Pets Get Cyber Savior: Group Hopes Computers Will Aid Adoptions - by Lisa L. Colangelo, New York Daily News City Hall Bureau - Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, Inc. - Working with the City of New York to promote dog and cat adoption and spay and neuter programs to make New York a no-kill city.

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Pets Get Cyber Savior: Group Hopes Computers Will Aid Adoptions

by Lisa L. Colangelo, New York Daily News City Hall Bureau

Saturday, November 8, 2003

Saving a homeless animal may soon become as easy as going to an ATM.

Nine adoption kiosks featuring ATM-like computers are being placed at animal shelters throughout the city.

And officials at New York Animal Care and Control are betting people will not be able to resist the cute and cuddly faces that appear on screen with the touch of a finger.

The kiosks, purchased with the help of actress and animal activist Mary Tyler Moore, are part of an aggressive adoption campaign kicked off yesterday by the animal control group and the Mayor's Alliance for New York City Animals.

The goal is to turn the city's animal shelters, which euthanize thousands of unwanted cats and dogs every year, into a no-kill system within five years.

"We need creative programs to encourage people to adopt," said Ed Boks, who recently took over the former Center for Animal Care and Control. "We need to make it affordable, and in some cases free, for people who can't afford to spay and neuter their pets."

Pets available for adoption also can be viewed at the animal center's web site (www.nycacc.org).

Boks is banking on his experiences in Maricopa County, Ariz. — which includes Phoenix — and the help of 49 other humane groups in the Mayor's Alliance to get the job done.

Animal Care and Control receives about $8 million from the city to handle its animal control services.

Boks also has formed a key partnership with new ASPCA head Ed Sayres, who helped maintain San Francisco's no-kill policy.

But some humane groups cautioned the city to keep its goals realistic.

"San Francisco has a much smaller population, and they had a lot more money," said Kate Pullen, director of animal sheltering issues for the Human Society of the United States. "We applaud the effort, but five years is pretty ambitious."

Becoming no-kill doesn't mean every animal that enters a city shelter will be saved. Sick and potentially dangerous animals will still be euthanized.

But Jane Hoffman, who heads the Mayors Alliance, said the goal is to save the 14,000 adoptable animals that are put to sleep every year.

"I don't see how we can't do this," she said.