Help Save the Rancho Los Amigos Cats
L.A. County officials and Animal Control have been waging all-out war against a managed colony of stray and feral cats who have been living for 40+ years years at Rancho Los Amigos in the City of Downey. Their aim is to trap and kill the cats, prevent TNR groups from feeding them, and other inhumane measures.
From the Fail-Safe 4 Felines web site:
A smaller proportion are household cats, which have been dumped by non-caring owners who no longer want to care for their pets, or pets that have been abandoned by owners moving from nearby housing tracts. These cats live in well managed colonies throughout the large campus, but mainly in the old, abandoned buildings of the campus south of Imperial Highway in what was at one time a nationally recognized center for rehabilitation of war veterans. [Nurses and other staff of the facility started feeding the cats 40 years ago, and the cats remained long after the rehab center closed.]The cats are well fed, vaccinated, microchipped, and receive veterinary care when needed.Fences have been built preventing cats from entering their previously safe haven, crawl spaces under buildings have been boarded up (sometimes trapping the cats inside), "no feeding cats" signs have been posted, and the cats are being trapped and killed, one-by-one.Hundreds of cats lived on the grounds in years past, but with a concerted trap/spay/neuter/return (TNR) program in place by Fail-Safe 4 Felines, Inc., nearly 100% of the cats living there have now been rendered infertile and incapable of reproducing. The population of cats on the campus is now less than half it was just five years ago.
Fail-Safe 4 Felines, whose members manage the cats, have been negotiating with county authorities for over a year, with pleas to closed minds. Please view this YouTube video by whospuss, then contact the L.A. authorities to voice your support for the Fail-Safe 4 Felines' efforts. The County Supervisor's office will tell you to contact L.A. County Animal Control. However, the YouTube video says that the AC is only taking orders from the county. You can find additional information at the Best Friends Animal Society. Donations are also needed!
Contact Information:
County Supervisor Don Knabe
Phone: 213-974-4444
Email: DKnabe@lacbos.org
Fail-Safe 4 Felines
Monica: 562-760-5530 or 562-944-9206
Donations
Comments
This is a heartbreaking story. Why not flood Don Knabe’s email box with a ton of emails begging him to stop. I am sending one right away and I live in Ohio. It’s one way I can help be a voice for the kitties from afar.
Thanks so much, Cheryl! How like you to do whatever you can for cats, even by long distance! BTW, I got you’re email and it’s queued for a reply in the next few days.
Hugs,
Franny
I understand your frustration. It is a sad story. However, it is the law and as a law enforcement officer at the Los Lunas Mall, I can tell you with certainty that the law MUST be obeyed. Since 9-11 law enforcement personnel have had to fight an up hill battle. This is a battle we CAN WIN and we can then be able to divert critical law enforcement rescources to combat real crime and Keep America safe.
Sgt Brad Berkwit, ATAC Law Enforcement Services
Franny, I can’t see the YouTube video, but I think that’s due to our filters here - we can’t see anything on YouTube. I don’t have a computer at home; can you post a transcript or perhaps the highlights of the video? I read and passed along the Web page you linked, but it sounds like there’s more info on the video. Thanks!
P.S. I can’t believe these officials are being so rude to someone who’s helping control the feral population at no expense to them - and in a way that won’t anger the public. How short-sighted and idiotic can a person be?
Brad,
Fail-Safe is obeying the rules. They have agreed to relocate the cats, but what Fail-Safe wants to do is not as easy as the approach taken by LA County Care & Control, which is to have the cats sit at the shelter for 5 days until they get sick and then stick them with a needles so that there last minutes on earth will be one of sheer terror and violence.
Fail-Safe has found a safe sanctuary to relocate these cats. Now it’s all about raising the money to get all of them there. There money and efforts have been diverted now in bailing out the cats that LAACC has captured.
What LA County doesn’t seem to grasp is that once these cats are out, more cats will come and this time all that Don Knabe claims will actually be true. There will be a population explosion because there will be no one to spay/neuter these cats.
All Fail-Safe is asking is for more time to raise funds to move the cats. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars for LAACC to be trapping the cats when Fail-Safe will do it at no expense to the public. LA County is now building a chainlink fence around old abandoned buildings because they don’t have the experience in catching cats. This is ridiculous. With the money they used to build the fence they could have paid for the transport of all the cats up to the sanctuary!!
If this much relentless effort, dedication, and money were actually spent on stopping crime and keeping America safe, heck none of us would ever have to lock our doors!! If this is something they are doing only because it’s easy to pick on a non-profit organization and because they “CAN WIN” well they should be ashamed of themselves. Pathetic.
Nice lesson for the kids too. Do good for others, the community, and protect the weak and you will be the enemy.
B-Rad,
Yes, of course the law must be obeyed. But as pointed out, no laws are being broken, and there are alternatives that don’t result in the deaths of all these cats. Your reference to 9-11 is ridiculous; I don’t think these cats pose any kind of terrorist threat, do you? I think L.A. County has better things to do with resources like time and money, don’t you? Fail-Safe 4 Felines is looking out for the safety of the cats themselves as well as the people in the surrounding area by providing medical care and sterilization, thus reducing the population and preventing the spread of disease. Who’s being hurt by this? Nobody.
Although I am a staunch cat enthusiast, I still think our law enforcement endeavors should be focused on crime, not animal welfare since we have very finite resources at out collective disposal.
Funds for counter terror should be spent on that - counter terror. I agree with BRad and cat man stu.
I called the number for County Supervisor Don Knabe and I was threatened by the person I spoke with. The individual said that if I called again I would be charged with harrassment!! Isn’t it just like those jack-booted thugs to roll over the average little guy who only wants what’s best for our feline neighbors!
AJ
http://firstgiving.com/ranchocats
The office of Don Knabe and crew of Animal Control ARE jack booted thugs, I agree. They need to allow more time and fund raising to help these cats get to safety, if the county won’t let them stay where they are. Today Alley Cat Allies issued a press release to Don Knabe, thank you SO much Alley Cat Allies!! Please donate to help the Rancho cats at firstgiving.com/ranchocats
It is so military-like, this fencing and officers patrolling the area they have fenced the cats into. Hard to believe this could happen in 2008. Seems such a misuse and an abuse of “power.” The main thing is, that this is and has been an excellently managed colony of cats, and I just do not understand how Don Knabe and Animal Care & Control who are following his orders, can remotely justify it in their own minds when they go to sleep at night. They are, as a friend said, treating the cats like rats, as though street vermin. Why don’t they realize that the cats are there due to the irresponsibility of humans in the first place? And why don’t they realize that to do even more irresponsible human actions to the cats, solves absolutely nothing, but is just perpetuating an abusive and horrible cycle?
This is a disgraceful case of blatant, large scale animal abuse. First, Knabe attempted to starve the cats to death by constructing a chain link fence around the abandoned buildings. They posted guards and threatened to arrest anyone who fed the cats. When this method of killing wasn’t fast enough, they boarded up the entrances, entombing the cats inside. Now, there is a suspicion that poison was used as many wild animals have been found dead in the area.
This person should be immediately arrested, tried and thrown in jail for the rest of his miserable life.