Investigative reporter Julio Rosas spent time on Los Angeles’ Skid Row with Starts With One Today, an animal advocacy group working to rescue and care for homeless dogs living in dire conditions. What he witnessed, and later documented on his Mostly Peaceful Media Substack, paints a deeply troubling picture of abuse, neglect, and systemic failure.
As Rosas accompanied volunteers through the area, urgency defined their mission.
Warning: Article contains graphic/adult content.
“We have to hurry up. They’re about to leave,” Victoriah Parker told [Rosas] as [they] were walking through Skid Row. We were heading towards the first dog in need while Parker was giving me the lay of the land of what she and volunteers with Starts With One Today see in their efforts to help the dogs who are trapped living on the streets.
What Parker described—and what Rosas observed—was difficult to process. Dogs, according to volunteers, are often kept in unsafe environments, including inside tents where drug use is prevalent or beneath parked RVs. In some cases, volunteers allege the animals are used in disturbing ways tied to drug activity and illegal breeding operations.
Rosas acknowledged the instinct to look away but urged readers to confront the reality.
“Unsurprisingly, it’s beyond vile. I know the tendency is to not want to watch dogs suffering. I didn’t either. However, I ask you to not look away and join me in sharing their suffering and misery so their story gets amplified loudly enough to end this for good.”
Volunteers also described instances of severe abuse.
“In addition to overbreeding to maintain an income, drug users also test their drugs on dogs to avoid overdosing and, according to Parker, they have seen cases of humans raping the dogs.”
The urgency of their work became painfully clear when the group rushed to reach a dog named Bishop.
“The dog is literally about to die,” Parker emphasized to the others in our group to pick up the pace. We ran the last block.
When they arrived, Bishop’s condition was critical. She was covered in infected wounds, severely malnourished, and visibly deteriorating—especially striking to volunteers who had seen her in far better health just months earlier. A volunteer quickly transported her to receive emergency veterinary care.
Starts With One Today focuses primarily on helping animals in the Skid Row area, though its volunteers often assist people as well. Parker and fellow volunteer Joey Tuccio guided Rosas through the neighborhood, expressing frustration with what they see as a lack of enforcement of existing animal welfare laws.
One volunteer, who said she had worked in the area for nine years, described Skid Row as “a literal breeding ground,” where dogs are repeatedly bred or succumb to neglect and mistreatment. When Rosas asked why authorities were not intervening more aggressively, she recounted conversations with officials.
“So, we have heard, when we walked with law enforcement and the FBI and the Department of Agriculture, we asked them the same thing. And the Animal Services of L.A. was told by the Office of Karen Bass that they do not enforce the laws in Skid Row when it comes to animals because we don’t want to target the unhoused individuals. Which is why they’re not enforcing the spay and neuter laws, they’re not vaccinated, they’re not chipped, they’re not registered. And that’s pretty much what they said to our faces.”
The issue has drawn questions about how animal welfare laws are applied—and whether they are being enforced consistently across different communities.
Rosas also highlighted a response from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during an interview with ABC7 anchor Marc Brown. When asked about reports of animal abuse on Skid Row, Bass pushed back on the characterization.
“Well, absolutely. I mean, the animals are suffering, the people are suffering, and they’re thousands of people, unfortunately, on the Skid Row area. And, so, we are looking at that as well. The animals are not neglected and as a matter of fact, one of the reasons we’ve been able to reduce street homelessness, is because when we house people, we take their animals as well.”
For those working in the streets, that statement stands in sharp contrast to what they say they see every day.
The disconnect—between official assurances and on-the-ground accounts—has become a defining feature of the issue. Volunteers describe repeated attempts to raise alarms, to bring attention to cases like Bishop’s, only to encounter what they perceive as indifference or deflection.
At the same time, Los Angeles Animal Services has faced mounting challenges. Leadership turnover, staffing shortages, and operational strain have complicated an already difficult situation. Critics argue that recent decisions, including funding pressures and administrative instability, have further weakened the city’s ability to respond effectively.
Warning: Video contains graphic/adult content.
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PEOPLE ARE SCUM THAT HURT THESE BABIES!!
What can be done to help these dogs?