ADOPTABLES; CITY TRIES TO FIND HOMES FOR ITS SHELTER ANIMALS.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer It was love at first sight for 3-year-old North Hollywood resident Anthony Canales. During the city's announcement Saturday of its new Partners for Life program aimed at finding homes for 100 percent of adoptable dogs and cats at the East Valley Animal Shelter "Dog Pound" redirects here. For the rap group, see Tha Dogg Pound. An animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats. , Canales fell in love with the 2-month-old tan puppy with white paws. Canales first spotted the German shepherd-Labrador mix when Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. was holding the dog, announcing the program designed to reduce the number of dogs and cats euthanized 50,000 each year in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. alone. ``This is my new friend,'' said Riordan. ``Lover, I'll call him. After getting beat up every day at City Hall, it's nice to come home and have a dog kiss you in the face. It makes life worthwhile.'' But Riordan said he wasn't going to adopt the puppy because he already has a dog he adopted years ago. That was just fine with Canales and his parents, Jose and Barbara, who had visited the shelter for weeks looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a puppy and waited three hours Saturday morning. ``He's so happy to have a little dog,'' said Jose, as he sat in a grassy area at the shelter, watching the puppy chase and jump up on their son. ``But I don't think we'll call it Lover. It's a girl. We'll call her Love.'' ``I'll call her Amor - Spanish for Love,'' said Barbara, the boy's mother. The adoption of Love was one of the first on Saturday after Riordan and animal services officials announced the new program. From June when the program began until the end of September, volunteers and animal control workers have helped increase the percentage of healthy dogs adopted from 48-52 percent and healthy cats from 48-67 percent, said Dan Knapp, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services. The program, supported by a myriad of volunteer animal organizations, is a pilot program aimed at placing 100 percent of healthy and temperamentally sound dogs and pets into homes. Once the East Valley shelter's program becomes established, the department plans to designate one of its other six shelters as a ``life-orientated facility.'' ``One day, we'll be able to say to the rest of the nation, it started in this great city,'' Knapp said. The program is a way to deal with the city's overpopulation overpopulation Situation in which the number of individuals of a given species exceeds the number that its environment can sustain. Possible consequences are environmental deterioration, impaired quality of life, and a population crash (sudden reduction in numbers caused by of stray dogs and cats. Officials estimate 44,000 stray dogs roam the city's streets. In 1998, the city euthanized 75 percent of the 80,000 dogs and cats taken in by shelters. ``Unfortunately, the cruelties of pet overpopulation continue to mean we must euthanize euthanize see euthanatize. dogs and cats for illnesses, injuries or behavioral problems,'' Knapp said. ``Space is our worst enemy, but one day this, too, will be mitigated. The city is working toward improving, replacing or building new animal shelters.'' Funds have been designated in this year's budget for a facility study, which city leaders believe will be the first significant step toward planning new animal care facilities. About a dozen nonprofit animal welfare organizations are assisting the shelter in the program through increased mobile adoptions, reuniting lost pets with their owners and assisting with adoption placement. The plan relies on help from volunteers, who will work at the shelter to provide counseling and education for people who adopt or give up animals. The volunteers will also work the phones to find homes for animals on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of euthanasia. About 75 volunteers signed up, but Partners for Life Executive Director Kelly Dwyer said they are looking for more. ``We're going to educate the public on spaying spaying: see castration. and neutering neu·ter adj. 1. Grammar a. Neither masculine nor feminine in gender. b. Neither active nor passive; intransitive. Used of verbs. 2. a. , bring awareness to the shelter system and make the shelter a friendlier place to be,'' Dwyer said. Visitors will be provided with information on low-cost shot clinics and spay spay v. To surgically remove the ovaries of an animal. spay, spey to remove the ovaries. See also ovariohysterectomy. spay hook see spay hook. and neuter neu·ter adj. 1. Having undeveloped or imperfectly developed sexual organs. 2. Sexually undeveloped. n. A castrated animal. v. To castrate or spay. neuter 1. programs. Vouchers worth $20 and $30 are available to those who want to sterilize sterilize /ster·i·lize/ (ster´i-liz) 1. to render sterile; to free from microorganisms. 2. to render incapable of reproduction. ster·il·ize v. 1. their animals. Free dog-training seminars will be held monthly at the shelter. Volunteers are needed for the program. For more information, call (818) 710-9898. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) A puppy named Love, held by Laura Welch of Animal Control, found a new home with Barbara Canales, left, and her son, Jose, 2. (2) Gloria Johnson, a volunteer with A New Leash on Life, shows a furry feline at East Valley Animal Shelter's open house Saturday. David R. Crane/Staff Photographer |
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