Meet the New Boss
New L.A. Animal Services head Ed Boks left plenty of questions behind after being fired from his las
By Annette Stark
On March 29, a self-described animal rescuer known only as "L.A. Animal Lover" began posting long rants in praise of Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks on a blog called "Animal Friends." The blog's stated mission: to "debunk false information." It addressed Boks's previous position as director of New York City Animal Care and Control (NYCACC), and rebutted reports that Boks had been fired from that job - by posting a letter from Ed Boks.
But Boks was fired from his last job. The new LAAS GM came to L.A. in January 2006, after spending five years trying to achieve no-kill shelters at Maricopa Animal Care and Control in Phoenix, Arizona (he left ACC in late 2003), and two years at NYCACC. Sometime in November 2005, according to Boks supporter and N.Y. animal activist Gary Kaskel, Boks began asking about his contract being renewed. Despite the fact that Kaskel and others supported his reappointment at a December 5 commission meeting, the vote to remove him was 5-0. This was reported in meeting minutes and in a New York Daily News article titled "Animal Care Chief Booted."
Boks followed that story with a letter to his supporters, insisting that the decision was "mutual."
According to information gathered by CityBeat, he also left behind investigations into exactly how money was used. An audit of Maricopa ACC for 2003 revealed $500,000 in pharmaceutical bills, of which $180,000 was supposedly spent on an "experimental distemper treatment" and another $77,000 for meds procured using an outside vendor's account. In New York, a tight-lipped comptroller's office will only confirm that an audit commenced in November 2005 and is still ongoing.
And then there are the numbers: According to the 2004 report from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NYCACC impounded 44,350 animals - 9,967 were adopted and 32,430 were euthanized. Those numbers are worse than his short-lived predecessor in L.A., Guerdon Stuckey, who was battered by animal activists seeking no-kill results and then removed. The news from Maricopa was similar. According to Maricopa County auditor Petra Carroll, a 2003 audit found that 20,230 were adopted and 29,111 were euthanized.
Regardless, Boks has garnered substantial support with the rescue and humane community. He has many supporters who feel certain Boks's heart is in the right place. "I have been receiving positive letter after letter about Boks from all over the country, including from a supervisor in Maricopa as well as volunteers and employees from NYC," explains supporter Edward Muzika. "They all say [Boks] made a big difference and lifted morale. There are some positive ones from around here too, such as from the Harbor shelter."
L.A. Board of Animal Services Commissioner Glenn Brown concurs. Since Boks's hire, he says, "I have witnessed positive movement among the community, the staff, and the Commission."
But even as the support pours in, so do the questions. "They say when you catch someone in a lie, they become defensive and angry," says New York pit bull advocate Regina Massaro, a member of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC Animals and founder of Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP). "That's what [Boks] does. He attacks those who are asking him for the truth."
Massaro recalls that early in Boks's tenure, "I sent a letter to Mayor Bloomberg. In it, I was clear that we have no law enforcement for rabies and licensing. Ed Boks contacted me. First he said the letter was inflammatory. Then he attacked me by saying I was out of touch with reality because I called Animal Care and Control by its old name, which was the Center for Animal Care and Control. He doesn't focus on the issues. He finds some insignificant pointless thing and focuses on that."
In last month's issue of Best Friends magazine, Mayor's Alliance President Jane Hoffman said of Boks: "He merely renamed the projects and made them his own. He's not good at giving credit to others."
Some would argue that was putting it mildly. In fact, several weeks ago, CityBeat located filings on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website that indicate that Boks filed for NYCACC to secure trademarks for two programs - Big Fix and New Hope - which he had used previously in Maricopa county and was well aware had actually been created by other entities.
Both filings, dated March 7, 2005, reference the first use anywhere as "at least as early as 01/01/2004." The three signatories appearing on the applications are Boks and two of his NYCACC underlings.
This is all shocking news to Best Friends Animal Society and No More Homeless Pets in Utah, which created the Big Fix spay/neuter program six years ago, complete with its cartoon logo of a superhero dog rescuing a cat. According to one of the founders, Gregory Castle, "We didn't go for registration because we are happy for people to use it. We also give permission for the logo to be used. In New York, it's been used by the Mayor's Alliance."
Animal welfare folks nationwide have used Big Fix. Castle says he "wasn't aware previously" that NYCACC had filed to secure the Big Fix trademark, including the cartoon logo (changed only slightly in that it no longer says "On Tour"). He first learned about it when contacted by CityBeat.
