Cats Were Euthanized In NYC Shelters Since May, In Contrast To Earlier Reports Reporting by Diane West and Courtney Kistler
Written by Diane West exclusively for New York Tails Magazine
To adopt the cat pictured here ("Blessing") please see end of article.
A recent radio and online video where a representative of the city's shelter system implied no cats were euthanized for lack of space since this May caused an uproar among a number of shelter volunteers and others who allege they know otherwise.
The report, broadcast by 1010 WINS News Radio on July 26th and by video on the radio station's website, was publicly criticized in a July 28th posting on Craigslist by a person identifying themselves as a former New York City Animal Care and Control (AC&C) worker. Among other things, the writer - who wishes to remain anonymous - called the word 'space' "an interesting term", alleging it is misleading because many cats with health conditions generally considered treatable by the veterinary community were destroyed during the time period in question.
The post hit a nerve with many in the city's rescue community, some who have long harbored similar concerns. They quickly began emailing and phoning the AC&C, the media, and others criticizing the report.
Words such as 'healthy' and 'space' have become loaded terms in the context of euthanization rates at AC&C and the Mayor's Alliance of NYC's Animals' quest to make New York a 'no-kill' city. The Mayor's Alliance, an umbrella group for over 160 local rescue groups called Alliance Participating Organizations (APOs) throughout the five boroughs, has long maintained New York City will be considered 'no kill' when "no New York City dog or cat of reasonable health and temperament is killed merely because he or she does not have a home". Read the full Mayor's Alliance no-kill mission and mission statement here: http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/aboutus/index.htm.
"The key word here is healthy," AC&C spokesman Richard Gentles, featured in the 1010 WINS report, said during a subsequent interview. "There are times that animals are on the euthanasia list for space; however they may have underlying health issues." He added: "Just because a cat is on the euthanasia list doesn't necessarily mean the cat was euthanized. Thankfully, many of our New Hope partners take the animals from us and get them adopted." Jane Hoffman, president of the Mayor's Alliance also confirmed that 'no healthy cats' were euthanized during the three-month time period referred to by Mr. Gentles.
However, according to one AC&C volunteer seen on the online 1010 WINS video, animals who come into the system healthy get sicknesses, such as an upper respiratory infection commonly called "kennel cough."
New Hope is an AC&C program which utilizes the network of community-based animal rescue workers who are members of the Mayor's Alliance. The groups are contacted daily by email by the AC&C about animals which are at imminent risk of being euthanized unless they are adopted or "pulled" from the city shelter by a rescue group. Usually, "pulled" means the animal was placed in a foster home and is up for adoption through the rescue. The animal can then be listed on the rescue group's website or petfinder.com page.
The initial 1010 WINS online news video has since been updated to delete the phrase indicating cats have not been euthanized 'because of space' during the past three months. Additionally, the online video's reference to the AC&C giving away 'free cats', which was also criticized by several rescue groups as implying the adoption screening process would be less stringent, has been changed to say "the adoption fee for adult cats has been waived through Labor Day".
The Mayor's Alliance hosts many outdoor adoption events throughout the five boroughs on most weekends, giving potential adopters the chance to meet and greet cats and dogs in a fun, relaxed, festival-type atmosphere. The next adoption event will be on Saturday, August 1st from 9am to 5pm in Prospect Park's Bartel Pritchard Circle. For more information and future adoption events visit www.AnimalAllianceNYC.org.
Pictured Above: Blessing, an adult cat who lost her home after her elderly owner could no longer care for her, was one of the cats featured on the 1010 WINS video. She is available for adoption. A volunteer at the Manhattan Shelter wrote: Blessing (A819586), 7yrs, femaleAt Manhattan shelter since 7/11A volunteer wrote: Blessing lost her home when her 80 year old owner could no longer care for her. She is a very sweet girl with a sad look on her face who sits curled up on her blanket. She was tense when she first arrived, but now she is a mild mannered old gal, who loves to be pet and is easy to handle. She's also a big girl at 12.7 pounds! Sad, heartbreaking Blessing has been waiting for her forever home since July 11th.
