SPCALA Fighting Eviction Notice from Long Beach Animal Shelter

LONG BEACH, CA — The LA Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Wednesday blasted Long Beach officials for what they claim is a 30-day eviction order taped to the charity's front door in the city.

Long Beach this week announced changes to its Animal Care Services that the city says will enhance future operations and create long-term benefits for the roughly 4,000 animals who come under its care each year.

After a 26-year partnership, the city terminated its lease and lease- back agreement with spcaLA due to what it calls "several areas of non- compliance" with the pact, which since 2001 has seen spcaLA oversee operations of Long Beach's animal adoption center at 7700 E. Spring St., city officials said.

But according to spcaLA, Long Beach 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."

In addition to Long Beach, Long Beach Animal Care Services provides animal care to the communities of Los Alamitos, Cerritos and Signal Hill.

Long Beach 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. The intention of the partnership, according to the city, 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.

As part of the pact, spcaLA was to take responsibility for groundskeeping, maintenance and animal adoptions, leaving the city to focus on critical animal control issues and stray animal intakes, Long Beach officials said.

As part of the agreement, it was understood that both organizations would work together to assist the other in fulfilling their primary goals, according to the city.

"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," spcaLA said in a statement Wednesday. "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."

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement this week that the time had come "to embark on a new journey to better serve our animals and communities. 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."

Under the contract, the city said it pays 50% of operating costs for the entire campus and is afforded the right to share the common areas with spcaLA. The city owns the land where the campus is located and the contract includes a lease and lease-back 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, according to Long Beach officials.

Currently, the city says it 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 well-being of shelter animals, according to LBACS.

The city has repeatedly attempted to address these concerns with spcaLA, to no avail, according to LBACS.

According to spcaLA, "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, programs that are beloved by the community."

City News Service