Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-27
DOG CATCHER
OUSTED; NEW
PLAN ADOPTED
DECISION BIG VICTORY FOR
THE HERALD
PASADENA SYSTEM WILL BE IN
OPERATION HENCEFoRTH
Newspapers Agitation Bears Final
Fruit, and Humane Animal League
VIII Be Placed In Exclusive
Charge
mHE dog catcher has gone.

After months of active WarIdre
n on behalf of mans best friend
the dog, The Herald has won its cause
and In a few days the Pasadena sys-
TEN OF impounding stray animals VIII
be in operation in Los Angeles under
the direction of the Humane Animal
league.
This was the decision of the city
council yesterday and it marks the cul-
mination OF long fight against tne
present system, which has Deen Wlueiy
denounced as barbarous and anti
quated.
Contrary to general expectation the
recommendation of the special dog COM
mittee submitted to the council yester-
day was not for a civil service ap-
pointee. The committee merely recon-
mended that the system of catching
dogs be changed.
Immediately after this recommenda-
ton was read petition from the HUI
name Animal society, recently or
ganized society for the prevention of
cruelty to animals but not affiliated
with the association known by that
name. was read. The Humane Animal
society agreed to take over the stock
pound and the dog pound, conducting
the stock pound as In the past and the
dog pound under the Pasadena system.
DR.. w. A. Lamb is president of the
new humane society and he told the
council what his organization proposed
TO do.
lie declared the Pasadena system was
naugurated in the Crown city seVeral
years ago and had proved so successtul
that Ii had spread throughout the coun-
try and been adopted by a number
of other cities. The fee method is en-
tireiy abolished.
Under the medieval system that has
been in vogue in Los Angeles so many
years the dog wagons went on the
streets and picked up stray dogs. Some
times these dogs had licenses and some-
times they had not. The dog catcher
was supposed to get only those that
had no licenses, but he frequently be-
came confused, the fee system adding
much to his confusion. When the dogs
were redeemed the owners were com
PEELED to secure a license II the dog
had none and pay the poundkeeper 81
or 81 for the dogs release. Dogs that
were not redeemed in a certain length
of time were permitted to snuff the
fumes of cyanide of potassium until
their souls wended dog heavenWard.
For each dog killed the Vacher family
would collect 81 from the city treasury
and months bills for killing dogs
frequently amounted to 5000 or 800.
AS Worked in Pasadena
Under the Pasadena system a dog
inspector sees a dog without license
and follows that dog to its home The
owner of the dog is arrested for not
procuring a license and fined in the po-
lice court. His fine and the amount
he subsequently pays for license are
turned into the city treasury. III the
dog has no home 1t is taken by the
inspector to the dog mound and anyone
who will provide a license and a good
home for the dog can have 1t. Some
times these dogs will be sold, some-
times given away. All measly ours
and dogs that are not wantetd will be
killed humanely, but the city will not
be charged a fee for their slaughter.
DR. Lamb said the society proposed
to establish a bureau whereby poor
children could retain their pets, paying
the license on the installment PLAN
Where the owner of a pet dog cannot
afford to pay for a license the society
Will provide the license and the owner
reimburse the society in small amounts
from time to time.
For performing all these offices the
Humane \ Animal society will receive
IS per cent of the money paid for dog
licenses The money will be paid as
heretofore to the license clerk In the
city clerks office and rs per cent OF
the amount will be turned over to the
society at the end of each month. Dr.
Lamb estimates that this amount will
barely pay the expense of office rent,
pound rent, inspectors salaries and the
various expenses incidental to taking
care of stray dogs. No member of the
society other than those regularly en-
ployed as inspectors will receive cent
OF profit. They are all interested in
the dog from humane motives alone.
The city attorney was instructed to
draw UP an ordinance embodying all
these features and present 1t to the
council at it's session next Monday
Every member of the council yesterday
was in favor of the plan and it is ex-
pected the ordinance will bear the
emergency clause. If it does 1t will
be effective on it's publication, which
Praise The Herald
Miss Helen Mathewson and Mrs. L.
e. Giese, who have been among the
leaders in the fight for better system
of impounding animals. were warm in
their praise of The Herald and the
campaign it has made against the pres
ent brutal system.
1.-The people of the city owe a debt
of gratitude to The Herald" said Mrs.
Giese last night. "It has made a great
fight for the right and all who have
the welfare of the lower animals at
heart will rejoice that the movement
has been successful"
Miss Mathewson said: Il want to
congratulate The Herald on its sue
cessful fight for a better system of
dog catching and pound keeping. With
out the help of The Herald we feel we
might have lost
Cardinal Matthew Dead