9 comments:
Jane Hoffman doesn't know what she is talking about. I do. Many healthy animals have been euthanized for SPACE in the past 3 months, including those euthanized for illness, temper and humane reasons. The shelter has been overflowing, especially with cats, and yes Jane Hoffman, AC&C does indeed euthanize for space. If all you have to go on is Richard Gentles' word you then you have no right making a statement. So sorry Jane, someone lied to you. The proof is there for anyone who is allowed to take a look and see, but I seriously doubt your boy Richard will let you do that.
The city animal shelter system is in deep crisis - it is too small for the city the size of New York, understaffed and overcrowded. ACC should be open about the situation in shelters, not try to cover it up. The public should know that cats sit in dirty cages without human touch for weeks, dogs don't get walked for days, and all animals eventually get sick. Do you know that if an animal dies in a cage - it is not counted as euthanized - but it is just as dead, isn't it? Animals that are rescued need weeks of vet care and socialization.
The shelter is HELL for animals and employees alike.
It may not be directly ACC's management fault - their budget is small and recently cut - but lying about euthanasia rates is not going to improve things.
Good point. I wonder if people who run Mayor's Alliance ever visit the shelter. Too upsetting, huh? Animals sit in their own poop for days, eat spoiled food... the vet care is rushed and spotty. The place is too small for the job. They embarked on a big construction project without planning where to put the animals and guess what - they are in a converted garage! It is a shame that a big wealthy city treats animals like this!
AC&C, in their radio ad, claims a more modest success, than they do on their website:
"This year AC&C has not had to euthanize any healthy animals because of space."
http://www.nycacc.org/clickoffer.html
The whole year!
An even more preposterous claim.
Why does everything has to be political!? Animals do not vote people. Although, considering how underfunded the shleter is - perhaps this it the problem!
As the founder of a rescue group specializing in Korean Jindo dogs, I have the opportunity to work with animal shelters across the East Coast. No-Kill has a very loose definition and the challenges seen in the NYC AC&C are no different than other municipal shelters. My rescue, Treasured k9s, is an approved NYC AC&C New Hope Partner. The New Hope Staff at the NYC AC&C is constantly trying to save animals by encouraging rescue groups to pull animals that are ill or did not have a favorable behavior evaluation. I have personally pulled and fostered three dogs from the NYC AC&C who fell into these categories. The New Hope Staff is great and I wish all shelters had the program. Rescue groups could pull more animals if we had the foster homes to place the animals into. Currently, I have two Jindos in separate shelters that I can’t find foster homes for. Both Jindos are at risk of becoming ill with a URI or worse yet, becoming stressed and acting in a less than desirable manner, both of which could result in the dog being deemed “un-adoptable” and euthanized within the parameters of the definition of “no-kill”. While there are many contributing factors to pet over-population, the main obstacles in getting the animals out of shelters in a timely manner is the lack of adopters and qualified, available foster homes. If adoptions and foster homes increase, it will help move NYC towards a true no-kill city. I wish I was able to do more to fix the situation, but for now, I save one Jindo at a time.
First, a point of clarification--all posts are the opinions of the poster/s and not reflective of the writers or reporters (Courtney or me.)
Reading these so far, I have to say that the poster from Treasured K-9s, the Korean Jindo rescurer, puts a lot of this debate succintly and in perspective.
Obviously this is a highly emotional issue. No one wants to see animals euthanized. Sick, healthy, old, young--none of them deserve the hand that life has dealt them.
To coin a recent phrase from our President recently, this may be a 'teachable' moment. There is a problem--we're all agreed on that. So what is the solution, or, more correctly, the solutions?
I don't know what those solutions are, but I do know that they are not found in demonzing the people who are on the front lines day after day, whether in an administrative office or a rescue group or cleaning the kennels. My personal experience with people at the AC&C and the Mayor's Alliance, top to bottom, is that they really do want to get as many animals as they can adopted. Things can be made better, yes, but remember we have also come a long way, even from the 70s and 80s. Anyone here old enough to remember the Giuliani adminstration will recall when he wanted to close the shelters for full days and evenings.
