Thursday, October 24, 2013

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates, Real Estate Wiki page


Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins
Mary Cummins was born December 17, 1965 in Long Beach, California. Cummins is a real estate expert, freedom of speech advocate, animal rights activist and a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

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Early life and education

Cummins was born in Long Beach, California. The family soon after moved to Beverly Hills, California. She was raised mainly by her grandmother Mary R. Cummins also known as Maria Rivera. Her grandmother was born in Tacubaya in the Federal District of Mexico in 1899. Her grandfather is Robert Cummins who died in WWII. She has an older sister who is an actress named Juliette Cummins who is most well known for acting in horror movies. Her mother is Marie Juliette Cummins who is now Juliette Sponsel living in Santa Barbara married to Clifford Sponsel.
She attended St. Victor's Catholic School then Beverly Hills Catholic School now called Good Shepherd Catholic School in Beverly Hills. She then attended El Rodeo public school in Beverly Hills for 7th and 8th grades and Beverly Hills High School. She later attended the University of Southern California on scholarship as a biology/psychology major. She was on the Dean's list in high school and college.
Growing up she was on the Beverly Hills YMCA swim team, Culver City Roadrunners Swim Team, Beverly Hills High School swim and water polo teams and University of Southern California swim team. She was a top ten swimmer in the United States.

Real Estate

Cummins received her California real estate sales license in 1984. She became a full broker in 1986. She received her California real estate appraiser licensein 1994 when they were first mandatory. Cummins has been a real estate expert in both civil and criminal trial cases in California. She was one of the appraisers of the Ambassador Hotel in the eminent domain case in the 1990's. She's also done appraisals for eminent domain cases for the Los Angeles Metro and pro bono work for local non-profits. Besides teaching real estate appraisal theory classes she's also written many articles on all aspects of real estate appraisal and sales. To date she has done over 20,000 real estate appraisals for AMC's, brokers, lawyers, accountants, government agencies and private individuals. She has worked for Merrill Lynch, Westside Properties, the Apartment Owners Association (AOA) and Forensis Group.

Freedom of Speech

Cummins is an advocate on freedom of speech issues. In the past 20 years she has written reports on securities fraud and animal cruelty cases. In two of these cases she was sued for defamation in retaliation for posting her reports on the Internet and filing complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)and authorities.
"Fredric Rittereiser, Ashton Technology vs Mary Cummins", 2000. In this case the CEO of Ashton Technology Fredric Rittereiser and the company sued Cummins for defamation and tortious interference. Cummins represented herself pro se and won this case in November 2001.
"Kathy Knight-McConnell vs Mary Cummins", July 2003. In this case company paid stock promoter Kathy Knight-McConnell sued Cummins for defamation, trademark infringement and securities claims. Cummins represented herself pro se and won in 2004. This case set case law precedence as this was the beginning of internet law.

Animal Activism

Cummins has always been a strong proponent for animal rights. She has rescued animals since she was a small child rescue a fawn, bunny and squirrels at the age of six. Cummins started her own non-profit Animal Advocates in 2002. She is licensed with the California Department of Fish & Game and the USDA to rescue and rehabilitate wildlife including coyotes, bobcats, foxes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, squirrels, all the way down to bats. Mary Cummins speaks to local community groups and students about respecting wildlife and humane wildlife control. Mary Cummins is also a Wildlife Control Operator. Mary Cummins has written manuals on small mammal rehabilitation besides numerous articles.
Cummins also lobbies and speaks out for animal rights. She worked with other animal rights groups to help pass the West Hollywood fur ban. She also worked with Dr. Jennifer Conrad of the Paw Project to help ban the declawing of domestic cats, large cats and wild animals. In 2004 she was able to change the wildlife policy for the City of Los Angeles. She also made an amendment to zoning in Los Angeles County to allow wildlife rehabilitation. She's also lobbied for many new bills such as SB 1229. Cummins went through the Rio Hondo Police Academy and the Humane Academy to become a Humane Officer. Cummins also worked for American Humane and the Found Animals Foundation. She was also outspoken about the tainted and rancid puppy and kitten formulas made by Petag.

Personal life

Cummins is divorced with no children. She currently lives in Bel Air, California which is also home to her wildlife sanctuary and wildlife rehabilitation facility. Her hobbies are motorcycling, skiing, scuba diving, hiking, cooking and reading. She is a "green" Vegan doing what she can to help the environment, people and animals.

