WEST HOLLYWOOD—The city was recognized by Mars Petcare as a Better Cities For Pets™ Certified City for being pet-friendly and for helping to keep people and pets together. The assessment report outlines eight West Hollywood strengths, including:
-Partners across the City of West Hollywood are working together to reduce pet homelessness and get more pets in loving homes;
-A local community cat program is humanely reducing overpopulation and keeping cat colonies vaccinated;
-The City of West Hollywood doesn’t have breed bans or other significant restrictions for pet ownership;
-People in the City of West Hollywood have pet-friendly housing options with minimal restrictions or unreasonable fees;
-Local food banks or animal welfare organizations distribute pet food for families in need;
-The City of West Hollywood’s local emergency preparedness plans include accommodations for and communication about pets;
-The City of West Hollywood has pet-friendly green spaces for people and pets to get healthy exercise and connect with each other;
-There are transportation options in the City of West Hollywood for people who need to get around with their pets.
According to a press release from the city of West Hollywood, the Better Cities For Pets™ Certified City report provides inspiration to help make West Hollywood more pet-friendly in the future including suggestions such as continuing efforts to lead the way on animal welfare and shine a spotlight on pets; continuing its Pet Mayor program; adding signage that makes it easy for pet owners to find pet amenities; making City buildings and facilities pet-friendly to support and demonstrate the benefits of pets at work; and more.
The city has been focused on animal rights movement for decades and the City’s commitment to animal rights is one of its legacies. West Hollywood consistently worked to enact leading-edge animal welfare legislation.
In 1989, the West Hollywood City Council passed Resolution 558 making West Hollywood a “Cruelty-Free Zone” for animals. That was followed by West Hollywood’s move to secure animal care service policies that included a no-kill policy for stray and abandoned animals.
In 2004, the City Council passed an Ordinance to ban the practice of declawing cats, thereby making West Hollywood the first City in North America to ban this procedure.
In 2008, West Hollywood adopted a Resolution supporting Proposition 2, which led to a statewide standard in the caging of chickens; in 2009, the West Hollywood City Council took a stand against puppy-mills and the sale of dogs in local stores that came from such mills.
West Hollywood’s Ordinance prohibiting the sale of fur established that it is “unlawful to sell, offer for sale, display for sale, import, export, trade, or distribute any fur product by any means anywhere within the City of West Hollywood on or after September 21, 2013.” The Ordinance was approved by the West Hollywood City Council in November 2011 and, in August 2015, the Ordinance was amended.
The city invites canine members of the community and their humans to visit two dog parks at West Hollywood Park. A small dog park and large dog park are located on each side of the park’s basketball courts and each area features expanses of open space with shade trees, small mounds and turf terraces, and water stations. In addition, West Hollywood operates the William S. Hart Park and Off-Leash Dog Park located at 8341 De Longpre Avenue.
For more details about Better Cities For Pets™ certification, contact Vyto Adomaitis, West Hollywood’s Neighborhood and Business Safety Manager, at vadomaitis@weho.org or at (323) 848-6531. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing call TTY (323) 848-6496.