EDITORIAL : CANINE STREET GANGS; ROAMING PACKS OF BARKERS AND BITERS JOIN DRIVE-BY SHOOTERS IN TERRORIZING THE CITY.

THERE is an underground society thriving in the city, and its members are about 44,000 strong.

This society is an aggressive group of barkers and biters that is fast replacing gun-toting, drug-dealing gangbangers in some areas.

They are Dalmatians, pit bulls, mutts. They are flea-ridden, dangerous and downright mean. And they are contributing to a growing public safety crisis citywide.

In the San Fernando Valley, wild packs of dogs are prevalent in Pacoima, Sunland, Tujunga and parts of North Hollywood. Tuesday night in Granada Hills, two people were bitten by vicious dogs, though it was unknown if the animals were strays or allowed to roam free by their owners.

No matter what the case, attacks like that occur far too often.

The problem has reached the crisis level because City Hall allowed the Animal Regulation Department to be run poorly for years and then shortchanged it on resources, so it has too few animal control officers to round up the rogue canines effectively. In fact, there are only three officers in the special unit - not even one per million residents.

Animal regulation officials have asked the mayor and City Council to boost the size of the unit in the 1999-2000 budget, but it is unlikely funding will be set aside to do that unless officials wake up to the seriousness of this menace.

Most of any increase in the department's funding, which was $8.2 million last year, is intended for upgrading shelters to ensure that Los Angeles complies with a new state law that requires the city to treat sick dogs and hold them longer before euthanizing them.

The roaming dog packs appear to be a solvable problem, but only if the public starts snapping at City Hall for action.

The mayor needs to look at the city's priorities - millions of dollars given away in the so-called living wage ordinance, for instance - and find funding in his budget proposal.

As reported Sunday in the Daily News, the department wants $262,000 to add eight people to the special dogcatching unit.

It's inconceivable that such a sum of money can't be found in the city's $4 billion budget and another dollop thrown in to rid the city of abandoned buildings that shelter strays and blight whole neighborhoods.

Dog owners who abandon unwanted pets should be dealt with severely. Making a few examples of such offenders might wake up people to the serious consequences of their actions.

This is an issue that must be resolved on several fronts, including education programs on proper pet care and the need for spaying or neutering of pets.

Surely, this problem deserves more serious attention than it has received from a City Hall that spends so much time and money achieving so little.