Remarks to the Animal Control Commission
We spoke before the animal control commission in early September to bring
this terrible issue to their attention. They have promised us action. Please see
our remarks below.
For more than three years, American Tortoise Rescue, a national nonprofit based
in Malibu, has received complaints from its Los Angeles members and from average
citizens about the illegal sale of animals, including illegal hatchling water
turtles, on and around Santee Alley. This includes Chinatown, the Fashion
District, Los Angeles Street, Olympic Blvd., and Maple.
Each time we receive a call, we contact both the SPCA-LA and the animal control
officers of record. In addition, we place calls and send letters to the office
of the County Animal Care and Control director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, Dept. of
Fish & Game, as well as to Mr. Dan Knapp.
We ask the people who complain to us by FAX, email, or phone to also complain.
To date, we have received few callbacks, faxes, or emails in response to our
complaints. When we do manage to snag the attention of an officer, they say that
they have more pressing problems or that they will look into it. No one ever
calls us back.
The last call we received was on August 28 from a visibly distraught young man
who had just returned from Santee Alley. It was the proverbial straw that broke
the camel's back. We took our still and video cameras to Santee Alley on Sunday,
September 2 to document the complaints.
While we understand that LAPD and Animal Control had planned to jointly shut
down the sales and confiscate the animals, we were told by an official within
the department that Lt. Pena called it off because quote, "It would be
discriminatory."
We clearly documented the neglect of animals, the illegal sale of animals
according to a number of city, state and federal laws and the blatant disregard
of law enforcement and animal control to take a "do nothing" stand in the face
of selective enforcement based.
We are asking the Commission to begin an inquiry into how this has been allowed
to continue despite numerous complaints. We have set a deadline. Either the
animals, including the illegal turtles, are removed from Santee Alley and other
city streets and stores on a permanent basis by October 1, 2001, or we will
conduct a full-blown demonstration. The date will be kept under wraps. It will
include many animal groups members and concerned citizens, and we will invite
national and local media to take an in-depth look at these blatant violations.
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