ANIMAL WATCH

ANIMAL WATCH-On March 29, 2021, an Ohio Grand Jury issued a Supersede Indictment for 53 counts against Steffen Baldwin, aka Steffen Finkelstein, co-founder of the nonprofit Underdog Alliance and Save Them Dogs in Acton, CA, who advocated for dangerous, last-chance Pit Bulls and “No Kill.”  

ANIMAL WATCH-At 1:00 p.m. on May 7, her last day as General Manager of Los Angeles Animal Services, Brenda Barnette issued the announcement that she launched the Safety Net Foster Program for LA City residents “facing a crisis and needing short-term housing for their pet.” 

ANIMAL WATCH-A “rescued Dogo Argentino-mix” (or white Pit Bull) named Brody, was reported stabbed and beaten on April 12 at a “foster home” in California City where he was placed by Ace of Hearts dog rescue

ANIMAL WATCH-A vicious dog attack at the home of Chris Brown occurred on December 12, 2020,

ANIMAL WATCH-GM Brenda Barnette did not present the “Fear-Free Sheltering” concept at the April 13 Los Angeles Animal Services Commission meeting,

ANIMAL WATCH-The stern face of a Pit Bull adorns the Best Friends’ Animal Society’s Facebook  announcement, “Together, We Made LA a No-Kill City,” but there is no mention of Los Angeles Animal Services nor General Manager Brenda Barnette as part of this accomplishment.

ANIMAL WATCH-Three Los Angeles County Animal Control Officers from the Public Safety Division, Major Case Unit, of the Department of Animal Care and Control were the first responders at a tragic auto crash on April 1, where the vehicle had burst into flames and was threatening a nearby home. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Brenda Barnette has announced her retirement as General Manager of the LA Animal Services Department, effective in early May. Who will be the new GM? 

ANIMAL WATCH-Major, the shelter dog fostered by President Joe Biden as a puppy and then adopted from the Delaware Humane Society, has bitten twice since being moved into the White House, with the first bite on March 8 and CNN reporting a second bite last Monday. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Final-investigation documents obtained from Los Angeles Animal Services reveal gruesome photos and details of the vicious dog attack on a housekeeper at the Tarzana, CA, home of singer-rapper Chris Brown on December 12, 2020. 

ANIMAL WATCH-A young West Los Angeles couple, wanting to adopt a dog as a pet for the family they were planning in the near future, attended a Los Angeles Animal Services mobile pet adoption event in September 2019 and was encouraged to consider a six-year-old Pit Bull, named “Big Man,” which came with a price discount and an 8-week training program at the Lancaster, California, maximum-security prison. 

ANIMAL WATCH--It should not have been a surprise to anyone that Major, the three-year-old adopted German Shepherd brought to the White House by Joe and Jill Biden, bit a security guard. 

ANIMAL WATCH-On March 12, LA Animal Services GM Brenda Barnette callously and boastfully announced that Los Angeles has reached the Best Friends Animal Society “No Kill” goal for the city’s animal shelters due to efforts of “the city, LA Animal Services, a coalition of animal welfare organizations, compassionate leaders and a dedicated community.”    

ANIMAL WATCH-During a brief lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in May 2020, a San Diego man took his Pit Bull to a San Diego-area park, where an aggressive coyote jumped a six-foot fence to attack the dog. 

ANIMAL WATCH-On February 18, 2021, Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette (photo above) submitted a brief two-page letter to Councilman Paul Koretz and the City Council, abruptly revising her recent reconstitution proposal,

ANIMAL WATCH-Since 2010 the seminal obligation of Los Angeles Animal Services to maintain animal-law enforcement and protection has been intentionally destabilized by General Manager Brenda Barnette in her mania to achieve the Best Friends Animal Society mythical "No Kill" goal. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette is determined that she will not open the West Valley Animal Shelter for the intake of strays and lost pets -- this shelter has one of the highest intake rates in the City.

ANIMAL WATCH-On January 27, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Bloodsport Team seized 70 roosters in an investigation of a possible cockfighting operation in LLanos, California, an unincorporated area southeast of Palmdale in Los Angeles County. 

ANIMAL WATCH-When Los Angeles General Manager Brenda Barnette received approval by the Los Angeles City Council for an estimated $60M Citywide Feral Cat-TNR Program in November 2020,

ANIMAL WATCH-On January 18, 2021, CityWatch broke the news that Los Angeles Animal Services is investigating a dog attack which occurred in the home of popular singer-rapper Chris Brown at 19602 Citrus Ridge Drive, Tarzana, CA, on December 12, 2020. 

ANIMAL WATCH-Prior to "rescuing" animals becoming big business, Los Angeles Animal Services and other municipal sheltering agencies focused on rescuing strays from the streets, investigating  reports of cruelty, abandonment, or neglect;

ANIMAL POLITICS--While most of us are hoping and even expecting a happier New Year in 2021, it is certain to be a very unhappy and even tragic year for countless animals in Los Angeles, thanks to LAPD Chief Moore unilaterally disbanding the historic LAPD Animal Cruelty Task Force. 

ANIMAL WATCH-A Los Angeles Animal Services memo on December 21, 2020, to the LA County Health Department confirms it is investigating a dog attack at 19602 Citrus Ridge Drive, Tarzana CA -- the home of Rapper Chris Brown -- which occurred on December 12.

ANIMAL WATCH-A bloody year of Pit Bull attacks on children (and adults) ended with one less death, as an off-duty Boston police officer acted valiantly and instinctively to save the life of a helpless 11-year-old boy being mauled viciously in a backyard, illustrating another reason police departments across the U.S. should not be defunded. 

ANIMAL WATCH-A rescuer trying to "save" a dog named Maximus, whose behavior was so vicious he was described by Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette as a "danger to staff," suffered a savage bite while attempting to give him a pill to calm him down -- in other words, "drug him." 

ANIMAL WATCH-Steffan Baldwin, former Los Angeles Pit Bull advocate/rescuer and dangerous dog trainer, "flunks drug test, violates bond," according to an Ohio MJT headline on December 17, 2020. 

ANIMAL WATCH-On December 10, 2020, just two weeks before Christmas, LA City Attorney Mike Feuer announced --

ANIMAL WATCH-Steve Cooley, the popular Los Angeles County District Attorney who served from 2000 to 2012 and who created the DA's animal cruelty prosecution program, has been speaking out publicly and candidly expressing his serious concerns about the election of George Gascón to head the D.A.'s office. 

ANIMAL WATCH-While Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette boasts loudly and often about clearing the shelters of dogs and cats during the COVID-19 pandemic, she's been silent on the invasion by rats --

ANIMAL WATCH--Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette told the Board of Animal Services Commission this week that she wants the Los Angeles Police Department to pay any veterinarian bills accrued due to shooting a dog in the line of duty--a charge she understands is currently paid by L.A. Animal  Services.