A PETITION TO REPLACE THE CURRENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF NYCACC

Dear animal lovers,

There is a crisis of management at NYCACC, the municipal kill shelter system which intakes 44,000 homeless animals every year.

I am hereby asking you to join me in calling for the City Council and the Mayor to convene an emergency hearing to create an Animal Care Task Force to oversee the replacement of the existing Board of Directors of NYCACC which has created this crisis.

This task force should be made up of humane professionals and animal advocates. This task force should also consider the conflict of interest that exists when the Commissioner of the Department of Health --who once said in an open public meeting, "you have to understand that from a public health perspective, I would't lose a moment's sleep if you were to euthanize every animal in your shelters if it meant that not one child was going to be bitten,"-- is also the Chairman of the Board of NYCACC.

The very board which hired Charlene Pedrolie, a corporate thug with NOT a SHRED of animal sheltering or medical experience, to promote their agenda and to ignore the No-Kill Mandate. Ms. Pedrolie's unenlightened change of protocols and abusive bullying of staff have resulted in mass resignations and an enormous turnover of staff. Suspension of animal rescuers has caused the  needless euthanasia of adoptable animals.

The Board Members who make life and death (mostly death) decisions that result in the senseless slaughter of homeless animals.

Did you know that in the richest city in the world, the Department of Health under funds the NYCACC, providing less than half of what is recommended by humane professionals.

Did you know that according to law, New York City is required to have five full-time, full-service animal shelters. We currently have only three.

Concerns have been raised about insufficient animal rescue resources. Concerns abound about the invisibleness of the city shelters due to the lack of advertising dollars which could build awareness around the centers. Ask anyone where the homeless animals are in NYC and they will tell you the ASPCA or BideAwee. Most have never even heard of NYCACC. So thousands and thousands cats, rabbits and dogs a year languish in obscurity resulting in an endless slaughter of innocents.

The SAFER test which determines an animal's temperment, and which the board approved, is extremely biased against Pitbulls, Chows, Mastiffs and other large dogs. Nasty, small pure bred dogs and cats routinely pass just because of its size and breed. That is what the Department of Health wants and they have found an Executive Director who will execute their wishes.

Recent, outrageous decisions such as transforming an adoptable section with a holding capacity of 40 dogs into a boutique that now holds only 20. And the unthinkable trashing of perfectly usable old cages, which any number of less funded shelters in the metro area would have died for. These cages were left to rust in the lot and then carted for trash.

The seemingly calculated suspension of seven major NYC New Hope rescuers who do not discriminate against Pitbulls and Pit Mixes appears to be a conspiracy exterminate the breed without having to introduce anti-breed specific legislation which might offend the voters.

The ridiculous space-costing conversion of one New Hope room with 8 cages was transformed into a storeroom for a pet supply retail area that people rarely use.

The Board Members making the decisions for NYCACC are incapable of thinking like animal advocates. Even though advocacy for the animals is what they were appointed to execute.

I call for the immediate dismissal of Charlene Pedrolie and reinstatement and promotion of Liz Keller, the recently resigned Director of Operations and a genuine animal advocate, to Temporary Executive Director .

Lastly, we as animal loving New Yorkers who cringe at the slaughter of dogs and cats in China, must finally look at our own backyards and alleys. The animals can't wait. The time is now to demand that the New York City Council and the Mayor take notice...there is a crisis of management of NYC's Animal Care and Control which intakes 44,000 homeless animals a year. What are they going to do about it. Please contact the responsible parties below. Thank you.

 

Laurie Bleier
Director
http://BrooklynAnimalFosterNetwork.org
718 %u2013789-6865
718 789-1465 Fax

Who to contact to meet these demands:

City Hall

Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor
City Hall, New York, NY 10007
mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov

Department of Health

Thomas Frieden, MD
Commissioner, NYC Department of Health
125 Worth Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 788-5261, Fax: (212) 964-0472

City Council

Christine Quinn
Speaker New York City Council
City Hall, New York, NY 10007
Tel: (212) 788-7210, Fax: (212) 788-7207

The CACC Board of Directors

Thomas Frieden, M.D.
Commissioner
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
125 Worth Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10013
Tel: (212) 295-5347 Fax: (212) 295-5426
tfrieden@health.nyc.gov

John M.B. O'Connor
212-363-0868
joc@jocnewyork.com

 

READ THE AFFIDAVIT OF EDWARD BOKS, former Executive Director of NYCACC.

Excertps

31. Dr. Frieden and I had another long-standing argument during my tenure over the fact that he put a lot of weight in what was called the "length of stay" statistic. He considered the length of stay a direct budgetary issue that the longer an animal was in the shelter the more it was costing the Department of Health. And it just wasn't efficient. And he said, "Look Ed, you're required to hold these animals 48 hours. I want you to be able to have a disposition ready in the 49th hour for every animal."

84. If the concern or question is, does the Department of Health have the best interest of AC&C, or the animals in its care, at heart? The answer is clearly, "No, they do not." They don't support innovative programs, they don't support the executive director, they expect executive directors to kowtow and do as they're told. They don't expect them or want them to be innovative and progressive. They don't want them to be cutting-edge or leading-edge. They are basically looking for someone who is a yes-person willing to maintain the status quo.