"Trying to take it out of public domain and consider it proprietary seems contradictory to helping the cause for animals," says Maddie's Fund President, Rich Avanzino, who also first learned of the attempt from CityBeat.
In Maricopa County, where they use both Big Fix and a volunteer program called New Hope, ACC Deputy Director Julie Bank was similarly unaware. Bank says that New Hope originated years before Boks got the job and was actually named by the prior director, Carol Munro. "It was even prior to her, but it had a different name."
On September 27, 2005, the U.S. Trademark office sent a communication, requesting that the filings be amended and, due to that technicality, the filings didn't go through.
When asked by CityBeat why he would attempt to secure these trademarks, Boks issued this statement: "I have never approved the trademarking of any program. That is why the trademarks were never secured. Applications were made by the AC&C/NYC development department, but I never signed off on these applications and the process never went any further. The Big Fix trademark is used with permission from No More Homeless Pets in Utah and Best Friends."
In New York City, no official word has been released about the current department audit, but it has looked into NYCACC's microchip program. In 2002, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani declared that all shelter-animal adoption fees would include spay/neuter surgery, a license, and a microchip (which stores contact information for the animal's guardian). Under Boks, NYCACC began charging extra for the microchips.
Boks admits he discontinued the program in favor of allocating the money elsewhere. "AC&C has three facilities caring for over 50,000 animals annually," he responded via e-mail. "There were a great many other competing priorities for these limited funds. The benefit of microchipping every animal was negligible compared to both the cost and how those limited resources could be better used."
At a cost of $10 per chip, a shelter that adopted out even as few as 25,000 in two years would easily save $250,000 by not purchasing the chips, but Boks failed to explain how the funds were "better used." Current NYCACC interim director Mary Martin, who was Boks's assistant manager in both Maricopa and New York, declined to comment, as did NYCACC's outside PR firm, TJ Public. Calls to NYCACC's board chair Dr. Thomas R. Frieden were not returned. NYCACC Controller Dawn Mendoza did call back, and she agreed to address these questions. Two days later, she informed CityBeat that Martin had forwarded the questions to their legal department, which has not returned calls.
Published: 04/06/2006
New L.A. Animal Services head Ed Boks left plenty of questions behind after being fired from his las
By Annette Stark
On March 29, a self-described animal rescuer known only as "L.A. Animal Lover" began posting long rants in praise of Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Ed Boks on a blog called "Animal Friends." The blog's stated mission: to "debunk false information." It addressed Boks's previous position as director of New York City Animal Care and Control (NYCACC), and rebutted reports that Boks had been fired from that job - by posting a letter from Ed Boks.
But Boks was fired from his last job. The new LAAS GM came to L.A. in January 2006, after spending five years trying to achieve no-kill shelters at Maricopa Animal Care and Control in Phoenix, Arizona (he left ACC in late 2003), and two years at NYCACC. Sometime in November 2005, according to Boks supporter and N.Y. animal activist Gary Kaskel, Boks began asking about his contract being renewed. Despite the fact that Kaskel and others supported his reappointment at a December 5 commission meeting, the vote to remove him was 5-0. This was reported in meeting minutes and in a New York Daily News article titled "Animal Care Chief Booted."
Boks followed that story with a letter to his supporters, insisting that the decision was "mutual."
According to information gathered by CityBeat, he also left behind investigations into exactly how money was used. An audit of Maricopa ACC for 2003 revealed $500,000 in pharmaceutical bills, of which $180,000 was supposedly spent on an "experimental distemper treatment" and another $77,000 for meds procured using an outside vendor's account. In New York, a tight-lipped comptroller's office will only confirm that an audit commenced in November 2005 and is still ongoing.
And then there are the numbers: According to the 2004 report from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NYCACC impounded 44,350 animals - 9,967 were adopted and 32,430 were euthanized. Those numbers are worse than his short-lived predecessor in L.A., Guerdon Stuckey, who was battered by animal activists seeking no-kill results and then removed. The news from Maricopa was similar. According to Maricopa County auditor Petra Carroll, a 2003 audit found that 20,230 were adopted and 29,111 were euthanized.
Regardless, Boks has garnered substantial support with the rescue and humane community. He has many supporters who feel certain Boks's heart is in the right place. "I have been receiving positive letter after letter about Boks from all over the country, including from a supervisor in Maricopa as well as volunteers and employees from NYC," explains supporter Edward Muzika. "They all say [Boks] made a big difference and lifted morale. There are some positive ones from around here too, such as from the Harbor shelter."
