The Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals won a round in court when a judge ruled the 150-year-old charity could continue operations at the facility they built near El Dorado Regional Park.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Doreen B. Boxer issued a preliminary injunction on behalf of spcaLA on Wednesday.
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"With (Wednesday's) result, the city's strongarm tactics, manufactured allegations and efforts to cover-up its own ineptitude and failures were exposed for what they are: the actions of a bully," spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein said. "The city's efforts to terminate spcaLA's tenancy would put the well-being of our community in jeopardy. SpcaLA will always be on the side on the people and animals we serve."
An attorney for the city did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the ruling.
In their petition filed March 12, spcaLA attorneys presented the situation as dire.
"Absent injunctive relief, spcaLA will suffer immediate and irreparable harm in that it will lose possession and use of a property in which it has invested over $10 million for an indeterminate period of time until the matter is able to be resolved by this court," the organization's lawyers stated.
The same attorneys further contended in their pleadings that without quick legal action, the charity would not be able to continue providing life- saving animal care to Long Beach and surrounding communities to the detriment of the animals, who the lawyers said would endure stress if they had to move to another facility.
In late February, the city announced changes to its services for the roughly 4,000 animals who come under its care each year. After a 26-year partnership, the city terminated its lease and lease-back agreement with the spcaLA due to what it called "several areas of non-compliance" with the pact, which since 2001 has seen the organization oversee operations of Long Beach's animal adoption center at 7700 E. Spring St.
Long Beach and the spcaLA signed a contract in October 1998 to address the overwhelming euthanasia rates that Long Beach, among other municipal shelters, was experiencing at the time. The intention of the partnership, according to the city, was for the spcaLA to construct and operate a modern, state-of-the-art campus that provided both animal control facilities, led by LBACS, and an adoption center, managed by the spcaLA.
Mayor Rex Richardson said in February that the time had come "to embark on a new journey to better serve our animals and communities. This transition will allow us to provide a higher level of care and quality of life for the animals who come into our space as well as enhance the critical animal care services we provide for Long Beach and other adjacent cities."
In addition to Long Beach, Long Beach Animal Care Services provides animal care to the communities of Los Alamitos, Cerritos and Signal Hill.
According to the spcaLA's court papers, the organization and the city "enjoyed a mutually beneficial and respectful relationship" until 2019, when the city hired a new manager for Long Beach Animal Care Services.
"Almost immediately, LBACS' side of the facility quickly deteriorated into a hoarding situation, with issues of overcrowding, poor animal husbandry, hazardous conditions and more," the spcaLA lawyers contended in their court papers, adding that the city "has no right to terminate" the spcaLA's lease, which has almost 30 years remaining.
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