Two of America’s largest animal welfare organizations are joining forces to support municipal animal shelters in Los Angeles, California.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and Best Friends Animal Society announced last week that the two nonprofits will invest $14 million over the next three years in LA Animal Services , one of the largest municipal shelter systems in the United States. LA Animal Services operates six animal shelters across the city that take in over 50,000 animals each year and responds to over 20,000 emergency calls annually.

The funding will create 23 new positions and embed four experienced advisors from the ASPCA and Best Friends with LA Animal Services to improve outcomes for animals, according to Matt Bershadker, president and CEO of the ASPCA.

“There’s 50,000 animals — it’s a lot of intake — and the problems are big,” he said. “So I like to think about it not as a grant, but as an investment, because ideally, we will create the conditions for Los Angeles to stand on its own after the ASPCA and Best Friends are done. So it's an investment in their long-term stability in creating systemic sustainable change for the people and animals of Los Angeles.”

Not only are intake numbers high, but the dogs and cats coming in tend to have greater behavioral and medical needs, which leads to longer stays in the shelter, he noted.

“The longer the animal is in a system, the more vulnerable he or she becomes. So what we really need to focus on in Los Angeles is aggressive pathway planning,” he said. “How are we going to move this animal through the system into the home that he or she deserves as quickly and as responsibly as possible and really focusing on our capacity to care. How many animals can we care for in a humane and appropriate way?”

ASPCA experts will focus on bolstering shelter medicine and operations at LA Animal Services, according to Bershadker. He noted the ASPCA has an entire department dedicated to shelter medicine, offers a scholarship program for veterinary students and operates the Practitioner Pathway Mentorship Program to help veterinarians become board certified in shelter medicine.

Since 2014, the ASPCA has spayed/neutered over 167,000 pets and shelter animals in Los Angeles, he added.

The Joy Of Adopting A Shelter Pet

On June 6, the ASPCA is co-sponsoring California Adopt-a-Pet Day , with waived adoption fees at over 150 animal shelters across the state. Bershadker hopes animal lovers will consider adopting a pet then or any day of the year because there are so many animals waiting for homes in shelters across the country. (In 2025, 5.8 million dogs and cats entered U.S. animal shelters.)

“Sharing your home with an animal is one of the most powerful, enriching things you can do. They are the source of unending love and joy and companionship and humor,” he said. “I know when I come home, my dogs are almost like a stress magnet. You put your hands on them and it just goes away. So I don’t think there’s a better thing you can do to help an animal and enrich your life at the same time.”

Because advocates at Best Friends share that passion for animals, he’s excited to partner with the nonprofit, which operates the country’s largest animal sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. He’s grateful that Susanne Kogut, former president and executive director of the nonprofit Petco Love, helped “build bridges” between the ASPCA and Best Friends, and that he’s developed a “great” relationship with Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society.

The two CEOs understood that their organizations could have a greater impact in Los Angeles than they could apart, and have talked about how a successful partnership to help LA Animal Services could lead to transformative change in animal shelters across America, according to Bershadker.

“I think the animal welfare community needs to do more together — needs to understand that despite minor or maybe not so minor philosophical differences, there is huge, huge agreement among us, and we need to stand shoulder to shoulder. We need to understand that each organization brings different strengths, skills and experiences to the table, and the collective is much more powerful than the individual organization,” he said. “We're sending a tremendous signal to the animal welfare field for two of the largest national organizations to work arm in arm for the benefit of the animals in that system. And who knows what might come next for the ASPCA and Best Friends or for other organizations? The power behind the unity is tremendous.”