LA City Council votes to approve temporary moratorium on dog breeding permits

Los Angeles City Council members on Tuesday approved a temporary moratorium on dog breeding permits, hopeful that it will address the overpopulation currently plaguing animal shelters across the county. 

The ordinance was unanimously approved in a 13-0 vote. 

Once shelters reach or fall below 75% capacity for three straight months, the moratorium can be lifted. But, if it does rise above that threshold again, it can be automatically reinstated. 

City officials made sure to note that the moratorium is only temporary until shelters are able to get the upper hand on the issue that has been plaguing them since the coronavirus pandemic. It only applies to dogs, because shelters report an influx of purebred dogs being dropped off in recent months. 

"They're overwhelmed with animals and the conditions are completely unacceptable," said Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, who chairs the city council's Neighborhoods and Community Enrichment Committee. "This is both an inflow and outflow problem."

She said that not enough animals are being adopted or fostered, and on top of that more animals are coming to shelters because of a lack of pet-friendly rental units, the wave of animals being dropped off in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and pets that have not been spayed or neutered.

"Los Angeles legislators have taken their first decisive action to curb the city's ballooning homeless-animal overpopulation crisis by hitting it at the source — the breeders who've been churning out even more animals in a city already bursting with abandonded dogs and cats," said PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange in a statement. "PETA is celebrating that L.A. is now one step closer to getting its arms around this emergency."

They also called on Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles Animal Services to do their parts by enforcing the spay/neuter law in place and requiring shelters to offer refuge to all in need. 

Hernandez, who introduced the motion, says that the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services issued more than 1,100 breeding permits in the first half of 2023. 

"It is unacceptable for the city to continue issuing breeding permits, while thousands of animals are suffering from overcrowded conditions in our shelters," she said. "This is just to get us to a place where our shelters are manageable."

She says that the city will need to continue taking action against shelter conditions and that they "cannot allow" animals to suffer as a result of "poor policy and budgeting decisions."

Councilwoman Traci Park echoed her sentiment, noting that the city should use every possible tool to bring the shelter population down to more manageable levels. 

"Hopefully, it will help alleviate some of the burnout among our shelter staff and some of the suffering experienced by animals in our community," Park said. "We need to take a hard look at all of our policies that may be contributing to the circumstances and ensure that Animal Services has the funding and resources that it needs to care for the animals in their custody."

Both Monica Rodriguez and Katy Yaroslavsky were not on hand for the vote.