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Best Friends Animal Society has named Marc A. Peralta, vice president at Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,  as the new executive director of No Kill Los Angeles (NKLA), a coalition of Los Angeles-area animal welfare organizations.

Peralta will assume his new position Dec. 10.

Peralta worked three years at the PSPCA, six months of which were spent as interim executive director. He also worked with the Nevada Humane Society in Reno, Nev. and the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region.

NKLA, launched in early 2012, is a coalition of more than 50 Los Angeles area animal welfare groups banding together to bring Los Angeles to a point where no more animals are killed in its municipal shelters.

In 10 months, there has been a reduction in LA shelter killing by 3,000 animals over the same period in 2011. 

Best Friends Animal Society, by authorization from the Los Angeles City Council, operates an adoption and spay-neuter center out of a Los Angeles municipal shelter in Mission Hills. Peralta, as part of his new positiion, will also manage that.

“When I got into animal welfare, it was because I wanted to help animals who every day were dying in our shelters,” Peralta said.

“… Anyone in animal welfare agrees that we want to get to a point in time where no animal needs to die anywhere. Los Angeles is a community that loves animals and, though we still have some work to do, the city is committed to no-kill and I’m excited to be a part of this cause.”

After rattling off a farcical list of “problems” for which there is no cure — infantile baldness, bulimic insomnia, backwards baseball caps — comedian-actor Kevin Nealon makes it clear to viewers of this public service announcement that there is one we can do something about:

The senseless killing of thousands of adoptable animals each year in Los Angeles city shelters.

In this spot for No-Kill Los Angeles, Nealon brings a little humor to a serious situation. Using his deadpan style, accompanied by poignant piano music, he reels off a long list of “unsolveable” problems, then he  makes his plea:

“There are a lot of problems out there,” Nealon says. “Here is one you can do something about — homeless pets. Go to NKLA.org to find out more about how you can help. Let’s make LA a no-kill city forever.”

NKLA is a campaign of Best Friends Animal Society and its goal is to end the killing of animals in Los Angeles shelters by 2017. About 17,000 animals die in city shelters every year.

NKLA billboards can be found across Los Angeles, featuring the larger-than life faces of dogs and cats, flanked by the initials NKLA, an acronym for “No Kill Los Angeles.”

Nealon spent nine years on the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” appeared in movies such as “Anger Management,” “Joe Dirt,” and the “Wedding Singer,” and is a regular on the Showtime series, “Weeds.”

The NKLA spot was produced by Let There Be Dragons, which is affiliated with the advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day.

iN aPRIL, Nealon, along with Oscar winner Hilary Swank and other celebrities, helped roll out the NKLA campaign, which includes a broad coalition of animal rescue groups and shelters led by Best Friends Animal Society, with support from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the LA City Council, and LA City Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette.

Members of the NKLA coalition include Found Animals Foundation, Kitten Rescue, Stray Cat Alliance, Downtown Dog Rescue, FixNation, Karma Rescue, and Best Friends.