The ASPCA and Best Friends will work alongside LAAS leadership to implement strategic improvements designed to better serve the Los Angeles community and its animals. The initiative will focus on three core priorities:
- Preventing unnecessary shelter intake via community engagement;
- Improving in-shelter care and operational efficiency to ensure animals receive timely, coordinated care; and
- Increasing positive outcomes for animals such as adoptions, fostering and reunification with owners.
The ASPCA and Best Friends are committed to supporting LAAS over an initial three-year period, and, as part of the agreement, LAAS will commit to maintaining key positions and continuing programmatic advancements for an additional three years following the grant period, ensuring long-term impact.
"Animal sheltering nationwide has undergone a dramatic shift in recent years—from simply housing animals to prioritizing positive outcomes," said Mayor Karen Bass. "This historic investment will enable LA Animal Services staff to place an even greater emphasis on those positive outcomes and position the department at the forefront of accountable, transparent sheltering—all with the goal of supporting pet owners and helping animals find loving homes. I'm grateful to the ASPCA and Best Friends Animal Society for these visionary grants, which will support the department's dedicated staff, volunteers and New Hope partners as they advance humane care and help keep people and pets together."
"If we can help LA Animal Services—one of the largest shelter systems in the country—build a future where every animal receives the care, compassion and safety they deserve," said Matt Bershadker, ASPCA President & CEO, "we won't just be helping transform one city, we'll be showing communities across the country what's possible."
"Through collaboration, we can create permanent, systemic change in Los Angeles," said Julie Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society. "This will be a moment in history we look back on, knowing animal welfare in Los Angeles was forever changed by this groundbreaking partnership."
"The combined support from the ASPCA and Best Friends extends beyond the immediate operations needs of LA Animal Services," said Annette G. Ramirez, Interim General Manager for LA Animal Services. "It demonstrates a commitment to a renewed vision for animal welfare across the city to keep pets and people together, by providing support to shelter staff, and creating a faster, more efficient path for animals in our care to find loving homes."
Through this proposed initiative, LAAS will receive $7 million in grant funding from both the ASPCA and Best Friends to support more than 20 critical staffing roles, including expanded adoption and foster teams and dedicated specialists for community cat programs. In addition, the ASPCA and Best Friends will embed four experienced staff members within LAAS facilities to provide hands-on support with training, program development and implementation, and animal health and safety.
The initiative will also introduce enhanced intake strategies, expand foster care capacity, and strengthen return-to-owner efforts, including field-based reunifications. Comprehensive training will be provided to LAAS staff, covering areas such as animal care, shelter medicine, adoption services, data management, volunteer engagement and community outreach.
As one of the largest municipal shelters in the country, LAAS serves approximately 50,000 animals and responds to more than 20,000 emergency calls involving animals and people in danger. LAAS has worked diligently to reduce overcrowding across its six shelters by offering reduced adoption fees for dogs and cats, partnering with animal-loving organizations to host special adoption weekends, and working closely with New Hope Partners, which has resulted in a placement rate of 90% or greater for dogs since 2017. The Department also provides resources for Angelenos to spay/neuter their pet and provides free pet food assistance through the weekly Pet Food Pantry, which helped more than 21,646 pets last year. Since January 2025, LAAS has continued to build upon the collaborative work surrounding fostering and pet reunification best practices, which began with the ASPCA, Best Friends and other animal welfare organizations in response to helping pets and their families affected by the Palisades fire.
This initiative marks the first time the ASPCA and Best Friends have combined resources at this scale to support a single shelter system, although both organizations have been actively supporting animal welfare efforts in the Los Angeles area for decades. Since 2014, the ASPCA has been working to assist animals in underserved communities across Los Angeles through its direct care services and programmatic investments, as well as by partnering with city, county and private agencies to provide more than $16 million in grant funding. To date, the ASPCA has spayed/neutered more than 167,000 Los Angeles pets and shelter animals at its ASPCA Spay/Neuter Clinic in South Los Angeles; provided more than 56,000 primary pet care appointments at its stationary and mobile clinics; prevented more than 14,000 kittens from entering crowded shelters through its kitten foster program; safely transported more than 70,000 dogs and cats from Los Angeles area shelters to other organizations for a better chance of adoption; and advocated for stronger animal welfare laws at the local, regional and state level.
Best Friends has been working on behalf of Los Angeles's pets since 1992 when it started volunteer programs with LAAS. Since that time, Best Friends has invested more than $80 million to support lifesaving programs across Los Angeles—conserving local resources and improving outcomes for the most at-risk animals—by partnering with LAAS through grants and hands-on operational support. Since 2012, Best Friends has expanded spay/neuter and community services (including vaccines, microchips, and high-volume spay/neuter and TNVR surgeries at no cost); founded and continues to lead the No-Kill Los Angeles (NKLA) Coalition of 160 shelters and rescue groups to coordinate solutions with LAAS leadership; and operated key adoption and spay/neuter centers under city contracts (Northeast Valley beginning in 2012 and Jefferson Park beginning in 2018). Best Friends has directly transferred more than 55,000 animals from LAAS shelters to increase lifesaving and strengthened volunteer and foster capacity (including 1.6 million volunteer hours and fast-tracking neonatal kittens into foster during kitten season). Together, these strategies have supported LAAS in saving 36,783 cats and dogs in 2025.
Together, the ASPCA and Best Friends Animal Society are partnering with LAAS to strengthen care for animals and better support the community. By combining funding, expertise and on-the-ground support, this effort is designed to deliver immediate improvements while building a more effective and sustainable shelter system for the future.
About the ASPCA®
The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) believes every animal deserves to live free from suffering. For 160 years, we've been on the frontlines to save, transform and protect millions of lives in the fight against animal cruelty. As the nation's first and leading animal welfare organization, we assist animals in need through on-the-ground disaster and cruelty interventions, behavioral rehabilitation, animal relocation and placement, legal and legislative advocacy, and the advancement of the sheltering and veterinary communities through research, training and resources. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation with more than 2 million supporters nationwide, our commitment to eliminating animal cruelty is unwavering. For more information, visit aspca.org, and follow the ASPCA on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.
About Best Friends Animal Society®
Best Friends Animal Society is a leading animal welfare organization dedicated to saving the lives of dogs and cats in America's shelters and making the entire country no-kill. Founded in 1984, Best Friends runs lifesaving facilities and programs nationwide in partnership with more than 6,000 shelters and rescue organizations. From our headquarters in Kanab, Utah, we also operate the nation's largest no-kill animal sanctuary — a destination that brings our mission to life for thousands of visitors each year. We maintain the most comprehensive animal sheltering data in the country and make it accessible to the public — empowering communities with critical insights into the needs of their local shelters and how they can help. We believe every dog and cat deserves a home. And we believe that, by working together, we can Save Them All®.
About LA Animal Services
LA Animal Services promotes and protects the health, safety, and welfare of animals and the people who love them, and is one of the largest municipal shelter systems in the United States. With six Centers across the City, LA Animal Services serves approximately 50,000 animals annually and responds to 20,000 emergency calls involving animals or people in danger. For LA Animal Services, there's no place like home so the Department provides resources to keep pets and families together; helps lost pets get home quickly without having to enter the shelter system; provides pet food assistance; and continues to build on a strong adoption and foster program so pets find loving homes or are placed in foster care. Visit our link.tree for helpful links to the services and resources available to you and your companion animals. Connect with LA Animal Services and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
SOURCE ASPCA
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