NYC Spends $360,000 a Year Cremating All the Cats and Dogs Killed by NYC ACC
NYC ACC destroys an average of 21,000 small animals annually, according to a contract bid form released by the city.
Headlines from Buffalo to Brooklyn
It’s Friday, May 10, 2024.
This week, The Scoop New York got a look at documents related to the disposal of animal remains at NYC ACC — specifically, communication between the city and a Long Island crematorium concerning a new contract.
The crematorium was located in West Babylon. The contract, administered by the sanitation department, was for “the collection, cremation, and disposal of the remains of dead animals.” According to dates on some of the documents, the particulars of the five-year deal were still being worked out as of January 2018.
“Over the past five years, contractors for the City disposed of an average of 21,000 Small Dead Animals per year for the ACC,” the bid form reads. “Over the last several years, the number of Small Dead Animals per year has remained rather constant.”
While it is not known how many animal species constitute the 21,000 figure, a sizable percentage would be the thousands of healthy, adoptable cats and dogs the city kills every year.
Per a previous contract with the same company, the city paid the crematorium $30,000 a month, according to invoices included among the documents. The $360,000 per year works out to an average of $17 per destroyed bird, cat, dog or other small animal.
That’s $360,000 per annum the city could spend on adoption services, or vaccinations, or fostering, dog training, spay-neuter, trap-neuter-return, or literally anything to prepare the animals in its care for life beyond NYC ACC.
The mayor and City Council, though, would rather exterminate animals than save them — which is much easier when others below your station are paid to take the heat for you.
Crematory operators aren’t the only entities profiting from the city’s elective killings of companion animals. TSNY will follow up on this story in the coming weeks.
Here’s the latest New York companion animal news:
Mr. Worldwide might have escaped a dogfighting ring in the Bronx. Unfortunately he was later surrendered to NYC ACC.
Tensions are running high over a proposed shelter in Niagara Falls.
Judge in Beekmantown says “rescue” owner charged with multiple cruelty counts may continue to keep dogs.
Over 100 neglected companion and farmed animals were seized in Chenango County. SQSPCA thanks the public (who else?) for stepping up.
The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office seized 90 cats from a home in Dover.
A City Council member says blanketing NYC in poop bags will leave NYers with “no excuse when it comes to picking up after their pets.”
New York ranks suspiciously high on this list of the country’s pet-friendliest rental housing markets.
Good news: Lawmakers want the state DOT to identify the best locations for wildlife crossings.
Cornell’s vet school was ranked second best in the U.S. …
… But the vet shortage is nonetheless expected to get much worse.
This week on The Scoop New York
With a Single Bill, Albany Lawmakers Could Save Thousands of Cats and Dogs Per Year
The Shelter Animal Rescue Act would require animal control facilities to release companion animals to qualified rescues rather than kill them.
Food recalls
The FDA released no new pet food recalls this week.
Editor’s note: This post was amended to include additional details from the documents related to NYC ACC’s disposal of the animals it kills.