Awards and Honors

  • Member of the California Council for Wildlife Rehabilitators
  • Member of the National Wildlife Rehabilitation Association
  • Member of the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council
  • Member of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) National Disaster Animal Rescue Team (NDART)
  • Certificate of appreciation from the City of Los Angeles for many years of service in 2003
  • Certificate of appreciation from EARS for assisting with wildlife in the California fires
  • Certificate of appreciation from the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services 2009

External Links

Publications and Articles

Animals
  • 2002 "What to do when you find a baby squirrel"
  • 2002 "What to do when you find an injured squirrel"
  • 2003 "How to reunite squirrels babies with their mothers"
  • 2003 "How to trim trees with wildlife in mind"
  • 2003 "How to properly care for un-releasable squirrels"
  • 2003 "How to build proper caging for wildlife"
  • 2003 Cat Fancy Magazine, "Mama Mia"
  • 2003 "How to humanely deal with coyotes"
  • 2004 "Rehabilitation of tree squirrels" manual.
  • 2004 "Rehabilitation of ground squirrels" manual.
  • 2004 "Rehabilitation of skunks" manual.
  • 2004 "Treatment of Malocclusion in Squirrels," Co-author Dr. Bill Ridgeway
  • 2004 "How to trim rodent teeth"
  • 2004 "How to make pet squirrels wild again"
  • 2004 "How to set up a wildlife referral system in animal shelters"
  • 2005 IWRC, "Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation," "Raising baby tree squirrels from weaning to release"

Selected Media

Animals
  • 2003 Animal Planet "Beverly Hills Vet, Squirrel Rehabilitation"
  • 2003 CADFG "Scrawl of the Wild"
  • 2003 LA Times "Rodent poisoning project angers animal activists"
  • 2004 Cable television show "Wildlife Rescue," six episodes, Doggy TV
  • 2004 Gardena Valley News "Helping furry friends survive urban jungle"
  • 2004 KROQ radio interview with Scott Mason
  • 2005 Discovery Channel "The Undetectables, Squirrel Care"
  • 2005 LA Weekly "A Billionaire's Bark"
  • 2005 KROQ radio interview with Scott Mason
  • 2005 Thousand Oaks Acorn "Public outcry over slain tiger loud but not universal"
  • 2005 LA Times "Urban remedies: Dealing with new arrivals"
  • 2005 Thousand Oaks Acorn "Public outcry over slain tiger loud but not universal"
  • 2005 LA City Beat "Welcome to the jungle"
  • 2006 Daily News "Stuckey stays on as $50,000 City consultant"
  • 2006 Book "Squirrels: The Animal Answer Guide"
  • 2006 Daily News "County relaxes restrictions on llamas, animal rehab"
  • 2006 Daily News "Council hears Stuckey critics"
  • 2006 LA Times "Fired City Official's appeal in limbo"
  • 2007 LA Times "Opossums: your garden's evening clean-up crew"
  • 2009 LA Times "Your morning adorable, baby skunks and the handstand dance"
  • 2010 Martha Stewart "A gopher named Charlie"
  • 2010 Martha Stewart "A second chance for Charlie"
  • 2010 LA Times "Your morning adorable: rescued rabbit enjoys a meal"
  • 2010 LA Times "Your morning adorable: rub a dub dub, raccoons in a tub"
  • 2010 Top YouTube pets video channel in March
  • 2011 Ventura County Star "City says bats remain at Moorpark home"
  • 2011 CBS Los Angeles "Moorpark Says Homeowners Not Doing Enough To Fight Bats"
  • 2011 NBC "WeHo one step closer to fur ban"
  • 2012 Santa Monica Patch "Wild Animal in Town? Call on Us, Vet Says"
  • 2012 Santa Monica Daily Press "Groups want policy change after mountain lion death"
  • 2012 ABC "IDA Rally held in Santa Monica in protest of fatal shooting of mountain lion"
  • 2012 NBC "Animal-Rights Group Protests Santa Monica Mountain Lion Shooting"
Real Estate
  • 1985 LA Times "People in Westside Real Estate" Cummins joins Merrill Lynch
  • 1990 LA Times "People in Westside Real Estate" Cummins joins Westside Properties
  • 2002 LA Times "Suggestions for the bidder whose offers are rejected"
  • 2007 LA Times "Historical homes, not for everyone"
  • 2009 LA Weekly "Jimmy Nasralla finds a lawyer"
  • 2009 LA Weekly "Is LA City Attorney Trutanich screwing over the little guy?"
  • 2009 LA Weekly "Jimmy on the edge of town"


Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Actor Marc Copage and my sister Juliette Cummins in a test shoot

A friend of mine Marc Copage just posted a video he did with my sister actor Juliette Cummins. Marc Copage is a great actor. He went to Beverly Hills High School with me and my sister. My sister Juliette is a half sister. We are nothing alike at all. I'm a real estate appraiser. She's an actor.

