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Animal Shelters Get More Money, But Advocates Still Concerned

By Amy Zimmer | July 28, 2011 12:20am | Updated on July 28, 2011 7:58am

MANHATTAN — An estimated 40,000 dogs and cats enter the city's animal shelters each year, according to city data.

Many animal lovers have been upset about the overcrowding in these shelters, watching sadly and trying to help as the lists of cats and dogs slated to be euthanized are leaked from shelters and then posted on Facebook sites, Urgent Part 2 and Pets on Death Row, each night.

But there may be some improvements on the way, according to an agreement Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Wednesday between the Health Department and Animal Care & Control.

The move will increase the number of staff in shelters and receiving centers, expand the number of days and hours that animals may be dropped off or picked up and increase the rescue of stray, injured and abandoned animals.

With legislation to be sponsored by Upper East Side Councilwoman Jessica Lappin — which is scheduled for a City Council hearing in the fall — the city will commit to increasing shelter investment over the next three years by nearly $10 million. By 2014, city officials said, the annual budget for shelters will rise above $12 million — 77 percent more than current funding.

Under the agreement, the Health Department will no longer have to build and maintain animal shelters in all boroughs. They will only be required to maintain existing shelters in Staten Island, Manhattan, which is at 326 E. 110th St., and Brooklyn. 

By eliminating the expense of building city-run shelters in Queens and the Bronx and sparing those capital and operating costs, the city will be able to improve its services at existing shelters, officials said.

The agreement will also allow the Health Department to require that free-roaming cats be neutered and issue new rules regarding on trap-neuter-return programs to help control the feral cat population. The department will also work with advocates to increase dog licensing — which will help raise revenue for animal services — officials said.

"We will be able to focus resources and provide even better services for the thousands of dogs and cats who come into the shelter system," Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said in a statement.

"Our highest priority over the long term, though, is to reduce the number of animals that enter the city’s shelters, and to do that, we need to promote responsible pet ownership," he said, calling on owners to spay and neuter their pets.

Animal advocates remained skeptical that the agreement will save pets slated to be killed.

"Great that they are getting funds, but without more shelters, they will still be overcrowded and animals will still be killed for space," Urgent Part 2 posted on its website. 

"All it means that they might hire more people to pick up the phones and clean the kennels," Sarai Xenuwitz wrote on Facebook. "But space will still be limited and dogs will continue to be put on the euth list after 3 days."