Los Angeles is fielding more dead-animal removal requests than ever

Many Angelenos are unaware that the city will remove a deceased animal from a home, roadway or other public space. The free service, which is provided both for beloved pets and wild creatures killed by vehicles or predators, has been available for decades.

But employees who do the work for the Bureau of Sanitation are busier this year than ever before.

Calls began rising in the first few months of the year, and have accelerated since then. In July, the city fielded 3,221 dead animal removal requests, according to publicly available MyLA311 data. That is only the second time there have been more than 3,000 calls in a month; the first was in May.

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In fact, May, June and July have produced the three highest monthly call totals ever in the city.

In the period from Jan. 1–July 31, the city registered 18,859 dead animal removal requests, with people calling 311, or using the MyLA311 website or app. The count marks a 15.3% rise over the same period last year. 

The increase is even more pronounced when going back further. From Jan. 1–July 31, 2021, there were 14,745 reports. 

Blame ‘kitten season’

There is no clear reason why figures this spring and summer are so elevated. One possibility is that slowly rising counts in recent years jumped further, with more puppies and kittens born in the wild in one season leading to additional litters in later years.

In a Crosstown story in May, one animal services worker suggested that overwhelmed shelters may not have been able to accept drop-offs or otherwise take in new animals, leading to more creatures at risk on the streets.

Whatever the reason, the trend is familiar. According to animal services experts, this is what happens during “kitten season.”

That is the period, generally from around April through October in Los Angeles, when feral cats, dogs and other animals mate and have offspring. While some are found and brought to shelters, others are left to survive in the wild, where they can fall victim to predators or be hit by vehicles.

Activity tends to be highest in the San Fernando Valley and other communities that have more woods or green space. From Jan. 1–July 31, there were 570 removal calls in Northridge, more than any other neighborhood in Los Angeles. The next highest count was the 508 reports in Van Nuys. 

Service crews are active all across the city. In the first seven months of the year, there were at least 200 reports in 33 different neighborhoods. That includes West Hills (302 calls), Watts (285) and Broadway-Manchester (234).

How we did it: We examined publicly available MyLA311 service data from Jan. 1, 2017–July 31, 2024. For neighborhood boundaries, we rely on the borders defined by the Los Angeles Times. The city of Los Angeles may update past service requests with new information, or recategorize past reports. Those revised reports do not always automatically become part of the public database.

Have questions about our data or want to know more? Write to us at askus@xtown.la.