Marc Copage has a blog on hubpages here http://littlediego.hubpages.com/hub/The-Adventures-Of-Little-Diego-Former-Child-Star-Chapter-8-Part-3 He got his start as the son in the TV series "Julia." More about "Julia" on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_(TV_series) More from his blog here http://littlediego.hubpages.com/ Here is his imdb page http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0178527/ He's done a ton of work. He's also a great singer and dancer. Check out his videos http://www.youtube.com/user/diegodeyable/videos

He was of course in drama at Beverly Hills High School. I saw one of his plays and he really killed his role. Great job. I didn't know he was in the TV series "Julia" at the time but I think I saw an episode as a kid. I was born in late 1965 and the show started in 1968 going to 1971.

I met him again a few hears after high school at a Halloween party in the Hollywood Hills. He was wearing the actual sperm costume from the Woody Allen movie. He wore the same glasses Woody Allen wore. It was hilarious! Wish I had a pic of that.

We reconnected on Facebook a few years ago. https://www.facebook.com/marc.copage He really is a talented individual.


Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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Friday, September 13, 2013

Happy Friday the 13th! Here's a pic of my sister Juliette Cummins being killed with a machete through her chest in Friday the 13th Part V. Enjoy!

Happy Friday the 13th! Here's a pic of my sister Juliette Cummins being killed with a machete through her chest in the movie Friday the 13th Part V. Enjoy! 

It's obviously a fake mold of her body. I was there when they took the cast of her body.


Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

911 remembered, Mary Cummins

911 remembered by Mary Cummins

I was sound asleep in Los Angeles, California when the phone started ringing around 6:00 a.m. My then husband picked it up. A co-worker told him that a plane had crashed into the twin towers. My husband repeated this to me. I thought he meant that a small two seater plane had crashed into the empty Century City twin towers. Upset at being woken up for no real reason I said with great irritation "so?" The person on the phone then said "no, no, no! Turn on the TV!" We reluctantly got out of bed and turned on the TV. The first plane had just struck one of the New York twin towers. 

It was hard to believe what we were seeing. While I was watching the news the second plane struck the other tower. It was surreal. It really felt like I was watching a movie of the attack and not the actual attack. I was still watching the news when the first tower collapsed around 7 a.m. right before my eyes. I could not believe it. How is that possible? Were there bombs on the planes? I started to think that this was probably the beginning of World War III. 

I had scheduled to get four kittens neutered that morning at Animal Birth Control in West Los Angeles. Still in a daze I loaded up the kittens and headed off to the vet. No one was on the streets. LA was a ghost town for a few hours that day. Everyone was glued to their TV sets. In my car I heard on the news that the second tower had collapsed. Then I heard about the plane flying into the Pentagon. It really felt like the end of the world as I drove alone on the empty streets. 

When I got to the vet's office it seems no one knew what was happening in New York because there was no TV or radio. Everyone was sitting in the waiting room contentedly clueless and quiet. I didn't say a word. They would know soon enough.

I dropped the kittens off and headed back home. While I was driving home I was thinking "why am I getting kittens neutered when this may soon be the end of the world as we know it? Will cat overpopulation really be an issue after we all get nuked?" I really thought the US was going to instantly go to war.

By the time I got back home my husband was still watching the news while getting ready to go to work. I was having the bathrooms remodeled and the workmen had arrived. I kept thinking "why is he going to work? Why am I having my bathrooms remodeled if this could be the beginning of the end?" I really thought there would be more attacks on US soil and I thought Los Angeles was a prime target.

I went online and took a lap around the stock message boards. People were trying to find stock brokers who were in the twin towers. I found out that some people I knew had died in the twin towers. It was hard to believe that I'd never see them on the boards again telling everyone to buy, buy, buy some POS stock tout job. Even though I didn't like them I felt bad for their families.

The shorters and hedge fund managers I knew who normally would short on any bad news were telling people not to short the market. They said it'd be very un-American to short under these circumstances. They fortunately ended up closing the stock exchanges after share prices plummeted.

