PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA – Today, the City of Long Beach announced upcoming changes to Long Beach Animal Care Services (LBACS) that will enhance the future operations of the campus and create long-term benefits for the animals that come under the City’s care. After a 26-year partnership, the City has terminated its Lease and Leaseback agreement with spcaLA due to several areas of non-compliance with the agreement, which since 2001 has overseen operations of the animal adoption center located on the campus.

“While we appreciate aspects of our longstanding partnership with spcaLA, the time has come to embark on a new journey to better serve our animals and communities,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “This transition will allow us to provide a higher level of care and quality of life for the animals who come into our space as well as enhance the critical animal care services we provide for Long Beach and other adjacent cities.”

Approximately 4,000 animals enter the care and responsibility of LBACS annually. Providing quality care that supports the safety, health and wellbeing of all animals is of utmost importance. By upholding its guiding principles of animal wellbeing, data-based decision making and fostering community partnerships, LBACS cultivates an environment of care through community education, enrichment and innovative programs. In addition to Long Beach, LBACS provides animal care services to communities of Los Alamitos, Cerritos and Signal Hill.

The City first entered into a contract with spcaLA in October 1998 to address the overwhelming euthanasia rates that Long Beach, among other municipal shelters, was experiencing at the time and to help find more positive outcomes for animals entering the facility. The intention of the partnership was for spcaLA to construct and operate a modern state-of-the-art campus that provided both animal control facilities, led by LBACS, and an adoption center, managed by spcaLA. The intention of the partnership was for spcaLA to take responsibility for groundskeeping, maintenance and animal adoptions, leaving LBACS to focus on critical animal control issues and stray animal intakes. As part of this agreement, it was the understanding that both organizations would work together to assist the other in fulfilling their primary goals at the time. Under the contract, the City pays 50% of operating costs for the entire campus and is afforded the right to share with spcaLA the common areas of the campus. The City owns the land where the campus is located; the contract includes a Lease and Leaseback agreement, both of which were signed on Oct. 2, 1998, and were valid until 2053. The LBACS campus opened to the public in 2001.

Over the years, spcaLA has taken control of more than 50% of the campus, forcing the City to incrementally decrease its operating footprint and significantly limiting the City’s use of the shared common areas; currently, the City has unrestricted access to only approximately 19% of the campus. This has caused strain on LBACS and negatively impacted operations by keeping the shelter at or over capacity and affecting the health and wellbeing of shelter animals. The City has repeatedly attempted to address these concerns with spcaLA, to no avail.

Above: Pie chart demonstrates the estimated inequitable use and control of common areas between
LBACS and spcaLA. Currently, LBACS has sole control and use of approximately 19% of the facility compared to spcaLA at 49%. The remaining 32% is considered "shared space," but is controlled by spcaLA. LBACS has to ask spcaLA for permission and reserve the "shared space" two months in advance.
The current amount of space is insufficient to support LBACS's growing operations and impacts the quality of care and services to the community.

Additionally, spcaLA is in violation of Long Beach Municipal Code Section 6.16.190(J)(3) requiring the reporting of animal adoptions, transfers or sales, with the last report submitted to the City occurring on or before April 1, 2020. Animal adoption reports are an accountability measure required by the City to ensure proper reporting and transparency of operations within City limits. spcaLA has neglected to submit these reports for nearly five years, which are required by law. They have also been unwilling to provide any insight into their operations which has caused ongoing strain on our partnership.

Despite the limited physical space, LBACS’ work has grown significantly over the past two decades through enhancements in community-based programming and proactive strategies using the Compassion Saves service model as a guiding framework and emphasizing community outreach, education, guidance and supportive services through various key initiatives.

Furthermore, consecutively since 2015, spcaLA has drastically decreased its intake of adoptable LBACS animals, leaving LBACS to handle both animal control/care services and animal adoptions. When the City first entered into contract with spcaLA, per the contract, spcaLA was the sole entity responsible for animal adoptions; however, over the years the organization continued to take fewer and fewer adoptable animals from LBACS’ care to adopt out, which forced LBACS to increase its animal adoption efforts to mitigate shelter overcrowding and other animal welfare circumstances while also continuing to conduct critical animal control and care services.

For example, in 2024, LBACS facilitated positive outcomes for 2,159 adoptable animals, identified as the number of adoptable dogs and cats adopted by community members from the LBACS facility or transferred to rescue organizations for adoption, while spcaLA took only 76 adoptable animals from LBACS to be adopted out. Comparatively in 2011, spcaLA took 2,856 adoptable animals to adopt out, while LBACS had 277. The City does not have access to the total number of LBACS animals that were adopted out by spcaLA due to their violation of Municipal Code Section 6.16.190(J)(3) requiring reporting of animal adoptions, transfers or sales.

Above: Bar graph depicts the decrease in spcaLA’s intake of adoptable Long Beach Animal Care Services animals (light blue). Comparatively, graph shows the increase in positive outcomes, identified as the number of adoptable dogs and cats adopted by community members from the LBACS facility or transferred to rescue organizations for adoption, performed by Long Beach Animal Care Services since 2010 (dark blue).

