South LA Shelter Giardia Crisis

What's Happening at South LA Shelter

South LA Animal Shelter has had an active Giardia outbreak for over 3 months with no containment action. Giardia is a painful illness for dogs caused by a highly contagious parasite that spreads through microscopic fecal particles — on shoes, surfaces, and hands. Staff has been witnessed walking directly from Giardia-positive kennels to public-facing areas with no shoe change protocol, turning the shelter into a community health epicenter. Residents bring their own dogs to feed programs here. Multiple volunteers have spoken out, and community members have sat through city council hearings to vocalize the severity of this crisis — and have seen zero action taken.

The General Manager and decision makers at South LA Shelter have failed to sound the alarm loudly enough or organize the volunteer cleaning resources that are actively available. While shelter leadership may point to lack of funds, volunteers and cleaning services have offered their help at no cost — and been met with inaction. Meanwhile, dogs diagnosed with Giardia are quarantined with no adoption exposure and end up on the euthanasia list — not because they're unadoptable, but because of shelter negligence. LA County Environmental Health has jurisdiction over this. A formal complaint creates an official record and forces an inspection.

• 👟 Witnessed: no shoe change protocol — staff walked from Giardia kennels directly to public areas
• 🐕 Community dogs at risk — residents bring pets to shelter feed events on contaminated ground
• 🔒 Quarantine = euthanasia list — isolated dogs have zero adoption exposure
• 🏛️ City council hearings ignored — community members testified; no action taken
• 🧹 Free help refused — volunteers and cleaning services offered no-cost support; shelter decision makers have not acted