New York Newsday, February 6, 1995
'Animal Auschwitz'
City funded unit accused of killing too many and not adopting enough
by Graham Rayman and Josh Bernstein
Staff Writers
Widespread problems have turned the new city-funded agency that took over animal control from the ASPCAinto what one City Council member is calling a "little animal Auschwitz."
The charge comes despite promises by Martin Kurtz, director of the Center for Animal Care and Control, thathe would preside over a kinder, gentler era in city-funded animal shelters.
"We're putting the care back into animal care and control," said Kurtz, a former city official in charge of veterinary public health services. "Our main emphasis is to adopt as many animals as possible."
But Kurtz's agency is already facing charges that it is killing far too many animals and finding homes for far too few.
"They've set aside no money to do spay-neuter and none to do adoptions," said City Councilwoman Kathryn Freed (D-Manhattan). "You have to assume that at this point, most animals that are brought in are on a death sentence. It's a little animal Auschwitz."
The Center for Animal Care and Control, recipient of $5.3 million from the city this year, will be the focus of Thursday's oversight hearing before the City Council's health committee.
Kurtz said he is looking forward to the hearing: "People were saying we were killing the animals, we weren't feeding the animals. These things are outrageous. We're not doing those things."
Despite Kurtz's claims, shelter employees and observers say that the agency's first month has been bumpy at best, chaotic at worst. Among the problems cited:
* A man accused of bestiality in the late 1980s at the ASPCA was hired as an animal control specialist in theManhattan shelter. As soon as his past was discovered, he was fired.
* A healthy puppy was incorrectly placed in a cage in the Brooklyn shelter's ward for "vicious dogs" on Jan. 29 and was designated to be killed.
* Cats and dogs were being held in the same ward-sometimes in kennels adjacent to each other-whchveterinarians say emotionally stresses the animals.
* Injured animals brought in between 11 a.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Tuesday are sometimes left untended.
* In the Manhattan shelter, dogs often get their paws stuck in a three inch space in the bottom area of newly redesigned cages. Puppies get their snouts stuck in a slot in the cages used to place food inside.
* There are structural problems such as poor drainage and ventilation at the Brooklyn and Manhattan shelters.
"Many of the problems at CACC were foreshadowed in a Health Department commissioned 1994 consultant report prepared by Carl Friedman, director of the San Francisco animal care department, and Kenneth White, of the Humane Society.
Friedman and White expressed "alarm" at structural flaws and insect infestation at the Manhattan shelter, and at a disinfectant system that was . . . "unreliable" and "potentially hazardous to human and animal health."
At the Brooklyn shelter, the consultants found a two-tier cage set up "so that urine and feces could fall from one animal onto the animal beneath."
Members of the Coalition for New York City Animals charged last week that city offficials ignored the recommendations.
"The fact that the department has had this extremely alarming report for close to a year, without implementing its major recommendations, does not inspire confidence," said Sandy Lewis, New York director of Friends of Animals.
Kurtz said this week he was willing to work with outside groups. "Anybody with any constructive comments, any way they can help us, we're more than happy to have them."
'Animal Auschwitz'
City funded unit accused of killing too many and not adopting enough
by Graham Rayman and Josh Bernstein
Staff Writers
Widespread problems have turned the new city-funded agency that took over animal control from the ASPCAinto what one City Council member is calling a "little animal Auschwitz."
The charge comes despite promises by Martin Kurtz, director of the Center for Animal Care and Control, thathe would preside over a kinder, gentler era in city-funded animal shelters.
"We're putting the care back into animal care and control," said Kurtz, a former city official in charge of veterinary public health services. "Our main emphasis is to adopt as many animals as possible."
But Kurtz's agency is already facing charges that it is killing far too many animals and finding homes for far too few.
"They've set aside no money to do spay-neuter and none to do adoptions," said City Councilwoman Kathryn Freed (D-Manhattan). "You have to assume that at this point, most animals that are brought in are on a death sentence. It's a little animal Auschwitz."
The Center for Animal Care and Control, recipient of $5.3 million from the city this year, will be the focus of Thursday's oversight hearing before the City Council's health committee.
Kurtz said he is looking forward to the hearing: "People were saying we were killing the animals, we weren't feeding the animals. These things are outrageous. We're not doing those things."
Despite Kurtz's claims, shelter employees and observers say that the agency's first month has been bumpy at best, chaotic at worst. Among the problems cited:
* A man accused of bestiality in the late 1980s at the ASPCA was hired as an animal control specialist in theManhattan shelter. As soon as his past was discovered, he was fired.
* A healthy puppy was incorrectly placed in a cage in the Brooklyn shelter's ward for "vicious dogs" on Jan. 29 and was designated to be killed.
* Cats and dogs were being held in the same ward-sometimes in kennels adjacent to each other-whchveterinarians say emotionally stresses the animals.
* Injured animals brought in between 11 a.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Tuesday are sometimes left untended.
* In the Manhattan shelter, dogs often get their paws stuck in a three inch space in the bottom area of newly redesigned cages. Puppies get their snouts stuck in a slot in the cages used to place food inside.
* There are structural problems such as poor drainage and ventilation at the Brooklyn and Manhattan shelters.
"Many of the problems at CACC were foreshadowed in a Health Department commissioned 1994 consultant report prepared by Carl Friedman, director of the San Francisco animal care department, and Kenneth White, of the Humane Society.
Friedman and White expressed "alarm" at structural flaws and insect infestation at the Manhattan shelter, and at a disinfectant system that was . . . "unreliable" and "potentially hazardous to human and animal health."
At the Brooklyn shelter, the consultants found a two-tier cage set up "so that urine and feces could fall from one animal onto the animal beneath."
Members of the Coalition for New York City Animals charged last week that city offficials ignored the recommendations.
"The fact that the department has had this extremely alarming report for close to a year, without implementing its major recommendations, does not inspire confidence," said Sandy Lewis, New York director of Friends of Animals.
Kurtz said this week he was willing to work with outside groups. "Anybody with any constructive comments, any way they can help us, we're more than happy to have them."