Volunteers do most of the work of feeding and cleaning the cages of the thousands of rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters that come through L.A.’s shelters. With city staffing shortages, the small mammals are struggling, according to volunteers and advocates.
L.A. Animal Services recently began allowing volunteers to handle dogs — sometimes abused or neglected — who are considered evidence in legal cases and spend months or even years at a shelter.
Volunteers at three other L.A. shelters also said that the care of small mammals falls largely to them. They described spending their own money on lettuce and cilantro for the animals and driving to Petco for last-minute supplies. Other times, they’ve had to rely on animal rescue groups and donors for necessities, such as cages.
Bunker said she was told by city staff on Friday that she can’t return to the shelter until she re-signs a form laying out the rules for volunteers.With about 300 employees, the department relies heavily on volunteers to feed animals, walk dogs, oversee adoptions, do laundry and more. There’s “a feeling that, well, if you don’t do it, they aren’t going to be taken care of,” said one small-mammal volunteer, who like others requested anonymity to speak freely about conditions at the shelters. “Without us, without volunteers there ... animals would definitely die.”
She tossed out the soiled newspaper and used water and vinegar to wipe down the floors and walls of a rabbit cage. She replaced the cardboard and straw mats, refilled the water bottle and tucked lettuce into the cage.For the year to August, the department received nearly 700 rabbits at all its shelters, a 52% increase over the same period last year.
In one instance, according to Chen’s Instagram page, volunteers found a hamster “forgotten” in a bin underneath a box in a storage room at the West Valley shelter.On a recent morning, a Times reporter visiting the small-mammal room at the Chesterfield Square shelter in South Los Angeles found the lime-green ceiling and walls coated in a visible layer of dust and fur.
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