Nearly 20 years ago, the city and county of Los Angeles adopted mandatory spay/neuter ordinances for dogs and cats. As a veterinarian, I believe spaying and neutering are critical tools for reducing pet overpopulation and euthanasia rates. But there is limited evidence that these mandates deliver the intended results, and there are real reasons to question the harm they cause — the result of multiple systemic and policy failures that put shelter workers, animals and the people who care for them at risk. This concern is shared by many major animal welfare organizations.

I recognize this sounds like a contradiction: I perform spay/neuter surgeries nearly every day, yet I oppose a blanket mandate requiring these procedures.

Here’s why: When an animal enters a shelter intact, the mandate can delay its return home, adding to already overcrowded kennels and creating another obstacle for owners trying to reunite with their pets. The city also issues street-level citations, or “fix-it tickets,” to people whose animals haven’t been sterilized. For vulnerable communities, these penalties can create fear and distrust, making them less likely to seek out veterinary care and support their animals’ needs.

The mandates and citations were not crafted to benefit the people and pets I encounter when I provide veterinary care alongside SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, a volunteer-led organization supporting people experiencing housing insecurity. Many of the people I meet through this work are devoted pet guardians, doing their best to care for their animals — sometimes better than they care for themselves — with very limited resources. Ticketing them is pointless at best, and more likely alienating.

The city offers a voucher system meant to ensure free access to spay/neuter surgeries, but the system is buckling under demand. The weekly allotment of 725 online vouchers runs out almost immediately after being released. For people with limited or no internet access (libraries are closed on Sundays, the day the allotment gets released), these vouchers are essentially unattainable. Those lucky enough to secure one must arrange transportation and find a participating veterinarian.

And those options are dwindling: According to publicly reported city data, the number of clinics participating in the city’s voucher program has fallen by roughly two-thirds, from 85 in 2015 to just 29 today. On top of all this, the city continues to cut funding for L.A. Animal Services, leaving those of us on the front lines with fewer resources to do an already difficult job.

The majority of people I work with want their animals spayed or neutered. The problem isn’t a lack of willingness. It’s a lack of access. Tickets, fines and impoundment create additional barriers, turning an already stressful situation into a pressure cooker. My colleagues and I recently experienced an extreme manifestation of this stress that underscores the danger these mandates needlessly create.

Last month, I was in the middle of surgery when a man smashed through our clinic door at North Central Animal Shelter. He attacked my team and I in the surgery prep area, seriously injuring my co-worker and hitting me so hard I was unable to return to surgery for five weeks. Clinic staff and trainees worked urgently to protect the animals on the surgery tables and barricade the door. The attack ended only when the assailant walked his dog out of the building.

The man had come to the shelter more than 24 hours earlier to recover his dog. Under city rules, when an animal is impounded, its owner may be required to pay fees and wait for the animal to be spayed or neutered before it can be released. For someone desperate to bring their pet home, these requirements can exacerbate an already stressful situation — in this case, ultimately turning a routine surgery day into an assault.

When clinic staff become targets of violence, it becomes even harder to recruit and retain the staff our shelters desperately need.

Los Angeles should stop treating the inability to access care as a failure of its citizens, when in reality it’s a failure of policy. Fixing this system starts with expanding access to free and low-cost spay/neuter services, increasing the number of vouchers, and making it financially viable for more clinics to participate. It also means bringing services directly to communities where transportation, cost and other barriers make veterinary care difficult to obtain.

The city’s recent commitment to monthly spay/neuter clinics on Skid Row is a welcome step, but clinics need to be much more frequent to have any real impact. State Assembly Bill 2010 takes effect next year, and will help increase access to spay/neuter by removing some regulatory red tape. But these efforts are not sufficient to fix a system that penalizes people who can’t access care.

We also need to reckon with the mandate itself. The city should immediately limit street-level enforcement and create a reasonable opt-out clause. Longer term, the city should consider replacing the blanket mandate with a system that prioritizes accessible, affordable veterinary care over punishment. That would also free up animal control officers to focus on genuine animal welfare and cruelty concerns.

I became a vet to help the most vulnerable animals and the people who love them. It never crossed my mind that this job could be dangerous because of the humans involved. Improving security alone won’t fix a system that is failing the animals it was designed to protect.

We can’t keep punishing people for their inability to comply with services we make nearly impossible to access. The goal should be to keep animals safe and healthy — not create more reasons to separate them from the people who love them.

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Bridgid Twomey is a licensed veterinarian and assistant professor in Los Angeles.

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