1/6/2013
By Ivan Pereira
The city’s animal shelters are going to the dogs, according to a report by the Manhattan borough prresident’s office.
Disorganized and wasting taxpaying dollars, the city’s Animal Care and Control agency needs an overhaul to control the stray population, the report found.
Borough President Scott Stringer, who is running for city Comptroller, said Animal Control “all but abandoned their operational responsibilities,” during Superstorm Sandy by failing to adequately shelter and locate displaced animals.
“It is increasingly failing in its fundamental responsibility to place animals in loving homes,” Stringer said in a statement.
The report found that pet adoption dropped 37% over six years and the agency, which doesn’t have an executive director, failed to acquire additional revenue through various resources such as dog licenses.
A spokesman for the city’s department of health, which runs Animal Control, dismissed Stringer’s report, stating that over the last decade, the number of animals euthanized went down by two-thirds and adoptions doubled. The spokesman also defended the agency’s actions during the superstorm.
“During Hurricane Sandy, Animal Care and Control safely evacuated every animal from the Staten Island shelter and staffed the shelters in Brooklyn and Manhattan 24 hours a day to make sure the animals were cared for,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Stringer recommended restructuring Animal Control into an independent, nonprofit organization, such as the Central Park Conservancy, where they can raise private funds for their operations.
