The Eric Adams Scandal Investigators Will Never Touch
The Eric Adams Scandal Investigators Will Never Touch
A no-kill expert says NYC ACC is violating animal cruelty laws in plain sight. Where's the cavalry?
It’s September 6, 2024. This is The Weekly Poop.
This week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams insisted the multiple investigations enveloping his administration are not distracting him from his job running the nation’s largest and coolest city. Which: Impressive, if true.
Regardless of what these investigations reveal, or how the Adams administration is affected by them, it’s a safe bet that no higher power will come knocking at City Hall to probe conditions at the city’s animal control pound, and Adams’ failure to intervene.
“New York City taxpayers spent $75 million on a new shelter in Queens,” writes Nathan Winograd, head of the California-based No Kill Advocacy Center. “And yet the animals are still neglected by staff, languishing in bloody cages with open sores, caked in fecal matter, with no access to fresh water.”
“It is not only a disgrace,” Winograd writes, “it is a crime.”
Winograd, who is also an attorney, cites Article 26, Chapter 356 of the state law that regulates the care of impounded animals:
A person who, having impounded or confined any animal, refuses or neglects to supply to such animal during its confinement a sufficient supply of good and wholesome air, food, shelter and water, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by both.
The current City Council has not been shy about taking on the mayor, who controls NYC ACC via the city health department. New Yorkers will see what happens when ACC bigs, on whose watch the aforementioned alleged crimes continue to occur, appear before the council health committee at next Friday’s twice-rescheduled ACC oversight hearing.
Given media coverage of the nightmare faced by homeless companion animals at ACC’s brand new Queens outpost, will the council provide actual oversight, for once — or more do-nothing “oversight”?
The latest newsletter from the longtime ACC watchers at the Shelter Reform Action Committee wraps it better than I could:
The council ACC hearing will convene at City Hall council chambers at 10 a.m. next Friday. Testimony may also be submitted online.
If this story speaks to you, please consider leaving a tip.
Plastic, PayPal or paper check. No Substack account required.
Here’s the latest New York companion animal news:
Of course the New York Times source on what’s wrong at NYC ACC is NYC ACC. Of course it is.
Queens Chronicle did somewhat better, getting local Council Member Robert Holden to commit on-record to more hearings, or something.
The operator of a Brooklyn low-cost vet clinic is calling on the city to follow his lead.
Meet Reed and Aspen, deployed to shoo geese away from Governors Island.
NYPD rescued a kitten from a Staten Island storm drain.
PETA wants Montgomery County prosecutors to investigate a puppy mill after federal officials reported abusive conditions there.
Through September 25, Susquehanna SPCA in Cooperstown is holding a virtual dog show fundraiser.
Catskill Animal Sanctuary is hosting a fundraising competition to raise money for endangered sanctuaries nationwide, and there are goats.
More from Nathan Winograd: To boost adoption rates, open the damn shelters to the public.
New York adoptables
NYC ACC is holding a mobile adoption fair Saturday in Manhattan.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow, SPCA Westchester and the village of Port Chester will host the inaugural “Family Fun & Pet Extravaganza,” with cats and dogs available for adoption, at Abendroth Dog Park.
Through Saturday, cat adoption fees are half off at Cortland County SPCA.
The town of Oyster Bay is waiving adoption fees for cats and dogs all month — spay-neuter, vaccinations and microchipping included.
Food recalls
The FDA issued no new pet food recalls this week. Check here for info on earlier recalls.