Later that night on the news I saw video of people in the middle east dancing and jumping for joy over the attacks. I had an intense desire to reach through the TV and beat the crap out of all of them even the little old ladies. 

For the next few days I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I really thought they might fly a plane into LA City Hall or maybe into a fully packed sports arena. I actually stayed away from City Hall for a couple of weeks for that reason. People who worked at City Hall said they had the same fear. 

Over the next few weeks they started investigating 9/11. There were some middle eastern people at my husband's BMW dealership in Beverly Hills who had gone to a party in New York a few weeks before 9/11. They were questioned. They of course had nothing to do with 9/11 but if you looked middle eastern, you were going to be questioned.  People were reporting just about any middle eastern person or person they just didn't like to the FBI. It was a very stressful time. 

Time passed and things started to calm down. I no longer thought it would be the beginning of WWIII so I started remodeling my kitchen. Because of 9/11 I  could not order the appliances I wanted because trucks were not allowed to transport them across the country. I had to buy whatever was on the show room floor. I was now a little pissed at 9/11 because I couldn't get the exact model of appliances I wanted for my kitchen. 

It's now almost the ten year anniversary of 9/11. Everyone's a little worried about a repeat performance. If the bad guys were to attack us, how and where would they attack us? Maybe a monument building on the West Coast? A crowded sporting event? I'm sure I'll be looking up every time I hear a plane overhead today and tomorrow. September 12th can't come soon enough.


Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Dr. Gary Michelson of Found Animals Foundation, the story teller

In the age of the Internet with facts and evidence available with one Internet search you would think people would not lie so boldly. Not so it seems. Dr. Gary Michelson said he thought up microchips all by himself. No, he didn't. The microchips were the idea of Dave Loftus who was the Director of the Foundation. Below is Dr. Gary Michelson's story. FTR neither of them invented chips.

http://www.foundanimals.org/blog/tragedy-to-triumph-how-found-animals-was-founded/?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=FA_Newsletter_8_28_13

I worked for the Foundation during this time. I did not sign a confidentiality agreement. There is no gag order. Dr. Gary Michelson has a long history of telling stories. This is but one.


