WHAT AWAITS THE NEW AC&C EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR?
On her first day as the newest Executive Director, Julie Bank found our nation’s largest animal shelter system
in meltdown: no money, not enough staff, decrepit buildings, angry and disgruntled employees and
volunteers. What a welcome.
The DOH recently slashed the AC&C’s budget to the tune of $1 million and the fallout was immediate and
widespared: drastic layoffs and termination of vital programs and services. As a result, Bank might want to
delete from the AC&C’s website its proud list of "IMPROVEMENTS”, because so many of them have
evaporated:
 | NO DOG WALKING PROGRAM: The AC&C disbanded the dogwalking program, thereby ensuring | |
| that -- unless a volunteer happens to walk a dog – these animals will stay in their cages 24/7, never to escape the relentless hell of other barking dogs and general chaos in the dog kennels. |
| VOLUNTEERS: From a high in 2008, volunteerism plummeted in late 2009. Those volunteers who | |
| remain are angry at shelter conditions and heartbroken having to leave with so many animals still suffering. But just like employees, AC&C volunteers are bound by gag orders not to discuss publicly their discontent and complaints. |
| QUALITY CONTROL: QC is no longer an AC&C priority. Just days before the new Executive Director | |
| arrived, the employee in charge of overseeing Quality Control was reduced to part-time status. |
| CRUELTY SEIZURES: In 2008, the AC&C instituted a Cruelty Seizure Committee to ensure proper | |
| care, oversight, enrichment, and placement of these special animals. Before then, cruelty seizure dogs were locked in cages 24/7 for months as their cases dragged through criminal court. They were not walked, received no enrichment, and their only interaction with people was twice a day, when they were chained to the wall as kennel employees hosed down their cages to remove feces and urine. Under the current cost-cutting measure, the AC&C downgraded the employee coordinating Cruelty Seizures to part-time status. Once again, these victims of violence and cruelty are neglected. |
| CLEANING PROTOCOLS ARE NON-EXISTENT: There simply aren’t enough employees to properly | |
| clean the shelter buildings and individual cages. Instead, AC&C buildings are perfect petri dishes for disease. Most animals arrive healthy, but are immediately exposed to disease, the most common being upper respiratory infections (URI)s. There is no consistent sterilization, and every day you’ll find sick dogs and cats in the adoption wards – reflecting the failure to properly isolate sick animals in a timely fashion. So, the next time you hear a representative say that New York City only kills “unadoptable and sick” animals, remember that 90% of those “sick animals” have the dog or cat equivalent of the common cold, cured with a 10-day course of antibiotics. |
| NEW HVAC IN MANHATTAN SHELTER: This long-delayed construction is now 6 months overdue. | |
| While the AC&C (prodded by the DOH) says the new HVAC will provide better air quality and temperature control, it will do nothing to eradicate URI viruses. Only trained staff, properly supervised, following proper cleaning protocols can do that. And that’s simply not in the AC&C’s budget. |
| FELINE ENRICHMENT FACILITATORS (FEFs): They’re no longer deemed vital, as the AC&C recently | |
| sent one packing. Shy cats, elderly cats, kittens and so-called “aggressive” cats need extra attention and care, allowing countless numbers to open up and pass the primitive behavior evaluations given cats. With kitten season approaching (when AC&C shelters are flooded with momma cats and their young), the one FEF knowledgeable about kitten care was fired. These kittens, some only a few weeks old and needing round the clock feedings, will certainly die for lack of available care. |
| ADOPTION EVENTS; PIT BULLS: No longer does the AC&C give special attention at adoption events | |
| to its predominant canine breed, because the AC&C has cancelled all adoption events. The AC&C has no money or staff to promote its animals to the public. |
| ADOPTION COUNSELLORS: You won’t find one. Instead, visitors to the AC&C often leave frustrated | |
| and angry because there’s no one to help them select an animal. It also means that there’s absolutely no guidance given to match an AC&C animal to an appropriate household: a surefire recipe for animals being abandoned to the streets or returned. |
So, with insufficient money and staff, inadequate supervision, limited supplies, and a plunge in employee and
volunteer morale, the AC&C presents a daunting challenge to Julie Bank. But her implacable foe will be the
DOH – whose bureaucrats care not one whit about animals’ wellbeing. And will the ASPCA and the Mayor’s
Alliance give Bank the support she needs to fight the DOH and secure desperately needed funding?
To understand how the AC&C is held hostage to local politics, read on.
“THERE’S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BE A DOG IN NEW YORK CITY.”
