A volunteer-run animal rescue charity fighting to slow the staggering number of deaths of stray animals in Los Angeles claims it’s been forced to pull out of the city.
The small nonprofit, The Canine Condition, made the decision to end its low-cost spay-and-neuter services after being hit with a $1,450-per-day rental fee by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.
The Canine Condition, which was founded by actress Jacqueline Piñol, focuses its operations in poor neighborhoods struggling to deal with the surge in stray pets in Los Angeles.
“We don’t rely on any government funding whatsoever,” Piñol said.
“Everything we do is funded by donors, so we can keep costs low and not turn anyone away.”
“I grew up in communities like this, where people love their pets but can’t always afford the care.
“That’s why I started this. Because without help, the problem just explodes.”
Her operation runs high-volume pop-up clinics built to tackle the crisis head-on.
They secure a location, often through partnerships like the one she had with the City of Los Angeles, then move quickly to set up a one-day clinic.
The Lincoln Heights pop-up had been in the works for weeks and was slated to take place Sunday, April 19. Funding was lined up through donors and grants. Veterinary staff were booked. Applications were ready to open. The goal: treat dozens of animals in a single day.
Then came the email on Sunday, April 6. “Due to budget constraints,” Piñol was told, the city would now charge $1,450 to use the location, a rate she said was comparable to renting the space for a private party or wedding.
“They told me it’s the same as renting it for a party,” she said. “But we’re helping their community.”
Piñol said she repeatedly reached out to the local council office, which had helped support a clinic the year prior and acknowledged the need for services like hers, hoping to clear up what she believed was a mistake. She said she never heard back.
The office, led by Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, also did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.
Rather than pass the cost onto struggling pet owners, the group walked away from Los Angeles altogether.
“I can’t raise families’ fees so that we can pay fees for a location,” Piñol said. “That would be absurd.”
“I had to move the event,” she said. “I’m not going to lose my veterinary team or cancel a clinic when people are depending on us.”
Los Angeles is spiraling deeper into a pet overpopulation crisis, and the fallout is brutal. Shelters are jammed, kennels are overflowing, and animals are increasingly being euthanized simply to make room.
The numbers tell the story. Dog euthanasia has surged 65% in Los Angeles compared to last year. Overall, euthanasia is up 38%. Rescue placements have dropped 35%.
As of April 10, Los Angeles Animal Services is operating at roughly 116% capacity, with about 100 more dogs than the system can handle.
And the very solution meant to stop the cycle is becoming harder to access.
Piñol’s clinics are built to meet that need. For about $50, pet owners can get their animals fixed, vaccinated, and microchipped, services that can cost hundreds at traditional veterinary clinics. “We can sign up about 35 dogs per clinic day, and our goal is to keep it so low cost that no one gets turned away,” she said.
Since launching the pop-up model last fall, her group has helped roughly 700 animals through those events and about 1,200 overall. But demand is only growing as costs rise and access shrinks.
“People are choosing between gas, food, and vet care right now,” Piñol said. “If we can give them that assistance, why wouldn’t we?”
She said decisions like the sudden fee show a disconnect between policymakers and what’s happening on the ground. “I don’t think they’re in touch with this firsthand. It’s out of sight, out of mind, and the problem just keeps growing.”
Advocates say the crisis has been building for years and worsened after the city scaled back its spay-and-neuter voucher program, reducing access to affordable care at the exact moment it’s needed most.
“Less than a month after unanimously approving spay/neuter support, City Council quietly gutted it behind closed doors,” said Shira Astrof of The Animal Rescue Mission. “The result: more suffering, more killing of helpless animals.”
The math behind the crisis is unforgiving. One unspayed dog can produce multiple litters a year, and those puppies quickly reproduce.
Spaying or neutering an animal can cost between $70 and $300. Housing that same animal in a shelter runs about $40 a day, often for months. At just one South Los Angeles shelter, where the spay-neuter clinic was set to be held, the city spends roughly $12,000 a day, more than $4 million a year, to house animals.
Despite the setback, Piñol says her group will keep moving forward, even if that means leaving Los Angeles behind.
“We will keep going,” she said. “Anyone who says yes and can offer a space, we’ll be there.”
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