| Shelter Reform Action Committee (SRAC) ShelterReform.org: Everything you ever wanted to know about the AC&C, but were afraid to ask. |
It’s official: The ASPCA “Owns” Animal Care & Control
ASPCA President Ed Sayres recently wrote an Op Ed on the Huffington Post, defending an agreement he and
the Mayor’s Alliance secretly negotiated with City officials. Mr. Sayres assured his readers that the agreement
would make a “tremendous difference” to ACC animals if it becomes law. A few days later, the ASPCA urged
New Yorkers to contact their City Council representatives to ask them to pass the agreement, saying it would
correct the “mistakes of the past,” caused by “insufficient funding.” Click here to see the email
We respectfully disagree with the ASPCA’s assurances about the proposed agreement.
Mr. Sayres negotiated with the City from a position of weakness. As he politely notes, once a mid-level
appeals court ruled that no rescue group has “standing” to sue the City for refusing to build shelters for the
Bronx and Queens, the City viewed itself as litigation-proof. No one could ever force the City to follow the law
and build those shelters.
Having no leverage to ask for shelters, all Mr. Sayres could do was ask for money for the ACC.
The proposed agreement will pump money into the ACC to reinstate some of its basic services. Yet, those
monies cannot and will not make up for 17 years of savage underfunding: the ACC will remain one of the most
underfunded and mismanaged municipal shelters in the Nation.
Moreover, the proposed deal does nothing to address the rot at the ACC’s core (as Manhattan Borough
President Scott Stringer points out.) Instead, the agreement ensures that the ACC will continue to fail because
of:
 | The DOH’s continued power and domination over the ACC’s budget, management, public |
 | statements, and buildings. |
| An ACC Board packed with puppets loyal to the Mayor’s Office and the DOH. |
| An ACC plagued by chaotic management, including a disastrous current management. |
| The continuing lack of shelter space and proper medical care, which will become even more acute |
be crammed into already overcrowded shelters.
Under Mr. Sayres’ leadership the ASPCA has allocated monies and services to help our City’s dogs and cats,
for inadequately funding the ACC.
But never has the ASPCA challenged the City for the specific cruelty and neglect inside ACC shelter buildings.
If the ASPCA were to acknowledge the existence of those conditions, it would be morally and legally obligated
to intervene and stop the suffering. After all, the ASPCA’s headquarters are here in New York City, just blocks
away from the hellhole called the Manhattan ACC shelter.
The ASPCA says it is the “voice for the voiceless.” Unfortunately, the ASPCA’s voice has been only a whisper
for the 40,000-plus animals that pour into ACC’s overcrowded and disease-ridden shelters every year.
On September 9th, the City Council will go through a pro forma “hearing” on the proposed deal that Mr. Sayres
helped negotiate. This deal will become law. It will prove a political windfall for various City officials, but will do
little for ACC animals in the long run.
Mr. Sayres negotiated the best deal he thought possible under the circumstances. He’s dealing with a City that
insists on doing the very least for animals.
If this agreement does not quickly and convincingly make the “tremendous difference” that Mr. Sayres has
promised (and it won’t), then anyone with complaints about the ACC should “cc” Mr. Sayres, the ASPCA, and
the City Council on all your complaint correspondence.
The ASPCA has placed its seal of approval on this agreement. By doing so, the ASPCA now “owns” the ACC
and its problems.
Actually, come to think of it, having the ASPCA finally “own” the ACC’s problems is the one positive aspect of
the proposed agreement. Maybe that’s a good thing.
