New Life at City Shelters - 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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by Lisa L. Colangelo, New York Daily News City Hall Bureau

Monday, October 4, 2004

A trip to the city's animal shelters is no longer a likely death sentence for many homeless cats and dogs.

The number of unwanted animals euthanized in city shelters has dropped to below 29,000 for the first time since records have been kept, shelter officials said yesterday.

That's a 29% decrease from four years ago, when the city was forced to kill more than 41,000 homeless pets in its overcrowded shelters.

Meanwhile, adoptions are way up as New York Animal Care and Control continues its aggressive push to find homes for stray dogs and cats.

"This is one of the few municipal problems that can easily be fixed by community support," Ed Boks, who took over the city's beleaguered animal control agency just over a year ago, told the Daily News.

Boks credits enthusiastic New Yorkers for helping boost adoptions.

But supporters say a fresh mind-set at the agency, new staff members and important partnerships with smaller private rescue groups have made the crucial difference.

The animal care center logged more than 8,000 adoptions between September 2003 and August 2004 — up from about 5,000 in the previous 12 months.

Monthly tallies are even more striking. In August 2004, 977 animals were adopted from city shelters, more than double the 406 pet placements in August 2003.

"This was an organization imploding under its own weight for a variety of reasons," Boks said.

Animal advocates had long complained that the agency, formerly known as the Center for Animal Care and Control, turned away volunteers and refused to work with other rescue groups to increase adoptions. The non-profit organization gets about $7 million a year from the city to handle its stray animals.

But the ASPCA and the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, a coalition of rescue groups that helped lure Boks from Arizona to New York in 2003, have provided the center with equipment and other resources. As a result, more strays are being taken out of the shelters to adoption fairs at parks and other locations, where they have a better chance of finding a family.

Jane Hoffman, head of the Mayor's Alliance, said the small rescue groups play a key role, taking animals out of overcrowded city shelters — about 4,350 in the last eight months — into their own adoption programs.

But others are concerned the agency has eased adoption standards to get more animals into homes. And that could result in dogs and cats returning to the shelters.

"I think it's time to say we're doing something right," Boks said. "Are we perfect? Absolutely not. Do we need help? Yes. NYACC is not going to make the city no-kill by ourself."