That’s what Mayor Bloomberg proclaimed on April 11, 2010, when announcing a $1 million grant from the
ASPCA to the Mayor’s Alliance.
Really, no better time to be a NYC dog? Well, that’s certainly not true for a homeless dog (or cat) ending up
at the AC&C. Jammed into already overcrowded shelters, AC&C animals are immediately exposed to
infectious disease, and kept in cages 24/7.
Bloomberg was touting the AC&C’s 33% kill rate in 2009 … compared to the 63% kill rate in 2003. Before
uncorking the champagne bottle, remember that even a 33% kill rate, means that one out of every three
animals never makes it out alive from the AC&C. (The kill rate is actually higher for adult or senior animals,
and dogs of certain breeds).
Mayor Bloomberg didn’t mention that his Department of Health (DOH) had recently slashed the AC&C’s
budget by $1 million, and that he and the DOH have, for years, defied City law by refusing to create animal
shelters in the Bronx and Queens.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? By avoiding these topics, the news coverage gave Bloomberg
political cover for the City’s cruel budget cuts to the AC&C and its refusal to create the two additional shelters.
It’s important to note that the ASPCA did not give $1 million to the AC&C, but rather to the Mayor’s Alliance
for NYC Animals. That $1 million could have helped the AC&C make up for $1 million the DOH slashed from
its budget this year. The ASPCA grant is slated for goals within the Mayor’s Alliance’s mandate: increasing
rescues and adoptions, and subsidizing spay neuter. These are important goals, but do nothing to reinstate
AC&C programs that provide humane care to the shelter animals: guaranteed walks for dogs, enrichment for
cats, special oversight and placement of Cruelty Seizure animals, good veterinary care, etc.
And why did Mayor Bloomberg announce the ASPCA’s gift to The Mayor’s Alliance and the AC&C’s 2009 kill
rate? To the uninformed New Yorker, one would think that, with the name -- “The Mayor’s Alliance” – Mayor
Bloomberg is directly involved and invested in animal rescue. Not true! The Alliance receives not one penny
from the City and operates independently of the City.
Who suffers from this deceit? The City’s homeless animals, that’s who. The public is lulled into believing
that all is well at our City’s shelters. But the AC&C’s disgracefully insufficient budget doesn’t just translate into
neglect of our shelter animals. It also prevents the AC&C from addressing the root causes of homeless
animals. Under the bureaucratic thumb of the DOH, the AC&C has no staff or credibility to actively seek public
donations to run a proper shelter. The City Council (or, at least Speaker Christine Quinn) is also complicit
the Council refuses to enforce legislation to teach Humane Education (including the importance of
spay/neuter) in our public schools. The AC&C has no staff or inclination to follow up on adoptions, and to track
“serial dumpers” (people who are forever surrendering animals to the shelter). . And, most importantly, it
means no public outreach on two issues that could dramatically slash the AC&C’s euthanasia. First, a
massive, coordinated effort to trap, spay/neuter and release for stray cats and spay/neuter for all companion
animals in general. Second, a public education campaign about the maligned “pitbull” label, and the need for
responsible pet ownership. . This is a citywide community problem, and it’s getting worse.
Think about it, people. The ASPCA collects $111 million in donations each year, enlisting the help of
celebrities to film gut-wrenching and donations-attracting ad campaigns. However, the real gut-wrenching
work, and the only organization that responds to your call when you see a starving stray in the middle of the
street, is barely even known to anyone but hardcore animal lovers? Most New Yorkers have no idea what
the AC&C is or what they do! The Manhattan AC&C’s decrepit shelter is only 18 blocks north of the
ASPCA’s state-of-the-art shelter facility. Visit one, and then the other---and you tell us whether or not NYC is
giving its unfortunate stray and homeless animals the basic care and a fair opportunity to be rehomed.
What’s the solution?
Expose the DOH’s malfeasance and Mayor Bloomberg’s deceits.
Remove the AC&C from the DOH’s control.
Create a truly independent shelter system: independent of government strings and reliant on insufficient
government monies. In turn, make a shelter system that is no longer a despised “dog pound,” but an
organization that the public will truly root for and support. Throw the bums out, we say.
Click here to find out how a 10 minute letter and a 44 cent stamp can give 40,000 animals a year a better life
and a better chance at survival. At SRAC, we want to dispel the idea that you have to be an expert, or a
professional, to be taken seriously as a caring citizen. These are your tax dollars, and you have a right to this
information. We can help you raise your voice for the City’s homeless animals!
SRAC Home Page
| Shelter Reform Action Committee (SRAC) ShelterReform.org: Everything you ever wanted to know about the AC&C, but were afraid to ask. |