All For Animals #84 – Animal Care Centers of NYC Marks 30th Anniversary
NEW YORK (All For Animals TV) Animal Care Centers of New York City is marking its 30th Anniversary of animal rescue and community support in New York City, and as the saying goes, they’ve come a long way, baby.
“In 1995, we were Animal Care and Control, and before that, the Center for Animal Care and Control. There was so much emphasis on control, and people’s notions of the dog catcher,” ACC Executive Director Risa Weinstock told All For Animals TV, but in the years since, we’ve chipped away at that. “Control is one aspect of what we are obligated to do through the city contract, but it doesn’t define us, and over the years we’ve evolved.”
That evolution began in earnest, when in 2003, Jane Hoffman founded the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City’s Animals, which started with a ten year mission with a more than 7 million dollar grant from the Maddie’s Fund, to pay for several programs designed to eliminate the euthanasia of adoptable animals in the city shelter system. That included, among other resources, a Wheels of Hope transport program, mega adoption events, and perhaps most importantly, the New Hope Program through which some 200 private 501(c)(3) rescue organizations could pull at risk animals from ACC. The Mayor’s Alliance mission was later extended for a total of 16 years supporting ACC to the point where what’s known as the live release rate (animals placed either with adopters, fosters or other rescue groups) rose to more than 90%.
Initially the New Hope partners were taking the load off ACC, particularly with sick animals. But as those groups stuck with them, and as resources grew through additional funding, staff and new state of the art space, Weinstock says the program has grown to 300 groups with whom they have symbiotic relationships.
One long-running partnership is with the ASPCA with which ACC also partners on animal ‘control’ cases including hoarding and other situations in which the NYPD is also involved. Skylands Animal Sanctuary in New Jersey is among the organizations that have helped with the occasional goat or cow that’s come in, and other wildlife groups have been involved in the more bizarre scenarios, like a tiger in someone’s apartment (true story).
Two major changes in the past 30 years have been both brick and mortar, and virtual.
“When I started (2009) I’d say we really kept a low profile, because the thought about animal shelters was that it was a negative place, and so we really needed to dig inside of the organization and see, what do people need, what do these animals need, and what’s the root cause of why we have so many animals? What drives our work?”
Exploring those questions led ACC to launch social media and advertising campaigns including New York’s Kindest, NY’s Boroughbreds and Easy as ACC which focused on presenting ACC animals as your next best friend and furry family member. What they discovered is that New York can’t adopt it’s way out of the problem, While intake is down significantly, from 70,000 in 1995 to more than 20,000 today, that’s still an average 54 animals coming into the shelter system each day. (In fact, watch the video and see the ‘unboxing’ of TEN kittens from a single litter.)
A major challenge in 1995 and still today, is owner surrenders. What’s changed, is the judgmental attitude many have about that. “I think we’ve all seen, especially in the last years since covid, people struggle and they love their pets, and you can’t make that judgement, if you surrender you don’t love your pet. We see people crying that they are losing a family member,” said Weinstock, “so we’ve changed our model for what we can do for animals inside the shelter system and what we can do for people outside the shelter system.”
They’ve also got more elbow room to do it. Renovation projects have been completed or are in progress at the original three — the Manhattan, Staten Island and Brooklyn Care Centers. The old Queens ‘receiving center” In Rego Park is long gone, replaced by a 50,000 square foot state of the art facility in Ridgewood, and a care center in the Bronx is in the works. In addition to their pet food pantry, they’re working to open a clinic at the Queens location that would assist with treating medical issues for animals that might otherwise be surrendered.
In recent years ACC has also expanded enrichment programs for the animals in their care including playgroups in their street-level backyard dog runs where the public can see them in action, get curious, and then come in where (as Weinstock put it) they make the magic happen to place an animal with a loving family. Thanks to generous grants from Petco Love, they’ve got a dedicated behavior & training team which assesses each dog and then provides the training needed to get that pooch ready to live their best life. For cats, there are now several open air common rooms, in addition to the larger, multi-level condo-style cages.
As for the future, Weinstock says the mission remains the same: to end animal homelessness in New York City. And while that doesn’t mean the shelters will be completely empty, it does mean that New York City is one in which pet parents have a lot of support, and where people have a place to turn if they have a pet or want a pet. Weinstock says they’re just trying to get the word out that — whether you’re a pet lover or not — that the work they do is “for everyone, is making the community safer and people happier.”
If you’re want to adopt, foster or donate, or if you need assistance, please visit NYCACC.org.
