As Cost-Burdened New Yorkers Give Up Pets, Shelters Turn Them Away
Now, most people who bring in cats, dogs and other pets will be turned away, though the shelters will continue accepting animals that pose a threat to the public, need emergency medical care or are sent there by government agencies, the shelters said.
The tipping point came last week when Rocky, an older dog, was surrendered to Animal Care Centers of New York City, which runs the public animal shelters in Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island, said Katy Hansen, the organization's director of communications.
He became the 1,000th animal in the system.
'It's nonstop and no one can keep up,' Ms. Hansen said in an interview on Sunday at the Queens facility, where animals were doubled up in some kennels and crates and the air was thick with the smell of urine and excrement. The sheer number of animals surrendered to the organization had left its employees unsure of what to do.
' We can't adopt our way out,' she said, as the earsplitting sound of barking seemed to echo off the walls. 'I mean, unless we did a thousand adoptions this weekend, but that's pretty unrealistic. So what is it that we can do? I don't know. I think everyone's trying to figure it out.'
Overcrowding at New York City's animal shelters has been a long-term problem. Last summer, the city opened the Queens shelter at a cost of $75 million, but it was quickly overburdened with new arrivals that far outpaced its 72-dog-bed capacity. On Sunday, it was housing 169 dogs.
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