Los Angeles, CA — Monday, Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (spcaLA) was left reeling by a 30-day eviction order from the City of Long Beach taped to the charity’s front door. Today, spcaLA responds to some of the misleading information presented by the City, and vows to fight and remain.
Further, spcaLA states: The City has manufactured claims in a bad faith effort to wrest control of the facility away from spcaLA, after spcaLA spent millions of dollars developing the facility and after the City has received devastating press coverage regarding the City’s own failures at the City-controlled portion of the facility. There is no truth to the City’s claim regarding use of common shared space, which spcaLA has always handled consistently with the lease terms. With respect to Long Beach Animal Care Services animals, in 2019, the leadership at Long Beach Animal Care Services affirmatively requested that spcaLA stop taking their animals for adoption. spcaLA has nonetheless continued to accept their animals for adoption when asked and when there is room. The lease between the parties has approximately 30 years left, and spcaLA intends to vigorously defend its right to maintain possession and to continue to provide critical services to the City of Long Beach.
Programs and services germane to spcaLA PD Pitchford Companion Animal Village & Education Center in Long Beach, in addition to pet adoptions include the Animal Safety Net (ASN)™, a program for
to care for pets of the survivors of domestic violence and families in crisis including including persons in substance abuse disorder recovery, mental health treatment, and unhoused people; Teaching Love & Compassion (TLC)™, a violence intervention program for youth, which incidentally, began a new session this week at Keller Dual Immersion Middle School in East Long Beach; Dog Training classes, which have helped thousands of companions strengthen the human-animal bond and keep adopted dogs from returning to the animal shelter; Pet Care Workshops, that teach children 6 to 12-years-old about caring for animals and the importance of kindness to all living things; and Friends for Life Summer Camp™, held at spcaLA Long Beach every summer since 2004, which thousands of Long Beach youth have attended.
Despite the abrupt escalation by the City of Long Beach, spcaLA intends to continue to offer programs and services that support and uplift the animals and community the agency serves and programs that are beloved by the community.
In the late 1990s, the City of Long Beach asked spcaLA, an animal welfare nonprofit, to help the City with its animal overpopulation crisis. spcaLA did just that — the charity used its fundraising abilities and community connections to build the multi-million-dollar Companion Animal Village, elevating the reputation of the City nationwide. Long Beach, a city with a 3.6 billion dollar budget, ended spcaLA’s 26 year partnership with a 30-day eviction notice.