Citing long-running contract violations, Long Beach has terminated its partnership with the animal welfare nonprofit that has — for decades — worked out of the city’s animal shelter to rescue and adopt out unwanted pets.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles now has 30 days to vacate the shelter campus adjacent to El Dorado Regional Park. It has shared the facility with the city-run Long Beach Animal Care Services since 2001, city officials said.
If SPCALA doesn’t vacate by March 26, Long Beach is “prepared to initiate legal action,” City Manager Tom Modica said.
City officials say SPCALA violated the terms of a long-term agreement with the city by taking control of more than 50% of the shared campus, failing to report its number of animal adoptions, transfers or sales since April 2020, and “drastically” decreasing its intake of adoptable animals from the city’s Animal Care Services — forcing the city-controlled portion of the facility to commonly run at or over capacity.
In a statement released after the city’s announcement, SPCALA said the decision “came as a complete surprise.” The SPCALA’s president said the eviction appeared to be in retaliation for concerns the nonprofit raised about animal care at the shelter under its previous city manager, Staycee Dains, who left her job for a position in the city of Los Angeles before resigning from her new job last year.
“Citing petty and already-resolved issues, the City is now attempting to terminate an agreement set to expire in 2053,” SPCALA President Madeline Bernstein said. “The City’s actions are retaliatory, frivolous, and in the worst interest of the animals and people of our community.”
Under the lease and leaseback agreement, which began in 1998 and ran through July 1, 2053, SPCALA paid Long Beach $120 annually and split the operational costs of the shared campus 50-50.
In exchange, SPCALA was meant to handle a majority of the animal adoption efforts and pay for groundskeeping and maintenance.
“While this contract termination may seem sudden, I want to be clear that we did not make this decision lightly,” Modica said. “This action comes after extensive, careful evaluation and after years of diligently trying to work with SPCALA to correct contract violations and agree in a collaborative agreement.”
Despite having less space to operate, Animal Care Services has been shouldering a heavier and heavier load as it tried to adopt out pets, according to the city.
In 2019, SPCALA took in 1,341 adoptable animals from Animal Care Services, while the Long Beach agency adopted out 989 pets on its own, according to the city. By contrast, last year, those numbers shifted to 76 adoptable animals taken in by SPCALA and 2,159 adoptable animals “rehomed” by Animal Care Services.
In its statement, SPCLA called this data “distorted.” The nonprofit said the city’s decision to evict them will put “unnecessary hardship on homeless animals.” It “intends to vigorously defend its rights in order to continue providing its programs and services in Long Beach.”
Long Beach officials said they doesn’t expect city shelter operations will be disrupted. Long Beach animal care staff will work with the SPCALA during the transition period to ensure “all animals are properly cared for,” Modica said.
SPCALA also has adoption centers in Hawthorne and Crenshaw. It’s been operating in Southern California since 1877. Beyond shelter work, it also handles cruelty investigations and major operations like caring for animals during disaster response.
SPCLA said its efforts were a boon to Long Beach, elevating its profile while helping to local pet population
“Our intention is not in any way to shine a negative light on SPCALA,” Mayor Rex Richardson said, “the decision to terminate our agreement with the organization comes from years of an inequitable partnership that has negatively impacted our operations.”
In recent years, Long Beach hired its own team dedicated to getting animals adopted, said Animal Care Services Bureau Manager Melanie Wagner.
The agency went from no adoption counselors or foster coordinators to two adoption counselors, a foster coordinator and a rescue coordinator, all working full time, Wagner said.
In 2021, Animal Care Services had an operating budget of $5.5 million. Currently, that budget is $7.8 million with 51 full-time staff members, according to the city.
That staff was working on 19% of the shared campus, which kept the city-run portion of the shelter at or over capacity in recent years, according to the city.
Once SPCALA vacates the facility, Long Beach animal care staff will “assess the condition of the facility” and determine how to “expand operations,” Wagner said.
In the short term, staff will have more space to isolate sick animals and reduce overcrowding for healthy dogs and cats.
“We do our best … but it is really dog and cat Tetris very often,” Wagner said.
The long-term goal is to create an open-intake facility where no animals have to be turned away and establish an in-house Trap-Neuter-Return program to help manage the city’s feral cat population, Wagner said.
The city expects to dedicate more funding to Animal Care Services and hire more full-time staff in the next year’s fiscal budget, Modica said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with a statement from SPCALA.