The History of the Los Angeles Animal Services Department

The City of Los Angeles Animal Services Department has been through multiple changes stretching all the way back to the Civil War.  In the late 19^th century, the city had a pound and a pound keeper—a private individual hired by the city to manage and impound animals, issue licenses, and ultimately to dispose of them.

In 1909, the city expanded this role to a “humane animal commission” with three members appointed by the Mayor, an animal inspector, nine deputies and one clerk.  In 1925, the “Humane Department” was created as part of a new City of LA charter. In 1947 the Humane Department became the Department of Animal Regulation, and the current name—Los Angeles Animal Services Department—dates from 1999.

Over the course of the 20^th century, the Department has seen many changes in its core operations.  This includes the creation of the shelter system around the city and the professionalization of the office including uniforms, procedures, equipment, and vehicles.  It also includes a range of activities specific to Los Angeles, such as the peculiar habit that celebrities have of keeping exotic animals, from the menagerie of J. Paul Getty to the leopards, chimps, and snakes that occasionally appeared around the city.

Much of the material collected in this archive reflects these activities and the changes in their operation, as they were clearly important to the employees and those who oversaw the operation.  For part of its history, from 1965 until about 2000, the Department ran a very successful and prolific public relations operation, which projected the Department’s own self-image.  By 2000, that self-image was being regularly challenged from the outside, and the Department of the present is very much a different agency, often on the defensive.