Calling for an Overhaul of NYC Animal Care and Control
Recently, I joined Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal and animal advocates at a press conference to call for a complete overhaul of New York City's Animal Care and Control (ACC). A lack of funding and oversight has caused many lives of countless innocent animals to be lost. The Borough President has found a lasting solution to this issue by transforming the broken ACC into a not-for-profit that could raise millions of dollars to beef up New York's level of animal care.
More than 25% of the animals taken in by ACC are killed; in fact, last year ACC brought in 39,111 cats and dogs, of which 10,705 were euthanized. The only way that we can get ACC back on the right track is to change the way the organization functions. On average, communities across the country spend approximately $8 per person to properly care for their shelter animals. New York City's animal shelters are being run on less than 84 cents. This discrepancy is a clear statement from the City that they are not concerned with the health and welfare of New York City's animals. Perhaps even worse, ACC has had 4 different Executive Directors in the past 8 years. It is impossible for an organization to function properly if it faces problems that are so dire no one seems up to the task.
By adopting the Borough President Stringer's proposal to re-configure ACC so that it can operate as a independent non-profit entity, like the Central Park Conservancy, we would be able to make the structural changes needed to get ACC back on the right track. The Central Park Conservancy was founded in 1980 to address Central Park's state of complete disrepair following the recession of the late 1970's. Today, the Park is a wonderful oasis thanks to $390 million in funds the Conservancy has raised. This is the model we need to adopt for ACC. Read the Borough President's Op-Ed on the Huffington Post .
Through securing the appropriate funding, we can finally ensure that every borough has a full service shelter. Current law requires each borough have a shelter which is open 24/7, has an adoption program and offers sterilization services, yet the City has failed to comply. The ACC contract only provides for full service shelters in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, and if that is not bad enough, the Brooklyn and Staten Island facilities do not even qualify as full service shelters because they do not accept animals 24 hours a day. In the Bronx and Queens, the ACC contract only provides for 'receiving centers' which are only open once or twice a week for 8 hours.
We realize that if we build more schools, the development of our children will improve- they will have new resources and more room to learn, so they are not crammed in a classroom with 50 other students and forced to share a desk.
We need to realize that new facilities could have the same effect on our city's dogs and cats. Rather than shove them in crowded cages, we could have places where animals that lost their way have a fighting chance to get back on track. When 25% of them are being killed, we are definitely doing something wrong.
In two and a half days, more than 2,500 people showed their support for the Borough President's plan. If you would like to sign the petition to reform ACC, you can find it here .