Ed Boks, Man of Action

I don't know Ed Boks, but I think I love him. As the new-ish general manager of L.A. Animal Services, Ed is bringing about real change and an attitude shift in the old-school, catch-and-kill municipal shelter world. He's actually the guy who established the first municipal no-kill shelter in the U.S. (in Arizona), and comes to Los Angeles via New York City, where he was the director of Animal Care and Control. During his time in Manhattan, animal adoptions increased 125 percent, and the euthanasia rate went down by 30 percent.

With over 50,000 animals passing through L.A. shelters every year, my man Ed has instituted programs like The Big Fix, New Hope, and S.T.A.R. which seem to proactively address animal homelessness and rehabilitation in a smart, cost-effective way, and has also partnered with a new animal welfare charity called SALA (Shelter Animals of Los Angeles) that will support L.A. Animal Services exclusively.

Anyway, Ed's blog is great, and explains a lot more about all of these issues than I possibly can. You can check it out here:

www.laanimalservices.blogspot.com

Finally, someone with ideas and enough mojo to make them happen.


(note: L.A. Animal Services exists separately from L.A. County Animal Care and Control, whose dogs I've been featuring.)

UPDATE 1/07: I've been hearing some not-so-good things about Ed Boks, like, he cooks the books, and likes to make public appearances more than he likes actually spending time at the shelters. Plus, there is the fact that he was fired from his job in New York, and has a discrimination lawsuit pending against him there as well. Oh, Ed.