South Bay Leader

Long Beach, CA – The City of Long Beach announced today the departure of the City of Seal Beach from its longtime contract with Long Beach Animal Care Services. This news comes after the June 26, 2023, Seal Beach City Council approval to discontinue its contract with Long Beach Animal Care Services to implement an in-house animal care program to more closely connect and communicate with their community. From 2004 to 2023, the City of Seal Beach contracted with the City of Long Beach to provide animal care services, including sheltering, rescue operations, animal licensing and enforcement issues, to the Seal Beach community.

“A main objective of Long Beach Animal Care Services is to educate and engage the public about responsible pet ownership and animal welfare issues,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “The new operating model for Animal Care Services adopted by the City of Seal Beach will be an opportunity for their staff to more directly share information about services and communicate with residents.”

Effective Saturday, July 1, 2023, the Seal Beach Police Department will handle all animal care services for the City of Seal Beach including animal licensing, the issuance of citations, investigation of violations of animal care and welfare pertaining to Animal Control codes, and violations of the Municipal Code. They will also provide education on the humane and required treatment of animals and inform citizens on resources available to comply with local and state laws. Seal Beach Police Department officers will respond to calls for service and provide care to or impound healthy, injured, sick, dangerous or deceased animals. Starting July 1, people reporting an animal care-related incident occurring in the city of Seal Beach should contact the Seal Beach Police Department’s non-emergency number at 562.594.7232. For emergencies, always dial 9-1-1.

“It is extremely gratifying to see Seal Beach take a leadership role in its city by deciding to operate its own animal services program. No doubt this will bring greater connectedness between the community and their newly established Animal Welfare Department,” said Long Beach Animal Care Services Acting Bureau Manager Melanie Wagner.

“We wish to thank the City of Long Beach, their animal care program, staff, and volunteers for the service they provided to Seal Beach for many years,” said Chief of Police Michael Henderson. “Without their assistance and guidance, we would not have been able to bring animal control services back in-house.” 

Long Beach Animal Care Services, part of the City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine, will continue to provide animal care services for the cities of Long Beach, Cerritos and Los Alamitos. To report animal care issues, people can call 562.570.7387.

More information about Long Beach Animal Care services is available at longbeach.gov/acs

Original source can be found here.