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Home > The Alliance in the News > 2007 Alliance News Items > Your love can save her life: City's shelters desperate amid flood of pets

Your love can save her life: City's shelters desperate amid flood of pets

by Lisa Colangelo, New York Daily News

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

City animal shelters are being inundated with unwanted dogs and cats — and officials are desperate to find them homes before they're forced to put the pets to sleep.

City shelters are taking in 85 cats and kittens a day — up from about 50 a day just a few months ago, said Richard Gentles, director of administrative services for New York City Animal Care and Control.

Some strays are being plucked off the streets, but many more are being dropped off by fickle owners who no longer want their pets because they're headed on vacation or the animals are going into heat.

Shelter officials said they worry they will be forced to euthanize scores of friendly cats and dogs because no one will come in and adopt them.

"We are being inundated," Gentles said. "Adoptable animals are being put down, and one death is too many."

Unlike the ASPCA, Humane Society and other shelters, Animal Care and Control cannot turn away any animal brought into its three shelters or left on the street.

It is the only nonprofit organization that holds a contract with the city to handle its stray and unwanted animals — about 44,000 every year.

Rescue groups, such as the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, pitch in and take many cats and dogs out of Animal Care and Control shelters. But they also are getting overwhelmed, according to Mayor's Alliance President Jane Hoffman.

"Having a pet really needs to be a lifetime commitment," Hoffman said. "People are turning in their pets because they want to go on vacation. Or they got puppies and kittens and never spayed or neutered them, and now they are unhappy with their behavior because they are going into heat."

The number of unwanted animals euthanized at city shelters has dropped dramatically in recent years, thanks in part to groups like the Mayor's Alliance, which provides grants to smaller rescue groups.

"We have been making such good progress, this is heartbreaking," Hoffman said. "We need New Yorkers to step up now and help us."