Buttons, a white and brown domestic shorthair cat, has been living in a double-wide cat condo at a city animal shelter since May 18.
He’s luckier than Grubhub, who spent two days in a “pop-up kennel” just yards away after being found under a bench July 29 outside the East Harlem Centers for Child Care facility. Animals of New York.
The 4-month-old silver cat named after a delivery app arrived at the shelter even after the city’s animal welfare agency announced last week that its three shelters were, for the first time in recent memory , closed to welcoming cats due to overpopulation.
Officials at ACC, the city-supported network of nonprofit shelters, say financial pressure on pet owners is partly to blame for the increase in abandoned cats.
In East Harlem, cats are hidden in cages that line the hallways, a sign of a crisis mirrored in shelters across the country.
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Buttons watched from her “cat condo” inside the East Harlem Animal Care Center on July 31, 2023.
Some dogs, like Brooklyn, live in a kennel inside an administrative office. He was dropped off at the shelter more than four months ago after his owner never picked him up from a friend.
“I think what this all boils down to is that no one is really able to financially support the animals,” said Dorothy Blomquist, admissions supervisor at the ACC location in Manhattan.
Blomquist said she sees 30 to 40 animals surrendered to the shelter daily, with most people citing finances as the reason they have to give up a pet.
“We’re trying to get food to people, but some people find themselves in situations where they have to make decisions between their own health and that of their pet, and that of their family and their pet,” he said. she adds.
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Volunteer Michelle Benedict spends time with Cassie in the yard of the East Harlem Animal Care Center.
Animals in need
Even after the ACC cited “critical capacity issues» When it restricted its intake of cats, nearly a hundred were left in shelters in recent days.
“We would never accept an animal in need,” Katy Hansen, ACC director of marketing and communications, told THE CITY during a tour of the ACC’s East Harlem location Monday.
Since January, 2,918 pets have been adopted from ACC shelters — but during the same seven-month period, the agency took in 7,493 cats, dogs, guinea pigs and rabbits, according to the data.
At the same time last year, 2,769 pets were adopted out of 6,702 animals taken into shelters.
In total, ACC took in more than 15,000 pets last year, although the agency was criticized for dumping some of the animals taken in at shelters. Last year, 2,941 animals died in ACC facilities, mostly from “intentional owner euthanasia,” a service ACC provides to low-income New Yorkers, according to a spokesperson.
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An ACC employee feeds a newborn cat at the shelter.
Jen Brooks, who directs Second Chance Rescue in New Yorkalso pointed to financial issues as the source of the problem.
Costs for pet food and veterinary care have skyrocketed, Brooks said. The COVID-era eviction moratorium has helped some people stay home with their pets, but she’s seen some people bring in cats and dogs after being forced to find new homes.
“Shelters are bursting at the seams, owner abandonments are on the rise, finding adopters and foster families seems to be getting harder and harder,” said Brooks, whose rescue organization has a center in the county of Westchester and opened another in Long Island City.
“A lot of people could be struggling financially and that’s a recipe for disaster for animals,” she said. “It’s now a luxury to be able to have a pet, for many people.”
Hundreds of people ready to be adopted
ACC currently has more than 500 cats, dogs, guinea pigs and rabbits ready to be adopted or placed in foster homes, Hansen said.
And as the city’s official shelter, ACC is required to take in animals, with the goal of placing them in permanent homes, she explained.
The agency last year hired two advisors to work on specific casesTHE CITY previously reported – helping people keep their pets even if they are going through a mental health crisis, facing eviction or facing another financial challenge.
However, more animals arrive than are adopted, and there is not enough space to accommodate them all.
A 50,000-square-foot shelter was supposed to open last year in Ridgewood, Queens, but was delayed due to construction issues. It is now scheduled to open early next year, Hansen said.
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An ACC employee brings a dog into the organization’s East Harlem building.
Doug Halsey, who directs Ready for rescue — an organization that takes in pets at risk of death in an ACC facility — said several factors have led to a capacity shortage at shelters.
Halsey said he’s seeing fewer people interested in providing foster homes for their pets.
“We basically play musical cats and dogs with a lot of our host families,” he told THE CITY.
Throughout the summer, the ACC is encourage the adoption of large dogs and adult cats over 5 years old with just a $5 adoption fee. To help encourage more foster families, ACC is also covering the cost of a Lyft once you have collected the animal. And they continue to host mobile adoption events across the city as they look for new volunteers.
Halsey said the problem ultimately falls on humans to care for what local shelters call “boroughbreds.”
“We have a responsibility because of humanity’s co-optation of animals as pets,” he said. “It’s our turn.”
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