For Animal Organizations

Animal Control Directors with a New Attitude:
Marcia Mayeda, Director, Department of Animal Care and Control
County of Los Angeles

In July 2001, Marcia Mayeda became Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control (ACC). In this position, she oversees an $18.3 million budget and 281 employees at six different animal shelters. Her agency serves 3.3 million residents across 3,200 square miles including 50 contract cities and all of the County’s unincorporated areas.

At 38 years old, Marcia is the youngest County Department Head and one of the few women at that level. In spite of the huge responsibility and high profile, Marcia is having the time of her life. "I love working for the County. I looked at all of my other positions as stepping stones. The County Board of Supervisors is very supportive of having a progressive, caring animal care and control agency. I hope to stay here until I retire." And with twenty years experience under her belt, she’s a great fit for the job.

Marcia started out as an animal shelter employee while pursuing her undergraduate degree in Animal Science at Western Illinois University. She went on to become Director of Shelter Operations at the Houston SPCA and Executive Director of Helping Hands Humane Society in Topeka, Kansas. She then held three positions at the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley in Santa Clara, California: Director of Animal Care, Director of Animal Control Services and Director of Community Outreach. During that time, she also obtained a Master's degree in nonprofit administration from the University of San Francisco.

Marcia has established a departmental goal of saving 95% of the county's healthy, adoptable animals by 2011. To get there, she's increasing adoptions, adding volunteers, and working with rescue organizations.

"When I came here, there was some resentment towards rescues. There’s no question it can be hard--some of these groups can be confrontational. But I think the different shelters now realize that partnership is the key. In 2003, adoptions overall are up 11%. In the Lancaster shelter they’re up 25% and in Downey they’re up 13%. Without a doubt, working with rescue groups is the main reason for the change."

Where there were no volunteers before, now there are more than 100. There is also a new Director of Volunteer Programs, a Volunteer Liaison for each shelter, and the first volunteer recognition event has been scheduled.

Marcia got things started by getting a handle on the basics.

"When I first arrived, there were really good management and line staff but the Department wasn’t responding to the wants and expectations of the community. There were no performance measurements. Animals weren't tracked adequately. When animals were put to sleep, I couldn't determine why. The various shelters had not been rewarded for innovation or encouraged to come up with creative solutions. Strong policies and procedures were lacking. So I started with small improvements."

"Getting accurate statistics was a real paradigm shift. It took some time, but now we have a real understanding of where need to make improvements. If an animal is euthanized, now I know what category it was in and the reason for euthanasia."

"We’ve initiated routine vaccination of dogs against bordetella, improved kennel sanitation procedures, and individualized feeding protocols."

"We're implementing behavior evaluation programs so that we can properly and uniformly classify specific behaviors in all of the shelters. We’re changing the way cats are handled and the kind of housing they have, and we’re adding new housing for both dogs and cats."

"Maybe most importantly, we've implemented a zero tolerance policy for mistakes in euthanasia."

Statistics demonstrate the wisdom of Marcia’s new policies.

Fiscal Year	2000/2001	2001/2002	% Change	YTD 02/03(10 Mo)
Intake	80,871	78,185	-3.3%	62,356
Adoptions	16,985	18,348	+8%	14,925
RTO	6,752	6,587		5,599
Deaths	48,884	44,915	-8.1%	35,739

"I'm trying to tweak the San Francisco model so we no longer have to euthanize healthy animals. With so many communities and so many boundary lines and so many agencies, it’s not going to be easy. I'm confident, however, that with community partnership and support, we will reach our goal."