> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Students want animal acts to stop exploiting helpless critters - URL: https://www.smdp.com/students-want-animal-acts-to-stop-exploiting-helpless-critters/ - Published: 2007-07-03T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T02:12:36.000Z - Author: Kevin Herrera - Tags: Education, Promenade, #archive-import *Students saving animals* CITY HALL When it comes to animals being used for profit on the Third Street Promenade, students at Crossroads School hope it becomes a case of monkey see, monkey do. About a half-dozen students from the private school in Santa Monica asked the City Council late last month to follow Los Angeles’ lead and pass a comprehensive ban on the use, display, giving away or selling of animals in public spaces. While Los Angeles allows animals to be used in acts if a special permit is obtained, according to city officials, the students want Santa Monica to go one step further. Students told the Council they were horrified and heartbroken by such acts on the promenade as the “psychic cats” pulling fortunes from a bowl and the capuchin monkey, sporting a hat and vest, plucking dollar bills from passersby. Students reasoned that the cats must be drugged because no feline can sit still for as long as the psychic cats. As for the monkey, they raised concerns about public health, saying the city could be held liable if the animal were to attack someone. “We oftentimes deny that animals feel emotions that we usually attribute only to humans. Animals also feel fear, feel elation and feel pain and deserve to be treated like living creatures, not as objects for sale or display,”said Julian Isaacs, a 17-year-old senior at Crossroads who is leading the effort. “It violates the basic principals of respect and compassion we value in our society.” Not only is the use of animals in performances a public safety issue, but the students contend it also sends the wrong message to children that animals are not living creatures, but rather “play toys that can be subjected to human whim.” The owners of the monkey and fortune-telling felines could not be reached for comment. Donn Umber, manager of the Santa Monica Animal Shelter, said he is leading the city’s investigation into the condition and treatment of the animals mentioned, as well as those in the care of Patricia Stake, who runs Lost Angels, a pet adoption agency that sets up a table along the promenade most weekends. Umber is in the initial stages of the investigation and is currently gathering information on the parties in question. This isn’t the first time that Umber has been called on to investigate. Over the years, he has received several calls from people concerned about the psychic cats. Each time, Umber said he found no evidence that would lead him to believe the animals were being mistreated. “People see the cats and they assume they must be drugged because they are in a very busy, public place and don’t seem to be stressed at all,” Umber said. “Every time we have checked in on the cats, they are very well cared for, very healthy. I’ve spoken with (the owner) personally and he does rotate the cats and uses them only for a couple of hours, usually in the evenings. “They are very well conditioned and socialized.” As for the monkey, Umber said the animal is licensed with the California Department of Fish and Game. The monkey is not a member of an endangered species and came from a breeder — not snatched from the jungle. Umber said there have been instances in which capuchin monkeys have been trained to assist the disabled. The owners of the monkey and cats have not been seen on the promenade for several months, some have reported not since Christmas. Stake with Lost Angels is the most active of the three targeted by students. There have been allegations that Stake’s Los Angels is not a legitimate pet adoption and rescue agency because it is not a registered non-profit and is run primarily by Stake and a handful of volunteers out of her home in Santa Monica. The Crossroads students charge that Stake also does not spay or neuter animals in her care, which contributes to the overpopulation problem. Stake defended her organization, as did her veterinarian, Dr. Gary Adams of the Westside Animal Emergency Hospital, who said Lost Angels finds more homes for cats than any other group with which he works. “The bottom line is she’s finding homes and saving lives,” Adams said.“I can’t see the city banning groups like Patricia’s unless there was some liability issue. I’m sure there are ways to curb that without a ban.” Stake admits she is not a nonprofit, but claims she doesn’t need to be one to operate. She does accept donations, but only in small amounts, and all of that money goes towards feeding the animals and making sure they are healthy and ready for adoption, she said. Outside her veterinarian’s office on last week, Stake produced handfuls of receipts for food, water and other supplies for the animals in her care. She also had several bills from Dr. Adams for routine check-ups performed on rescued animals. She said her animals are spayed and neutered when Dr. Adams deems it necessary. “The donations we get from the public are great, but they aren’t nearly enough to support what we are doing,”said Stake, a former furniture maker who started working with animals around 16 years ago when she moved into a home in Venice, where there were dozens of cats roaming around, a surprise left by the former tenant. It was at that house that Stake ran into Meyla Kaplan, student advisor for Crossroads and executive director of the Voice for the Animals Foundation, an animal rights group that also does pet adoptions, but in the Palisades in a parking lot of a bank, which is private property and, therefore, does not fall under the Los Angeles ban. Kaplan said she called animal control officers to investigate Stake while she lived in Venice after word got out that Stake was keeping around 80 animals there. An LA Times article from August 1999 details how Stake was subsequently evicted from the home she rented in Venice and had to scramble to find homes for the animals. The home’s owner complained about the way in which the animals were kept, calling the conditions “terrible.” Stake, who said she was the one who called animal control, said her home became a defacto shelter — a place where drug dealers, prostitutes and the poor came to drop off animals they couldn’t keep or no longer wanted. She tried to say no, but people would leave animals chained to her fence when she would return home from work, leaving her no other choice but to take them in. Ever since, Stake said Kaplan has been harassing her, which has prevented Stake from completing her application to become a non-profit. “Every time I would get around to working on it, Melya Kaplan would come again and start attacking me, so I had to defend myself,” Stake said. Kaplan denied that she was stalking Stake and said it was her students’ idea to include Stake in their efforts for a ban. “If you have a pet store,you have a business license and pay taxes, that’s a different story. She is not a pet store,” Kaplan said of Stake. “There is no oversight of her agency. Where are these animals being boarded? What about vet bills? These are things we have to produce for the record, but she doesn’t.” Stake said she plans to finish her application to become a nonprofit by the end of the year. The only reason she is following through with it, she said, is to protect herself from animal activists like Kaplan. “We are doing a good thing here,” Stake said. “We are finding homes for these animals, so why should we be victimized? Why should we be a target?” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 3, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/070307.pdf?ref=smdp.com)