At Historic Hearing, the NYC Council Addresses the Animal Welfare Crisis
Over 150 New Yorkers testify at City Hall to decry system failures at first-ever City Council hearing: “The State of Animal Rescue in New York City”
NEW YORK - At a hearing on Friday, September 13, the New York City Council heard from hundreds of animal rescuers, veterinarians, community members and pet owners. The hearing was spurred by the city’s escalating and well-publicized outdoor cat and shelter overpopulation crisis, and the growing demand for affordable spay/neuter services.
For eight hours, animal rescuers spoke to the financial and emotional struggle of being on the front lines of this citywide crisis, with many serving as unpaid first responders to the sick, injured and homeless cat population. Many testified about their hard work performing self-funded spay/neuter and rescue initiatives with no city support. Private citizens have taken on the problem on their own time, spending their own money.
“The only way to really combat the issue of overpopulation of stray and feral cats, and people dumping cats, is to have them spayed or neutered. So you know what we need to work toward? Free spay and neuter for all animals in this city, not just some. We can find the money for that and we’ll fight for that,” pledged Council Member Joann Ariola.
Council members also criticized the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s handling of animal welfare services, raising concerns about whether the existing structure that gives DoH purview over Animal Care Centers is in the best interest of animals and the people who care for them. Proposed solutions included the creation of a new Department of Animal Welfare to oversee the city’s vulnerable non-human residents.
“DoH should not have oversight over ACC because they do not care. They’ve shown that time and time again. It is unfathomable that they would show up to a city council hearing and when asked if they want more funding for spay/neuter to say ‘Nah, we’re good.’ I hope that what you saw here today is indicative that we absolutely need change. We need a separate Department of Animal Welfare that would fund and administer Animal Care Centers and provide resources for rescuers and pet parents that we so desperately need,” said Allie Taylor, President of Voters for Animal Rights.
Led by Health Committee Chair Lynn Schulman, the hearing was attended by Council Members Justin Brannan, Joann Ariola, Gale Brewer, Oswald Feliz, Kristy Marmorato, Julie Menin, Carmen De La Rosa, Susan Zhuang, and Robert Holden The eight hours of testimony included that of Animal Care Centers (ACC), the Department of Health, the ASPCA, veterinarians, animal rescue organizations, independent rescuers, pet owners, advocates and community members.
Key issues discussed included:
Lack of affordable veterinary care and spay/neuter services.
Legislation to regulate backyard breeders
City shelter overcrowding
Rising costs of pet care
Impact of housing instability and lack of affordable pet friendly housing
Animal cruelty investigation and enforcement
Animal hoarding
Testimony was heard from Will Zweigert (Flatbush Cats), Latonya “Sassee” Walker, Dr. Natara Loose (Neighborhood Vet), Dr. LaCheryl Ball (Flatbush Vet), Dr. Matthew Miller (Muddy Paws) Tanya Copeland (Bronx Community Cats), Beth Gould (Positive Tails), and Heidi Systo (Heidi Wrangles Cats).
As a forum for the concerns of the many New Yorkers who care about dogs, cats and other animals, the hearing marks the first time these sides have engaged in this important discussion. The hope is that this is the first step towards systemic changes that will help the city’s beloved animal population.
Video footage of the first three hours of the hearing is available on NYCCouncil Youtube
For further information, please see this presentation from NYC Cat Rescuer Alliance and Voters for Animal Rights.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
Timestamp 0:03:30 NYCCouncil Youtube
Health Committee Chair Lynn Schulman said, “I want to thank the numerous rescue organizations and independent rescuers throughout the city who dedicate their time and resources to this issue. It is vital that we recognize their invaluable contributions and explore how the City and ACC can support them better. This is especially true for those who dedicate their time and energy to the half a million feral cats estimated to be living on the streets and in feral cat colonies around the city. These rescuers face substantial challenges. They lack adequate resources, funding, and most critically, access to low-cost high-volume spay and neuter services which is very necessary to make a meaningful impact to stabilizing the feral cat population. New York City stands in contrast to other cities and states in the US that have dedicated significant funding to government programs that provide access to low-cost spay and neuter procedures for both pet owners and rescuers.”
Timestamp 0:06:42 NYCCouncil Youtube
Council Member Justin Brannan said, “They say the moral progress of a society can be judged by the way its animals are treated and I think we’re here today because we all agree that the greatest city in the world needs to do a much better job in making itself the most humane city in the world…The mayor talks a lot about going upstream - instead of working to pull people out of the river, we should go upstream to find out why people are falling into the river. So much of our crowded shelters are due to the lack of veterinary care and lack of subsidized trap-neuter-return resources. I’m worried that the City of New York is taking advantage of, if not exploiting the compassion of animal lovers.”
Timestamp 3:11:36 NYCCouncil Youtube
Animal rescuer LaTonya “Sassee” Walker said, “I’m a NYCHA resident. I have a full time job. I’m the cat person, the dog person, the bird person, the rabbit person. I’m called every day, all day. I’m so exhausted. I talk to people all over the world. They have free spay/neuter. They don’t go through all of this. Why do I have to? I would love a little bit of a life, go to the gym, have some me time, but this is all I do. I have to help 20, 30, 40 people feed their cats. The elderly are my specialty. They call me for everything and I will never tell them no. At NYCHA, things are out of control, you have to go in these apartments and see what’s going on. The breeding is out of control.”
Timestamp 3:02:29 NYCCouncil Youtube
After describing two cases where a single household grew to over 100 cats because of lack of access to affordable spay/neuter, Samantha Knox of Itty Bitty City Kitties said, “this is just the beginning, there are also dog fights, kittens used as live bait, animals tied in bags found in dumpsters. I’m one person. I’m one organization, and I cannot shoulder the burden of spay and neuter for the entire peninsula of Rockaway Beach…These are two of the 45 hoarding cases that are on my radar where there are more than a hundred animals in jeopardy. We’ve reported them and we were directed to 911 and they closed the ticket in under 30 seconds with no follow up.”
Timestamp unavailable – she spoke after the 3 hour cutoff for the YouTube video.
Meagan Licari of PuppyKittyNYC said, “My organization has 432 cats, which is the highest number we ever have had since our founding ten years ago. While that number might not seem high to you it’s overwhelming for a group run mainly by volunteers. 99% of the cats we take in are not spayed or neutered. We cannot win this battle with breeding going on in our backyards, bodegas, and city streets. It is utterly unacceptable for individuals to profit from breeding while the city shelter and rescuers are overwhelmed and struggling to keep up financially and physically—this not only goes against everything we stand for but also directly undermines our mission to reduce the overpopulation crisis and save lives. So many situations I have encountered this year could have been avoided if spay/neuter resources were available to people.”