Los Angeles is euthanizing shelter animals at a record pace, with city resources increasingly going toward killing animals rather than strengthening prevention and enforcement efforts, the California Post has learned.
Through May, Los Angeles Animal Services recorded 2,172 euthanized cats, kittens and dogs in city shelters, up from 1,630 during the same stretch in 2025 — a sharp 33% jump, according to agency statistics.
The trend appears to be accelerating: the same figures show euthanasia rates climbed 27% from May 2025 to May 2026 alone.
On social media, the crisis has become hard to miss. Rescue organizations and volunteers are flooding feeds with urgent appeals for adopters and fosters, racing to save dogs placed on the city’s “kill list” before time runs out.
“Final Notice.”
“Last Chance.”
“Needs a foster today or will be euthanized.”
For Adelle Smener, founder of Big Dog Energy and a volunteer at the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter, those frantic posts are no longer occasional alarms — they have become part of her daily routine.
“We’ve never had dogs put on the kill list like we do now,” Smener told The Post, adding volunteering has changed dramatically over the past year.
“The second a dog gets put on the euthanasia list, it’s pedal to the metal. We’re networking, texting everyone. It’s beyond stressful because it feels like that dog’s life is in our hands,” she said.
Rescue groups mounted frantic campaigns to save Tiberio, a dog at South LA Animal Shelter, flooding social media with pleas for a foster before his euthanasia deadline.
Despite the effort, he was euthanized.
Another dog, Gotham, sparked a similar last-minute rescue push before volunteers announced he, too, had been euthanized. The two dogs have become symbols of a shelter system they say is out of options.
Rescue organizations say the city’s failure to prevent uncontrolled animal breeding in Skid Row is a big part of the problem.
“City and county shelters are euthanizing massive numbers of dogs because there is no meaningful prevention being implemented by our city or county,” Shira Astroff, founder of The Animal Rescue Mission, told The Post.
“The city needs to start taking this crisis seriously. More and more animals are dying. Prevention is far cheaper than warehousing animals in overcrowded shelters or euthanizing healthy dogs simply because there’s no space left.”
Astroff and other animal advocates argue Los Angeles has spent years investing in programs that respond to overcrowded shelters rather than preventing unwanted litters in the first place.
They say that approach has left shelters trapped in a cycle of taking in more animals than they can safely house.
For example in the 2024-25 fiscal year, Los Angeles budgeted $5.285 million for a high-volume spay-and-neuter program that brought veterinarians into city shelters to sterilize large numbers of animals quickly and at low cost.
But the City has replaced the high-volume program with a voucher system that pays private veterinary clinics for individual spay-and-neuter surgeries, which means fewer animals are sterilized.
Animal advocates argue the city’s budget priorities have focused on managing overcrowded shelters rather than preventing the crisis in the first place.
Mayor Karen Bass’ original 2026-27 budget eliminated a $1.6 million dog enrichment program that provides shelter dogs with exercise, training and socialization.
The programs are seen as essential because dogs that spend months confined to kennels are more likely to develop behavioral issues, making them harder to adopt and increasing their risk of euthanasia.
Mayor Bass also wanted to eliminate the $200,000 spent on dog and cat food, as well as slash medical supplies from $388,000 to just $49,000, but backed down after an outcry on City council.
Michelson Center for Public Policy, one of Los Angeles’ leading animal welfare organizations, said Mayor Karen Bass’ 2025-26 and 2026-27 budgets did not invest enough in spaying and neutering pets.
“Los Angeles is already paying for this failure in dollars and animal lives,” the organization said.
In both budget cycles, Michelson urged city leaders to increase funding for spay-and-neuter programs, including calling for at least $3.5 million more in the 2026-27 budget, saying prevention is the most effective way to reduce shelter overcrowding, save animals and lower long-term costs.
Los Angeles Animal Services disputes that the city is facing an unprecedented euthanasia crisis, arguing its shelters continue to save the overwhelming majority of animals that enter the system.
In 2025, the department reported live release rates of 90.6% for dogs and 81.6% for cats and kittens – and claims those rates have remained relatively unchanged in 2026.
The Post asked specifically why the animal euthanasia rate had gone up despite the live release rate staying the same, but they didn’t respond.
Instead, they maintained prevention remains a priority.
The department said it performed or supported 62,692 spay-and-neuter surgeries this fiscal year and pointed to a new $14 million partnership announced by Mayor Karen Bass to improve shelter operations, boost adoptions and fostering, reunite lost pets with owners and help families keep their animals.
The agency said newly-appointed general manager Gabrielle Amster has also spent her first six weeks meeting with city leaders, shelter employees, volunteers and rescue groups to identify improvements.
However, the department’s own statistics show participation in some subsidized prevention programs has declined. In May, free spay-and-neuter certificate redemptions were down 19%, while community coupon redemptions fell 25% compared with the same period last year.
The Post reached out to the mayor’s office for comment but she did not return calls.