As a result of the above-mentioned violations of the Lease and Leaseback, among other violations, the City has determined that spcaLA no longer aligns with the City’s vision nor uplifts LBACS efforts. After thorough evaluation and careful consideration, the City has terminated its contract with the organization. In a good-faith effort, the City is allowing spcaLA up to 30 days to relocate its operation, instead of the legal standard of three days, out of compassion and safety for the animals under spcaLA's care. spcaLA must vacate the premises by March 26.

“We did not make this decision lightly. This comes after years of diligently trying to work with spcaLA to agree on a collaborative arrangement and to implement higher quality care for our animals so that we can move forward with a positive partnership for the sake of the animals and communities we serve,” said City Manager Tom Modica. “We are committed to providing the best possible care for animals, and after careful review, we determined we must step away from this partnership. We express our appreciation to spcaLA for their partnership and wish them well in their future endeavors.”

The City is hopeful this termination will ensue a respectful and professional departure from spcaLA over the next 30 days. Should that not occur, the City is prepared to initiate legal action. The City will ensure all animals are cared for through this transition, whether by spcaLA or the City, and will take action to continue adoptions and certain public-facing programs.

LBACS proudly offers over a dozen community-based programs and services and does not anticipate any negative impacts to its current operations as a result of this contract termination. LBACS will immediately begin engaging with partner rescue organizations to enhance adoption efforts, including adding more community adoption events and bringing organizations in to help support in-house adoptions. Once spcaLA has vacated the premises, LBACS will assess the conditions of the vacant space and address any necessary maintenance and facility needs so that it can expand operations to the rest of the campus. This includes moving dogs into larger, more spacious kennels and cats into open shared rooms and creating proper medical isolation rooms for sick animals, options currently not attainable due to the inequitable shared space. During this time, the City will continue to solidify more medium- and long-term operations plans and partnerships.

Moving forward, the future of LBACS is optimistic. With this transition, LBACS will:

• Boost the comfort and wellbeing of shelter animals by providing larger, more open living quarters for dogs and cats, which will in turn create calmer, friendlier demeanors and lead to higher adoption rates and lower euthanasia rates.
• Mitigate common shelter illnesses and health issues with the implementation of proper medical isolation areas for sick animals, reducing length of stay and increasing positive outcomes for shelter animals.
• Implement partnerships with rescue organizations to enhance adoption visibility and success by bringing in partners to support in-house adoptions, expand community adoption events and implement other animal care services on the campus.
• Strengthen partnerships between LBACS, nonprofit partners and the community by increasing donations and financial support for shelter initiatives.
• Implement low-cost, high-volume pet medicine and medical care services by developing an in-house veterinary medical facility to provide easily accessible and affordable pet care options for community members and in turn foster responsible pet ownership and reduce intake rates.
• Decrease animal overpopulation by implementing an in-house trap, neuter and return program with a partner organization.
• Continue offering dog training classes to the public, including the addition of free dog behavior support via a nonprofit partner.

“Compassion Saves is our model at Long Beach Animal Care Services, and it is reflected in every action we take to better the care and services we provide our animals and community,” said Melanie Wagner, Long Beach Animal Care Services Bureau Manager. “And while I am so proud of the work that we do to reflect that model, this transition will allow us to take even more meaningful action — it means we can expand our operations, give these animals the best chance for a happy and healthy life outside of the shelter, and adapt new and innovative ways to support our community that relies on us.”

The City’s long-term goal is to become an open intake facility, meaning it will not have to turn away any animals in need of shelter or care. This transition, accompanied by the objectives outlined above, gives LBACS the opportunity to achieve this goal.

In effort to educate the community about responsible pet ownership and the importance of adoptions, LBACS regularly hosts in-house adoption specials and community adoption events alongside partner rescue organizations. Details about the forthcoming expansion of community adoption events with partnering rescue organizations will be shared at a later date. The City encourages community members to check longbeach.gov/acs for updates.

LBACS currently operates with a full-time staff of 51 and an $7.8 million annual budget. This transition is expected to result in an augmentation of the existing bureau budget to address the additional space and capacity needs. Specific amounts will be reviewed as part of the budget process. Funds may be needed to bring on additional animal care attendants and a full-time in-house maintenance team and used for numerous ongoing operational expenses such as increased annual utility and grounds maintenance costs, animal food and supplies, and the beautification and renovation of new spaces.

LBACS is proud to also have additional support from over 200 dedicated community volunteers who assist with day-to-day in-house operations and animal care services, as well as hosting ongoing special adoption and foster events across Long Beach.

The City is committed to being open and transparent to the community regarding this transition. To help inform community members of this transition, the City created a list of Frequently Asked Questions, available in English, Spanish and Khmer at longbeach.gov/acs. Soon the FAQs will also be available in Tagalog. Questions from community members may be directed to LBACSCommunications@longbeach.gov.

About the City of Long Beach   
Long Beach is nestled along the Southern California coast and home to approximately 466,000 people. As an award-winning full-service charter city, Long Beach offers the amenities of a metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods, culture, and community. With a bustling downtown and over six miles of scenic beaches, Long Beach is a renowned tourist and business destination and home to the iconic Queen Mary, nationally recognized Aquarium of the Pacific and Long Beach Airport, the award-winning Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center and world-class Port of Long Beach.

For more information about the City of Long Beach, visit longbeach.gov/. Follow us on social to keep up with the latest news: Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube. More information about Long Beach Animal Care Services is available at longbeach.gov/acs and on social at @LBAnimalCare on Instagram and Facebook.