New Bill Animal Shelter Elizabeth Forel

PLEASE FORWARD In 2000, a bill was passed that would require animal shelters in every borough of NYC. Since shelters already existed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island - it mean new shelters in the Bronx and in Queens.     The City of New York was sued last year on this issue and the case was won.  The judge decided that the City had to build the animal shelters.  Stray from the Heart was the plaintiff.  The City appealed it.    NEW BILL - INTRO 655 -  Today a new bill was introduced into the City Council that would repeal section 17-803 from the original bill that required animal shelters in the Bronx and Queens.  One of the existing shelters (Manhattan, Brooklyn or Staten Island) will now be required to be open 24 hours a day to receive animals.  These shelters will not be expanded so it will be interesting to see how they pack the animals in.  The receiving center in the Bronx, for example, is just a small store front never able to serve the borough.   this is the link to the bill.  Please read and make up your own mind.    http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=967788&GUID=4371EAF2-8E60-4210-A88D-90C7488B5736&Options=ID|Text|&Search=655   This is a link to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's oped in the Huffington Post, dated 8/16/11. Op-Ed: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-stringer/protecting-new-yorks-anim_b_928513.html Petition: http://www.mbpo.org/paws/ ORIGINAL LEGISLATION  - Former Speaker Peter Vallone did a wise thing when he passed the bill to require shelters in 2000. Unfortunately, the City never saw fit to fulfill this requirement.    Now Speaker Christine Quinn is killing the provision  - just as she did with term limits in 2008.  This will probably pass because it is backed by Quinn.  This is the way our "democratic" government works.     OUTDOOR CATS - There is also a clause in the new bill - 17-804-d, which requires every outdoor cat to be sterilized.  While that is a good thing, it suggests that these cats will be picked up by animal control and probably euthanized.  Either that - or this section is unenforceable.  Section 17-803 c. states "when public health and safety is threatened, they {ACC] shall have the capacity to pick up such animals twenty-four hours per day."     This is the section that was repealed from the original bill.  My highlighting:   §  17-801 Legislative findings. The City Council hereby finds that New   York City is experiencing a serious overpopulation of unwanted dogs  and   cats.  This  is a matter of serious concern affecting the public health,   safety and welfare. The  Center  for  Animal  Care  and  Control,  which   operates  animal  shelters  under contract with the City's Department of   Health and mental hygiene, estimates  that  67,000  unwanted,  stray  or   abandoned  dogs  and  cats  entered  its  facilities  in  1998. Of these   animals, approximately seventy percent  were  not  spayed  or  neutered.   While  wandering the City's streets, homeless dogs and cats reproduce at   alarming rates,  exacerbating  a  potentially  unhealthy  and  dangerous   situation.  As a result of this situation, dog packs have formed in some   areas, increasing numbers of individuals and animals  are  at  risk  for   rabies,  and  many homeless animals have become the victims of vehicular   accidents. These animals also suffer from lack of  food  and  water  and   exposure to the elements. Given the large and growing number of unwanted   dogs and cats, the Council finds that a law providing for a full-service***   animal  shelter in each borough and the spaying and neutering of animals   adopted from animal shelters or purchased from pet shops is necessary to   protect the health, safety and welfare of New York City  residents.  The   Council  also  finds that with the advancement of medical knowledge over   the past ten years, many veterinarians now advocate and  practice  early   sterilization  of pets, as early as eight weeks of age. Veterinarians at   animal hospitals and humane shelters across the country, as well as  the   American  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  have   performed thousands of  early  spay-neuter  surgeries.  Many  veterinary   associations  now  also  agree that even though any surgery has inherent   risks, kittens and puppies heal faster and are lower surgical risks than   older animals who may be ill, in heat, or pregnant. If dogs or cats  are   spayed or neutered before adoption from a shelter or purchase from a pet   shop,  then the chance that they will add more unwanted offspring to the   numbers that already exist will be eliminated. *** - the pet industry got to the administration and the section about requiring pet store animals to be spayed or neutered was rescinded.  -- Elizabeth Forel Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages www.banhdc.org Horses Without Carriages International www.horseswithoutcarriages.org