L.A. Board of Animal Services Commissioner Glenn Brown concurs. Since Boks's hire, he says, "I have witnessed positive movement among the community, the staff, and the Commission."
But even as the support pours in, so do the questions. "They say when you catch someone in a lie, they become defensive and angry," says New York pit bull advocate Regina Massaro, a member of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC Animals and founder of Spay Neuter Intervention Project (SNIP). "That's what [Boks] does. He attacks those who are asking him for the truth."
Massaro recalls that early in Boks's tenure, "I sent a letter to Mayor Bloomberg. In it, I was clear that we have no law enforcement for rabies and licensing. Ed Boks contacted me. First he said the letter was inflammatory. Then he attacked me by saying I was out of touch with reality because I called Animal Care and Control by its old name, which was the Center for Animal Care and Control. He doesn't focus on the issues. He finds some insignificant pointless thing and focuses on that."
In last month's issue of Best Friends magazine, Mayor's Alliance President Jane Hoffman said of Boks: "He merely renamed the projects and made them his own. He's not good at giving credit to others."
Some would argue that was putting it mildly. In fact, several weeks ago, CityBeat located filings on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website that indicate that Boks filed for NYCACC to secure trademarks for two programs - Big Fix and New Hope - which he had used previously in Maricopa county and was well aware had actually been created by other entities.
Both filings, dated March 7, 2005, reference the first use anywhere as "at least as early as 01/01/2004." The three signatories appearing on the applications are Boks and two of his NYCACC underlings.
This is all shocking news to Best Friends Animal Society and No More Homeless Pets in Utah, which created the Big Fix spay/neuter program six years ago, complete with its cartoon logo of a superhero dog rescuing a cat. According to one of the founders, Gregory Castle, "We didn't go for registration because we are happy for people to use it. We also give permission for the logo to be used. In New York, it's been used by the Mayor's Alliance."
Animal welfare folks nationwide have used Big Fix. Castle says he "wasn't aware previously" that NYCACC had filed to secure the Big Fix trademark, including the cartoon logo (changed only slightly in that it no longer says "On Tour"). He first learned about it when contacted by CityBeat.
"Trying to take it out of public domain and consider it proprietary seems contradictory to helping the cause for animals," says Maddie's Fund President, Rich Avanzino, who also first learned of the attempt from CityBeat.
In Maricopa County, where they use both Big Fix and a volunteer program called New Hope, ACC Deputy Director Julie Bank was similarly unaware. Bank says that New Hope originated years before Boks got the job and was actually named by the prior director, Carol Munro. "It was even prior to her, but it had a different name."
On September 27, 2005, the U.S. Trademark office sent a communication, requesting that the filings be amended and, due to that technicality, the filings didn't go through.
When asked by CityBeat why he would attempt to secure these trademarks, Boks issued this statement: "I have never approved the trademarking of any program. That is why the trademarks were never secured. Applications were made by the AC&C/NYC development department, but I never signed off on these applications and the process never went any further. The Big Fix trademark is used with permission from No More Homeless Pets in Utah and Best Friends."
In New York City, no official word has been released about the current department audit, but it has looked into NYCACC's microchip program. In 2002, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani declared that all shelter-animal adoption fees would include spay/neuter surgery, a license, and a microchip (which stores contact information for the animal's guardian). Under Boks, NYCACC began charging extra for the microchips.
Boks admits he discontinued the program in favor of allocating the money elsewhere. "AC&C has three facilities caring for over 50,000 animals annually," he responded via e-mail. "There were a great many other competing priorities for these limited funds. The benefit of microchipping every animal was negligible compared to both the cost and how those limited resources could be better used."
At a cost of $10 per chip, a shelter that adopted out even as few as 25,000 in two years would easily save $250,000 by not purchasing the chips, but Boks failed to explain how the funds were "better used." Current NYCACC interim director Mary Martin, who was Boks's assistant manager in both Maricopa and New York, declined to comment, as did NYCACC's outside PR firm, TJ Public. Calls to NYCACC's board chair Dr. Thomas R. Frieden were not returned. NYCACC Controller Dawn Mendoza did call back, and she agreed to address these questions. Two days later, she informed CityBeat that Martin had forwarded the questions to their legal department, which has not returned calls.
Published: 04/06/2006
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