NYC Shelter History
The following is a chronological history of how New York City has cared for (or ignored) its homeless pet population over the years.
1894 - 1977
In the beginning, New Yorker Henry Bergh founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to protect carriage and work horses. Thirty years later (shortly after Bergh's death), the ASPCA agrees to the City’s repeated entreaties to take charge of the care and control of the City’s dogs and cats. To do this, a special law is passed in Albany, allowing mayors of major cities the power to designate an agency to deal with “lost, strayed or homeless animals.” The law also gives the ASPCA special "Humane Law Enforcement" police powers. The ASPCA maintains its own animal shelters, purchases animal ambulances and so-called dog-catcher trucks, and hires HLE officers (state police officers who are granted arrest powers). All of this is a vast improvement over how stray dogs had been handled pre-1894: they were rounded up, jammed into cages, and lowered into the East River to drown.
In 1972 the actress/animal activist Gretchen Wyler is the first woman appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of the ASPCA. Wyler attracts a group of dedicated volunteers to help at the ASPCA shelters. In 1976, she sues the ASPCA for financial irregularities and cruelty to animals. Having seen first-hand the dysfunction and callousness at the ASPCA shelters and by its Board of Directors, she encourages other volunteers to protest. Ultimately, the ASPCA promises to do better and settles privately with Wyler who moves to California to continue her activism there.
Shamed by the Wyler lawsuit, in 1976, for the first time, the ASPCA seeks reimbursement from the City for its animal care and control services. The Mayor assigns the City's Department of Health (DOH) to administer the contract and set the ASPCA’s annual budget. The contract requires the ASPCA to seize stray animals, operate shelter facilities, accept owner-surrendered animals, and provide euthanasia as necessary. The contract also sets the template for years of inadequate funding and drastic budget reductions imposed by the DOH. Despite the mutual benefits the ASPCA and the City initially derived from these contracts, the ASPCA's relationship with City government quickly becomes contentious.
1980
In the early 1980's, tension is fueled by the ASPCA's allegations that the City refused to pay the actual cost of providing animal care and control services. The DOH promises to do better, and in 1989 even offers to help the ASPCA by floating bonds to build a state of the art Manhattan shelter for the ASPCA and to create a veterinary unit in the Bronx and a shelter in Queens. The City’s homeless pets will never see those promised facilities.