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The Scoop New York is the only news outlet to consider newsworthy publicly-funded cruelty to homeless companion animals, as well as decades of officials’ deliberate abuse — psychological, financial and physical — of the New Yorkers who care for and about them.
Published by TSNY, NYC ACC KILLS enumerates and memorializes adoptable cats and dogs who were exterminated by Animal Care Centers of New York City.
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Headlines from Buffalo to Brooklyn
It’s September 19, 2026. This is The Weekly Poop.
This week, Animal Care Centers of New York City [sic] handed a malnourished dog with multiple untreated physical injuries back to the person who surrendered her in that condition, with no apparent inquiry into how her wounds were sustained and, according to ACC records, without providing or securing recovery-dependent medical care recommended by ACC itself.
This week’s example is only the latest instance of ACC returning dogs to owners who either surrendered them under questionable circumstances or were known to pose a threat to the dog they were legally responsible for.
Koko [263346], a 33-pound mixed breed whose age is estimated to be between 2 and 4 years, was surrendered to ACC on August 24.
The owner, who surrendered Koko along with two other dogs, reportedly indicated Koko was bred at the owner’s home. The owner did not supply ACC with Koko’s medical records, assuming any existed.
On intake, Koko was described as “underweight” and, according to publicly-available ACC notes, presented with “severe facial swelling,” which her owner claimed was precipitated three days earlier when she was attacked at a dog park by “a larger dog [who] grabbed Koko by the head/face, biting, holding on, and shaking.”
ACC found that Koko also suffered from a “significant hard palate defect/injury” that exposed her nasal cavity and the roots of her teeth.
ACC notes recommended a surgical consultation “ASAP” for the palate wounds, both for treatment and to determine whether the palate injuries were caused by the purported dog attack or by “other trauma,” via an “electrical cord,” a “penetrating foreign body,” or other means.
At some point after Koko was admitted to ACC, she was reportedly attacked by another dog whom ACC failed to handle properly. The dog who attacked Koko, Mac [263476], was also a bite victim, her face covered in both new and old wounds. ACC exterminated Mac on September 17.
Koko’s notes give no indication that ACC followed up on the surgical consult she needed in any way. Instead, the notes say, personnel monitored Koko’s condition, while administering antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medications, until September 2, when ACC added Koko to its so-called “at-risk” list — “for medical reasons.”
In other words, ACC wanted to kill Koko because of injuries ACC was not treating, nor securing qualified outside assistance to treat.
On September 13 ACC put Koko on “kill command” — the last step preceding an ACC elective killing.
On September 16, ACC returned Koko to the person who bred her and, rather than take her to a veterinarian, dropped her at the city pound, underweight, after she suffered multiple severe injuries of undetermined origin.
As the following recent examples attest, Koko is not the first dog ACC purposely returned to an unstable if not clearly dangerous environment.
Ben [252447], 1 year old; and Benjamin [252514], 6 months old: Ben and Benjamin were found tied together on the street on April 20, 2026. Benjamin had a deformity to a hind leg, which ACC amputated. ACC allowed the owner to reclaim both dogs on May 9, though both had rescues waiting and though abandoning an animal is a crime in the state of New York.
Mustard [225961], 1 year old: Mustard was admitted to ACC twice. The first time, on April 30, 2025, he was found loose in a park with his owner, who police said was intoxicated. Mustard reappeared at ACC on April 29, 2026, after his owner was arrested and Mustard was left at home unattended, along with two cats and two turtles, for three weeks.
King H [227499], 5 years old: King H was also at ACC on two separate occasions. In October 2025, he was surrendered by NYPD after “the owner and the victim [the owner’s partner] were having a dispute” and “the owner sent the dog to attack the victim,” resulting in a bite wound that did not require medical attention. In July 2026, King H was brought back to ACC as a stray. ACC allowed King H’s owner to reclaim him a second time, again despite potential criminal abandonment.
