Stearcee Dains worked for about a month, overseeing the Los Angeles city animal shelter when an employee publicly revolts against her.
Dains asked employees to clean the kennel. Instead, the employee picked up the hose and sprayed a dog in the face, Daiyin said.
Dains believes the employee should be fired, but she said the city's personnel department recommends taking five days off.
Mayor Karen Bass hired a wedding in June 2023 after pledging to make Los Angeles an “national animal welfare model.” By reversing its troubled shelter, dogs may live in overcrowded, dirty kennels, with volunteers complaining that animals sometimes don’t get food and water.
But in an interview with The Times, Dayin said she felt powerless to solve the deep-rooted problems, including severe understaffing and employees of abuse or neglected animals.
She said she was repeatedly told by the personnel department that the department functions like the HR department of a private company and that she cannot fire the problematic staff. She also clashed with one of the unions representing employees in the residence.
At one point, Dains even asked the Los Angeles County prosecutor for help.
Meanwhile, as the overcrowding worsened, more dogs and cats were euthanized than in the city shelter under her watch.
“We need to tell the unfiltered, unchanged truth about what happened in the shelter,” Dains said.
Dains took paid leave after more than a year as general manager of animal services in August. A few days later, a top bass consultant told Dains that her last day would be November 30, before she was free to resign.
Bass spokesman Zach Seidl postponed the marriage charge.
“Many of these characteristics are misleading, some are simple and inaccurate,” he said in an email.
In a series of interviews, Dains said the city did not provide enough funds to meet the basic needs of animals in its six shelters.
In his first year of Beth's tenure, in the Times and others' important reports on shelter conditions, the mayor provided 18% of the budget increase, well below the 56% required by the Department of Animal Services. Her budget proposal slightly lowered the department’s funding for the following fiscal year.
Last week, the city council was exempted from major cuts in a budget that closed in at nearly $1 billion.
Dains, who has worked in top shelters in San José and San José and Long Beach, said her staff are not sensitive to animal pain after witnessing them day after day. She said the insignificant people were so bad that three people were responsible for 500 dogs: cleaning the kennel, building adoption and working with the medical team.
“I can't fall asleep because those animals are just in those hell holes,” Dayin said. “That's bad.”
Dains, who makes about $273,000 a year in Los Angeles, said she has witnessed some employees “terrorizing” dogs by hitting their kennels, or spraying them with water to move them back. She said she told employees to stop the behavior, but some said they had been trained to treat dogs this way.
To ensure that the animals are fed and their shells are cleaned, few people suggest starting a timeline to track when completing each task. But union representatives are concerned that the information can be used to punish employees, Dains said.
Ultimately, due to unions opposition, the International North American Local Alliance for Workers 300. Representatives of the union declined to comment.
Daiyin said personal entanglement and gossip among employees sometimes make it difficult for them to take responsibility.
Dains said some supervisors have sexual relations with their subordinates, which makes them ignore the poor performance of their employees. Others used their “dirt” against their colleagues to protest when facing their actions.
Deans said she suspected some employees sleep during night shifts instead of cleaning cages or doing paperwork. She showed the Times a picture of a dog bed arranged on the floor of the employee's room, such as the “Nest”.
She said she also witnessed employees watching videos on their phones, rather than working. Others ignored those who walked into the shelter and wanted to adopt pets, she said. Some employees told her colleagues failed to provide food or water to cats and dogs.
Meanwhile, other employees “continuously surpassed” to make up for those who did not gain weight, Dains said.
“There is a large portion of the staff just not working,” she said. “I keep seeing that.”
Dains blamed some of the blame on the supervisors, who “don't ask them to perform.”
She said she faced pushback when she tried to disciplinary action against her supervisor.
Danes said that after she gave up a leave request accused of bullying the people, 300 locals in North American League of International complained against her.
A spokesperson for the personnel department declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Dains admits she should be harder for some of the assistant administrators who report directly to her. But she said she wanted to maintain a working relationship with them.
She said it was “a tricky way to start writing the executive level manager you want to work with.”
The shelter employee asked to be anonymous because he did not allow conversation with the media and he agreed to Dains' assessment.
“There is no accountability, no impact,” he said. “The staff working must work twice as hard.”
Last year, a report from the Best Friends Animal Society highlighted the harsh conditions in shelters and proposed possible solutions, criticizing dains as the “big hurdle” to improvement.
The report said the shelter lacked written programs and euthanasia policy “had changed five times last year” without communicating on these changes.
According to Times analysis, the number of dogs euthanized in urban shelters began from January to September last year increased by 72% compared with the same period last year. The number of dogs entering shelters has increased every year since 2022, but the number of people killed far exceeds the population's benefits.
According to the best friend report, under crowded conditions, animals start to behave badly and suffer “psychological and emotional collapse.” This makes them less likely to be adopted and more likely to be euthanized.
In an interview with The Times, Deans defended her euthanasia defense, saying it was not safe for animals, staff, volunteers, or the public to “warehouse” dogs in a kennel for months or years.
She said there was no euthanasia policy when she arrived, and the department was creating a policy during her tenure.
Bass is Dains' boss, but Dains's main connection is Jacqueline Hamilton, deputy mayor of neighborhood services. Deans said she talked to Hamilton regularly and told her about personnel and other issues. But Hamilton did not provide any meaningful help, nor did she want her to publicize bad situations in the shelter.
“I don’t have any movement or traction,” Dains told The Times, describing her work experience.
Dains “has received successful support, including assisting in communicating the status of the department to the public and policy makers,” said Beth spokesman Seidl.
Dains said she asked the vice president shortly after becoming general manager. Atti. Kimberly Abourezk, who is engaged in animal abuse cases, wrote to the mayor that the situation in the shelter is poor.
Venusse D. Dunn, a spokesman for the District Attorney's Office, said Abourezk did not send a letter because she visited City Animal Healthers but found no evidence of the crime.
Dunn said the office “can’t tell another agency how to operate its facilities.”
Longtime animal service staff Annette Ramirez is now interim general manager. The department continued in a press release this month that the “severely crowded crisis” is still continuing.