"A lifelong animal lover, Dr. Michelson had watched in horror as images of displaced pets flashed across the television screen. The initial tragedy of Katrina had been terrible enough; how could the aftermath be so grueling? Although animal welfare agencies labored tirelessly to help affected pets, the infrastructure for large-scale pet identification and return simply did not exist.
However, Dr. Michelson knew of a technology that could help: microchips. Michelson consulted with his local animal control agency, and found that the Los Angeles County shelter system did not currently offer microchipping! So, he created created a non-profit called Found Animals Foundation and began donating microchips to the County shelters and the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority (SEAACA)."
Dr. Gary Michelson says he started the Foundation because of Katrina. That's not quite true. The corporation was formed December 2005. December 18, 2005 I believe there was a meeting at Kathleen Riordan's house. I have a DVD of the meeting. Dr. Gary Michelson and Dave Loftus of the Found Animals Foundation showed up. Dr. Gary Michelson talked about spay neuter. He didn't mention chips. He didn't mention Katrina. Katrina hit August 25, 2005. The true devastation wasn't noted until days later or longer. Dr. Gary Michelson's first donations as per his tax return was buying two tickets to Sherry Hackett's comedy event. That's not even a donation. He got something in return.
In fact if you read other articles this is the first time Dr. Gary Michelson mentions Katrina. He originally said he started this foundation for animals and another for back conditions because of his love of animals and his grandmother who had back problems.
I'm sure everyone knows this. Dr. Gary Michelson read the Newsweek article that supposedly Ed Boks, Edward Boks wrote. I personally believe Scully ghost wrote that article because he was going to ghost write another article for Ed Boks but Ed didn't have $2,500. Ed asked me for $2,500 to pay Scully and I said no. That article made it seem like Ed Boks had made shelters nokill when he didn't. Euthanasia actually went up his first year at each shelter, i.e. Arizona, New York, Los Angeles. His later years he'd get ahold of the books and fudge the numbers, refuse animals, let them die from disease... There are many articles about this. 
Because of the article Dr. Gary Michelson wanted him to run Los Angeles Animal Services. He automatically believed the bullshit without doing any research. He contacted the Mayor and offered him money to hire Ed Boks. The Mayor agreed to hire Ed Boks. Anyway the meeting was to introduce Ed Boks who would be the new GM officially January 3, 2006. Here's a background story about this relationship. Also note that Dr. Gary Michelson was sued for defamation and had to settle. He most certainly defamed Dave Loftus. Dr. Gary Michelson didn't just defame him at dinner parties either. Dr. Gary Michelson called up Dave Loftus' business partners and defamed him directly hurting his business.
More from Dr.Gary Michelson's story,
"At that point, the foundation consisted of Dr. Michelson sitting at his kitchen table, writing checks for chips. Found Animals’ donated microchips made free pet ID available to all pets in the LA area, forwarding the foundation’s overall goal to reduce unnecessary shelter deaths. The logic was simple: get lost pets out of the shelters and back with their families, and they won’t be put down for lack of space."
At the time it wasn't just Dr. Gary Michelson. It was Dr. Gary Michelson, Dave Loftus, Mary Herro and me sitting at his kitchen table. Dr. Gary Michelson totally forgets about Dave Loftus. Chips were his idea. He bought the chips and sold them to the Foundation. Dr. Gary Michelson agreed to this. He bought chips from Dave Loftus and his pet kiosk company. Then Dr. Gary Michelson got cold feet because people said chips and kiosks are not a cost effective way to save animals' lives. He wanted his money back. Dave Loftus said no of course because they had an agreement. 
Dr. Gary Michelson then starts defaming Dave Loftus making up horrible lies such as he's wanted by the police, he embezzled money, he stole money.... I worked for Dr. Gary Michelson at the time and believed what he said. I stupidly would tell Dr. Gary Michelson where Dave would be so the police could arrest him . Dr. Gary Michelson also defamed me. I was going to sue him and use the same attorney Dave Loftus did but that attorney said Dr. Gary Michelson and his lawyers are ruthless. He didn't want to go through that experience again even though they got a good settlement.
The police were never going to arrest Dave because he didn't do anything illegal or wrong. Dr. Gary Michelson just got cold feet and wanted to unwind the deal. Dr. Gary Michelson begged Ed Boks to order the police to arrest Dave. LAPD told the Mayor there was no crime. They can't arrest him. LAPD said that Dr. Gary Michelson is mentally ill, crazy. I have all of those emails from the Mayor's office and Ed Boks.
Back to Dr. Gary Michelson's story. Dr. Gary Michelson asked the owner of Chameleon, PetHarbor if microchips or pet kiosks work. He said no because people don't register the chips, don't keep the information current, there are many types of chips and scanners, not all shelters scan for chips... He also said the kiosks don't work and they sold the kiosks. Dr. Gary Michelson felt really stupid for buying chips and kiosks. More from his article,
"Easy fix, right?
Surprisingly, no.
Despite millions of dollars in donated ID, shelter pets were still dying by the thousands. Most baffling, local shelters saw no significant change in return-to-owner rates! Free microchips alone were obviously not doing the job."
He finally admits that he failed with the chips. Back to his statement.
"so in 2008, Dr. Michelson recruited former BCG consultant and Stanford MBA Aimee Gilbreath, and they started to dig into the microchip system failure. The team uncovered some pretty scary facts:"
First off, after Dave Loftus and Dr. Gary Michelson parted ways Dr. Gary Michelson had an idea. He wanted to hire someone WITH ABSOLUTELY NO ANIMAL EXPERIENCE WHATSOEVER. He wanted someone with a business or financial degree. He thought a numbers, money person could solve this problem. He thought people who loved animals were blinded which is odd coming from someone who says he loves animals. Obviously hiring Aimee Gilbreath was not the best idea. She has made some whopper mistakes because she has no animal experience. She's had to waste time learning through trial and error while animals died and money was wasted. Back to his statement.
"1)      Although microchips must be registered to work, most pet owners never register their microchips!This means that shelters and vets who find a chip have no way to contact the pet’s family.
2)      Since most microchip companies charge fees to register and/or update information, many records become outdated when pet owners can’t pay.
3)      Some microchip companies sell nonstandard microchips and non-universal scanners that can’t read all types of chips … so even when a chip is registered and updated, there’s no guarantee it will be picked up by the shelter or vet.
Clearly, the microchip system was not living up to its potential. Dr. Michelson was forced to ask himself the same question millions of pet owners pose each day: is microchipping pets really worth it? 
The foundation was quickly expanding to include other lifesaving programs: pet adoption promotions for area shelters, leadership support for high volume spay and neuter providers, and the Michelson Prize and Grants, a prize philanthropy grant program promising $75 million in award and research funding to develop a safe, nonsurgical sterilant for cats and dogs. So, pouring money into a broken microchip system wasn’t helping anyone.
If we really wanted microchips to work, we would need to take matters into our own paws.
That’s when Found Animals began designing a registry that would allow all U.S. pet owners to maintainfree, lifetime registrations for their microchipped pets, and automate communications for shelters. Our microchip donations expanded to include AngelDogs Foundation, Spay4LA, and SNP-LA, and the Santa Fe Humane Society, and those organizations provided valuable feedback as our registry blossomed. After testing the system with our partners, in March of 2012, we launched the Found Animals Microchip Registry nationwide, and began traveling around the country educating shelters and vets on registration and the importance of microchip and scanner standards."
ALL of us knew this in the year 2000. We spoke about these issues at commission meetings. Check the minutes. Dr. Gary Michelson come lately here also knew this in February 2006. It's seven years later. While I'm happy he made the national registry, I don't know if it's working. I have no idea if people are using it. He would need all the chip companies to give him the data from all their chips and they won't do that. They sell that data to advertisers. I bet Dr. Gary Michelson will use that data to sell to advertisers. He talked about doing that in 2006. He wanted the data that would be inputted from the chips. City, County said they couldn't give him that data. Looks like he's getting that data now.
Here's yet another problem with microchips. All animals adopted from shelters are now chipped. Even when a stray animal is found, it has a chip, data is current, we call the owner, they say they don't want the animal. They even lie and say they're not the owner. If they were, they'd have to pay to dump their animal. 
If someone really cared about their animal they'd have a chip and collar with tags. A collar and tags is the best way to reunite wanted pets with their owners. A microchip will not automatically make people responsible. I volunteered at the shelter and saw animals with chips being put down because owner said he didn't want the animal. I'd see owners bring in their own animal with a chip and dump them. Chips can't save animals. Only humans can save animals.




Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Los Angeles County allows amendment to zoning for wildlife rehabilitation, llamas and alpacas


Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Los Angeles County officials gave animal lovers some good news Tuesday, making it legal to operate small wildlife rehabilitation facilities in unincorporated areas and easing rules for raising llamas and alpacas.

The practice of rehabilitating small wildlife had been illegal in unincorporated areas but legal in the city of Los Angeles.

``I'm ecstatic,'' said Mary Cummins, president of the nonprofit animal rescue organization Animal Advocates, which has a wildlife permit to operate in the city. ``This amendment will help protect the public and save animals.''

Cummins said about 50 people and organizations have been illegally rehabilitating thousands of wild animals each year in the county.

Last year, wild animal rehabilitators saved more than 80,000 animals statewide, including bobcats, skunks, opossums, racoons, wild mice and pack rats, Cummins said.

The new ordinance approved by the Board of Supervisors will allow facilities to temporarily care for sick or injured small wild animals until they become healthy and can be put back in their native habitat, said Department of Regional Planning Ordinance Studies Section official Leonard Erlanger.

The new ordinance also is expected to help relieve the county's overburdened animal shelters.

``We do occasionally get opossums,'' said Brenda Sanchez, spokeswoman for the county Department of Animal Care and Control. ``A lot them are either trapped by residents in the area or injured and we have to euthanize them.''

The state Department of Fish and Game requires all licensed wildlife rehabilitation facilities to show they have zoning clearances before it will grant a wildlife rehabilitation permit.

Before Tuesday's vote, the county did not have a mechanism to provide such clearances.

Under the new ordinance, people seeking to operate such a facility will need to obtain a state permit for the animals. Under the new requirements, the animals also must be indigenous to the county, weigh less than 30 pounds and cannot be dangerous, such as bears and mountain lions.

The provision also limits the number of animals in a facility to 20, but that limit could be waived under some circumstances.

The supervisors also voted to make it easier for people to raise llamas and alpacas in unincorporated areas.

Currently, the county's zoning laws refer to alpacas and llamas as wild animals and prohibits them in light agricultural areas - which essentially precludes Antelope Valley residents from raising the animals.

The new ordinance allows the animals in light agricultural areas and classifies them as pets that can be kept in residentially zoned areas - just like horses, cattle, sheep and goats.

Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com


Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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Take 3 Film Festival at Plaza de Cultural y Artes by Mary Cummins, Maria Rivera

Take 3 Film Festival presented by East LA Film Festival , Panamanian International Film Festival/LA and La Plaza de Cultura y Artes was hel...