So--we know what the problem is. What is the solution, or the combination of solutions to fix it? Vent, sure, and have robust debates. But let's think about how to work together to do what the bottom line here is for all of us--saving more abandoned animals and getting them into good homes.
Our friend from Jindo rescue mentions more foster homes are needed, for example, to alleviate the shelter overcrowding problem. Any ideas on how to encourage more people to become foster homes?
Solution - Mass TNR; Spay/Neuter advocacy; and competence and transparency in ACC management.
-Mass TNR: Get involved with a TNR or rescue group. If everyone trapped one colony of cats in their neighborhood it was prevent countless new kittens to grow up and end up at ACC. Yes, in the mean time fostering and finding homes one at a time will reduce some of the numbers and suffering, but without a mass TNR effort, the cycle will continue. If you don't want to get involved please give a donation to one of these groups, there are several.
-Spay/Neuter advocacy: Get out there and talk to your friends, neighbors, the bodega across the street and everyone you see with a cat or dog and explain to them the overpopulation problem and importance of spay/neuter.
-ACC management: I did volunteer there and I found it frustrating and disappointing. Their whole focus is to show up to the board meeting with their video and charts to show "Euthanasia is down by x%" Ok, so the small groups pulling cats and doing TNR is doing all the work for you to reduce your numbers. HELP THEM! If ACC were more transparent about what is happening maybe the public would be more informed and perhaps less selfish about wanting their cat to have kittens. If they showed the euth list every night and got out there and pleaded to the public to please spay/neuter an stress the number of animals being euthanized in this city perhaps it would have more of an impact than the "everything's coming up roses" approach. They sit in their offices downtown and have no idea what is going on. For example (things I know because I was there) - I pulled a 5 month old kitten with a broken leg that sat in a cage for 5 days without being sent for x-rays. He was in the hallway lined up to be euth'd and I took him home as a foster. This was the manhattan shelter and they don't have an x-ray machine, but I think Brooklyn does and if they don't find someone that does! No-one could take that kitten to get a friggin x-ray? That is what we mean when we get upset about incompetence and uncaring. And if you are not volunteering there and seeing things first hand, you really have no place saying "they really do care". If you want to have facts and understand and you want to see if they are doing a good job and caring - get over there and volunteer. I took this kitten for an x-ray, got him a cast and found hime a great home. He healed perfectly and you would never know he had a broken leg. All on my dime. And I was happy to do it. But really guys - this is common sense - if an animal is suffering, get them the care they need. I have also taken in "behavior" cases that turned out to be lovely. Sweet and purring and in great homes. The shelter is a scary place for these guys, give them a minute to settle in.
Now lets look at what we call "space". You have a full medical team and you put animals down for "illness" because they have URI??? I took in 7 kittens last summer at one time all with severe URI and conjunctivitis, took them to my vet, treated them with antibiotics and they all recovered well and were adopted in to loving homes. So come on guys, when you say you are putting animals down for URIs and behavior, a lot of this (and I am not saying all of it) is "space" as it is a temporary condition that is treatable. It is PR crap to say no animals were put down for space. Take a look at the numbers. On the website http://nycacc.org/ it shows that from July of 08 to June 09, 13,016 animals (cats and dogs) were euthanized. June of 09 alone was 1,146. So do your research and form your own opinion, but don't just take someone's word for it, mine or otherwise. Get involved. I don't even try to debate with them anymore or try to help them make a change for the better, its useless. I do my own thing trapping in my neighborhood and mind my own biz. Except for today I guess. OH why did my friend forward this to me.
On Tuesday, July 28, a scant two days after this remarkable statement hit NYC airwaves and it's major newspapers, four healthy, adoptable animals were indeed killed for space at the AC&C. And many, many more healthy, adoptable animals have gone down for space this year before them!
Read more and view proof here:
http://brooklynanimalfosternetwork.org/euthanasia-New-Hope-Alert.html
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