The following is a complete text of the press release issued by the S.R.A.C. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAD TAILS OF THE CITY: VOLUNTEERS BARRED FROM HELPING N.Y.C.'S CAGED POUND PUPS Fired for blowing the whistle on inhumane treatment October 24, l 996 -- Reeling from recent press exposes highly critical of its management, officials at The Center For Animal Care and Control (CACC) have punished whistleblowers by firing the people who volunteered their time, money and services helping the animals confined to the NYC Shelters. The volunteers were the only conduit to fresh air, sunshine and touch for the caged animals languishing in shelters eyewitnesses call inhumane and unsanitary. Medium-size and large dogs now sit imprisoned, some in 3x3 foot cages, without being walked for indefinite periods. The law requires adequate food, water and exercise for all shelter animals. CACC officials admit they cannot comply. For over a year and a half these individuals have been traveling to the East Harlem Shelter to volunteer in an emotionally devastating atmosphere to try and help these animals. One volunteer spent thousands of dollars in promotions and for months walked all over the city to distribute his own advertising, because the CACC was not. He also produced a CD of the sounds of animals inside the shelter howling and crying out, which has received attention on the Internet from as far away as the Netherlands. Another arranged to have major improvements made to the dog run, which was so old and poorly designed it could not even be accessed from the shelter itself and was therefore hardly ever used, raising thousands of dollars for this entirely on her own. Two more volunteers spent all their free time and money filming, editing and producing a cable show at the shelter which led to over a hundred adoptions. Through rain, heat and freezing cold, another came to the shelter five days a week to walk the dogs; another would stay until l l'o clock at night (after her regular job), to groom the unkempt and matted dogs so they would have a chance at adoption. Since the CACC is a City agency -- the Health, Sanitation, and Deputy Police Commissioners sit on the CACC Board of Directors, appointed by the Mayor -- humane groups are crying foul because CACC is supposed to have an open-door policy, yet cameras are now banned and wards shut from public view. Since taxpayers fund the CACC, the fired volunteers have joined other animal advocates to form the Shelter Reform Action Committee, and pledge to file a class-action lawsuit to protect the taxpayers' and the animals' interests. # # # |
| Shelter Reform Action Committee (SRAC) ShelterReform.org: Everything you ever wanted to know about the AC&C, but were afraid to ask. |