The Scoop New York sent queries concerning Koko to the city health department, which nominally oversees the city kill pound for absentee Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as well as the ACC communications office and chief ACC veterinarian Robin Brennen.
We asked if Koko received the surgical consult ACC said she required “ASAP,” and, if so, what they learned. We asked about Koko’s medical care during the two-week period after ACC declared Koko “at-risk” — when ACC stopped posting her records — and the day ACC released Koko to her owner. We asked, given that her owner has no apparent record of providing Koko with vet care, how ACC can confirm she receives the medical attention she needs.
Given that Koko was underweight, and had multiple serious wounds that her owner allowed to go untreated — including wounds potentially resulting from abuse — we asked why Koko wasn’t flagged for cruelty.
Finally, we asked if ACC has a protocol for animals admitted with signs of abuse, how often potential cruelty cases are investigated, and why ACC releases animals to their owners despite indications of abuse in the home.
Per usual, neither NYC DOH nor NYC DOH ACC had anything to say for themselves.
OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE FOR NYC ACC OVERSIGHT
NYS Ag Commissioner Richard Ball: 518-457-2771; Email
Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Contact form
City Council Speaker Julie Menin: 212-788-7210; Email
Council health chair Lynn Schulman: 212-788-6981; Email
Comptroller Mark Levine: 212-669-3916; Contact forms
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams: 212-669-7250; Email
City Council members: Lookup
Borough presidents: BX; BK; MN; SI; QS
NYC DOH Commissioner Alister Martin: 311; Contact form
NYC DOH ACC minder Corinne Schiff: 646-632-6496; Email
CHIEF NYC ACC VETERINARIAN
Robin Brennen, DVM: Email
Here’s the latest New York companion animal news:
You can love companion animals or you can love watching their adoptive families terrorized by the government, but not both.
Count Wyoming County among those putting Albany lawmakers to shame by establishing its own abuser registry in lieu of a state one.
Related: Another reminder that New York’s “animal-loving” legislators should get to work regulating grooming and boarding businesses, stat.
Related: Saratoga County Judge James R. Davis tossed the cruelty case against the owner of a now-shuttered Halfmoon boarding business who prosecutors said was responsible for the heat death of a dog and “alleged mistreatment of other animals” in her care.
Related: Looks like a legal remedy may be needed to stop Mark Zuckerberg from profiting off shady Facebook pet sales, which the platform claims it doesn’t allow but in practice totally does.
Town of Huntington Animal Shelter is shut to walk-in visitors as the facility makes “upgrades required by new state regulations.” (Though it will be business as usual at the cat shelter next door.)
“Southampton Animal Shelter Clinic Closed to Public After Abrupt Split With Veterinarian Co-Founder”
Kudos to Nassau County DA Anne Donnelly for successfully appealing felony cruelty charges against Peter Galantino, a grown-ass man who kicked a couple’s Yorkie to death after the couple called him out for not curbing his own dog.
Kudos also to NYPD’s 78th Precinct, in Park Slope, for returning bodega cat Jabal to his human after he was allegedly stolen off the street. And this week’s kudos hat trick (a Weekly Poop first!) goes to said human Imad Innab for his kicker quote: “I'm going to try not to just leave him outside, make sure he's inside, not outside.”
NYC Second Chance Rescue is accepting applications for Owl, a year-old American Staffordshire mix the org is nursing back to health (Imagine!) after she was found by a good Samaritan on a Brooklyn sidewalk “so profoundly starved she could barely lift her head.”
Putnam County SPCA is looking for tips on who abandoned a German shepherd bound with electrical tape in Brewster.
In still more wanton abuse news: It’s tempting to say new Belmont Park renovations are lipstick on a pig except pigs have integrity.
Look out for rabid raccoons in Bay Shore and Babylon.
Finally: Did somebody say “Circle Line dog cruise”?
From NYC ACC KILLS
Food recalls
FDA announced no pet food recalls this week.
Check here for more info on FDA-announced recalls, and here for details on prior FDA advisories and outbreaks.