The L.A. City Council will consider increasing the limit on the number of pets in a house from three to five. (Creative Commons)

The Department of Animal Services, spearheaded by new general manager Brenda Barnette, held the first of two town hall meetings Thursday night at the East Valley Animal Shelter in Van Nuys to gauge public opinion.

A motion introduced in June by Councilmen Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz would increase the number of pets allowed from any combination of three dogs and cats to five each.

“In the city of L.A. last year, there were 19,000 animals that didn’t get out of the shelters alive,” Barnette said. “A lot of those animals ran out of time and space. It’s not that something was wrong with them. If we can increase the limits, they can get homes for these animals.”

Since the recession, animal shelters have seen a 20 percent increase in incoming abandoned animals.

Forty-six of the 50 members of the public who spoke Thursday favored increasing the pet limit.

Some called for a five-pet limit, while others proposed more ambitious numbers: seven, 10, or, in the case of many, no limit.

The “hoarders” will break the law no matter the limit, some say. Among the 6,000 licensed dogs in Los Angeles, only 5 percent come from three-dog families. The chance of an overwhelming population spike is unlikely, Barnette said.

Carolynn Ruth, a volunteer with West Coast Mastiff and Large Breed Rescue, does not believe in an “arbitrary number.”

“There are too many animals being killed because this city won’t allow good homes to take care of them,” she said.

Ruth said people being responsible for their pets is more important than a limit.

“There’s crap all over the place, there are barking dogs, there are dogs roaming around, there’s attacks,” she said. “It’s not the laws, it’s the enforcement of them. If somebody isn’t picking up the dog poo, I don’t care how many dogs they have.”

Opponents argue that lifting the limit would only increase nuisances, noise and pollution.

“They say outlandish things, like the community would fill up with dog poop and cat pee,” Barnette said. “It was just sort of people making up what awful things could happen.”

Don Schultz, one of Thursday’s four vocal objectors, has his doubts about the City’s ability to enforce animal laws.

“Enforcement within the city of L.A., it’s just not there,” he said. “You look at every department in the city and it’s just not there. How are they going to change the law, loosen things up and enforce what has to be done?”

Those in favor cite successful no-limit standards in cities such as Santa Monica and San Diego.

“In the time I’ve been doing animal law, I find the areas with the least amount of animal problems in law are the areas that allow the most,” said Michael Rotsen, an attorney specializing in animal cases. “The ones that are the more restrictive have more problems.”

The city of San Diego does not have a cat limit, and caps its dogs per residence at six.

The additional registration fees would also provide up to $792,000 annually for L.A., according to Barnette.

Another town hall meeting on the issue will be held Wednesday night in West L.A.

Reach contributor Dan Watson here.

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