As manager of the Los Angeles Program of Best Friends Animal Society, I want to take this opportunity to welcome the newly appointed General Manager of Los Angeles Animal Services, Ms. Brenda Barnette. I also want to congratulate Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on this appointment, which reflects his commitment to progressive policies and leadership for the department.
Ms. Barnette has a long and successful track record in animal welfare, most recently as chief executive of the Seattle Humane Society, where she achieved an impressive save rate for shelter animals through innovative programs and extensive community involvement.

As someone who embraces our shared mission of no more homeless pets, we are committed to working with Ms. Barnette on behalf of all the animals in Los Angeles, and truly achieving a time of no more homeless pets for the City of Angels.

The appointment is of particular importance to Best Friends’ no more homeless pets efforts in LA. With your support, our work in Los Angeles has been a proven test ground for innovative, life-saving model programs over the years. Many of these model programs have been shared freely and adopted by numerous communities around the country.

Some of these programs include Pup My Ride, which transports hundreds of small dogs from overwhelmed LA shelters to areas of the country that have a high demand for small dogs; Puppies Aren’t Products, a campaign designed to end the sale of puppy mill animals in LA pet stores and to promote a business model that features rescues and pets for adoption; Catnippers, a volunteer feral cat spay/neuter clinic that offers free services to community cat caregivers, and Pet Super Adoption events that find families for hundreds of homeless animals at a time.

We expect this type of model program development to continue and flourish in collaboration with Ms. Barnette as we work toward achieving no more homeless pets in Los Angeles.

We ask you, our members and our colleagues in the Los Angeles rescue community to join us in extending our warmest regards and encouragement to Ms. Barnette as she assumes her new life saving role

Jen Woodard, Manager
Los Angeles Programs
Best Friends Animal Society