UPDATE: AC&C’s NEW VOLUNTEER PROGRAM Late December 2010 In May 2010, the ACC surprised the City’s animal advocacy community by announcing it would halt training new volunteers. They explained that their Volunteer Coordinator needed the entire summer to restructure the volunteer program, complete with new rules and specialized/mandatory classes. Management estimated that it would take a few months before new volunteers would be allowed into the ACC shelters. During the Summer months, AC&C shelters are overflowing with mother cats and their kittens. This is when volunteers are needed the most. Despite protests from volunteers, the AC&C could not be persuaded to reconsider its decision. The Volunteer Coordinator wrote that “everything we are doing is for the benefit of the animals. We must make sacrifices in the short-term.” Unfortunately, the only “we” making those sacrifices turned out to be the AC&C animals. Shelter Reform Action Committee cannot agree that AC&C animals had to suffer for this needless delay. It was not until the second week in December (7 months later) that new volunteers were at last allowed into the shelters. While a couple dozen have been admitted to Manhattan, and 4 to Staten Island, none have been spotted in the Brooklyn shelter -- which has the greatest need. Moreover, these newbies are not allowed to handle any animal except those in adoptions kennels (meaning, they can’t touch the vast majority of the ACC animals). Shelter Reform agrees that having a well run volunteer program, complete with effective training and instilled professionalism, is important. But did it really have to take so long? It’s not rocket science. What’s frustrating is that after 7 months, the AC&C still doesn’t have a robust volunteer staff. Moreover, AC&C management and the existing volunteers clearly seem to be frustrated with each other. In order for the shelter system to function properly, collaboration is paramount. If the AC&C is hoping to attract and retain a hundred or more new volunteers, they have to do a much better job in Management-Volunteer relations. The AC&C’s need for volunteers is absolutely critical now, and this crisis can be laid squarely at the door of the City’s Department of Health. The DOH has never adequately funded the AC&C, not by a long shot. Matters got a lot worse in September 2009, when the DOH slashed the AC&C’s already pitiful budget. In response, the AC&C began terminating scores of employees and reducing or eliminating key services. Every few months, the AC&C announces more services to be reduced or jettisoned altogether. AC&C’s response to this budget crisis is to have volunteers perform many duties once assigned to employees. If so, the AC&C has to ensure there are enough volunteers present in all 3 shelters from at least 9 AM to 7 PM … every day. The AC&C has always had its “weekend” volunteers. While weekend volunteers are important, the ACC needs volunteers who will come regularly during weekdays. The new volunteers will be trained, among other things, to clean and sterilize cages (a time consuming task IF done correctly), walk and socialize dogs, and comfort and handle cats. Unfortunately, many dogs and cats are off limits to volunteers, and the AC&C will still need paid employees to care for those animals, or else the animals will continue to suffer. Even if the AC&C is blessed with a battalion of dedicated volunteers every day, the fact is they can’t replace key paid professionals, such as:
It will take substantial monies to hire the staff it needs -- monies that the DOH has no intention of providing. The AC&C’s longstanding problem with its budget, with being unable to be open and honest with the public about its conditions (the DOH censors the ACC), all lie with the DOH. While volunteers are important to help the AC&C operate, the key answer to the AC&C’s problems is to release it from the DOH’s stranglehold. HOW YOU CAN HELP WRITE your New York State Legislators. http://www.votehumane.org/who_represents_me.php Ask them to change the State Law giving the Mayor’s Office absolute power over the City’s animal care and control. NYC mayors always choose the DOH – the worst department to supervise the AC&C. WRITE Mayor Bloomberg : mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov Tell him to remove the DOH from control over the AC&C. Tell him to appoint qualified people to the AC&C Board. WRITE OR CALL your New York City politicians http://www.votehumane.org/who_represents_me. php and ask them to demand the creation of a new Department … of Animal Affairs. Unlike the DOH, this new Department would have as its sole mandate the humane care of the City’s animals. WRITE OR CALL the City’s Comptroller’s Office. Municipal Building, One Centre Street, New York, NY 10007, Tel. 212 669 3016. Request an audit of the AC&C, focusing on the DOH’s disgraceful control over the AC&C. Hopefully, heads will roll at the DOH, leading to a political decision to deny the DOH control over the AC&C. WRITE OR CALL THE CHARITIES BUREAU OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE http://www. charitiesnys.com/contact_new.html Request that they investigate the conflict of interest on the AC&C’s Board. The AC&C Directors all owe their allegiance to Mayor Bloomberg and the DOH, but not to the AC&C. |
| Shelter Reform Action Committee (SRAC) ShelterReform.org: Everything you ever wanted to know about the AC&C, but were afraid to ask. |
