whom call Long Beach home. With this ruling, spcaLA can continue offering these vital programs and services without interruption, including spcaLA’s Friends for Life Summer Camp™, which began sessions this past Monday. In its twenty-first year, spcaLA’s camp offers youth a unique opportunity to help train shelter dogs, learn care, responsibility, and respect for animals, all while having fun with friends. Spots are still available for youth ages 9-12, visit spcaLA.com/camp to enroll.
spcaLA is an independent, nonprofit animal welfare organization that has served Southern California since 1877. To learn more about spcaLA and the organization’s programs and services, visit spcaLA.com.