Video: Whistleblower Exposes Filthy Conditions at Rochester Kill Pound
Dogs in danger of being exterminated for space live in waste-filled kennels and cages at the city facility, which officials have neglected for years.
The Scoop New York is a newsletter dedicated to companion animals and the New Yorkers who care for them, from Buffalo to Brooklyn. NYC ACC KILLS, published by TSNY, enumerates and memorializes adoptable cats and dogs who were nonetheless exterminated by Animal Care Centers of New York City.
Headlines from Buffalo to Brooklyn
It’s October 4, 2024. This is The Weekly Poop.
This week, a whistleblower who works at Rochester Animal Services released video that shows dogs unattended with no water in feces-smeared kennels.
The video and attendant photos have sparked local advocates to schedule a protest rally outside a Rochester City Council meeting later this month.
The video was taken mid-morning on Monday, September 30, by veterinary technician Lisa Tydings, who told TSNY she has worked at RAS for six years.
The kennels had not been cleaned that morning, according to Tydings. The dogs had been fed but had yet to be supplied fresh water, she said.
"These animals,” Tydings says in the two-minute video, “are going to sit like this in their vomit and their poop for god knows how long until we can get someone in here to finally clean.”
Cats and dogs at Rochester Animal Services are warehoused in a loud, smelly, florescent-lit area with all the charm of a holding cell at Attica. I went there over the summer, after contacting advocates from Voiceless of Verona Street about conditions at the city-operated “shelter.” What I saw and heard during that trip was so … much that I struggled to settle on a starting point for what will, I ultimately decided, need to be a series of stories.
Thanks to VVS and Tydings, that series begins today.
As she points her camera at puddles of urine and vomit and shit, Tydings says dogs in the “bite room,” where the public is not allowed, are at particular risk of illness because the area is given less attention by staff than parts of the facility that most people see.
The dogs in Tydings’ photo up top arrived at RAS last Friday afternoon. By Monday, she told TSNY, “All their paws and hocks were ulcerated and bleeding from laying in their poop for three days.”
The last kennel shown in the video was cleaned by Tydings herself, as she was treating the dog housed there and did not want to return him or her to a pen “covered in poop.”
“Those piles of laundry [shown in the video] had been there for days,” Tydings told TSNY. “I don't even know when that garbage was last taken out.”
Monday was not a one-off. Though Saturday is usually busy with potential adopters, says Tydings, on the weekends RAS is “so poorly staffed that Monday is always just a disaster.”
Meanwhile, Voiceless of Verona Street says that due to overcrowding, “Dogs will be euthanized due to space.” As far as TSNY knows, dogs have to this point not been exterminated for space since the video was taken.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans was elected with support from advocates after promising long-awaited RAS improvements. Instead, those advocates say, things have gotten worse. There is no full-time staff veterinarian. Advocates say RAS routinely adopts out cats and dogs who have not been altered.
Read that last sentence again.
After a lengthy search, Rochester recently brought on its first new RAS director in 25 years. Though she played no role in the city’s decades of neglect, the Evans administration is already directing public ire her way, according to emails reviewed by TSNY.
But advocates aren’t having it. There will be a rally timed to coincide with the October 22 City Council meeting, outside City Hall at 30 Church Street. The demo will run from 5 to 7 p.m.
Multiple requests for comment emailed to Mayor Evans were not returned at publication time. A phone call to Evans’ office went to voice mail.
TSNY will have more Rochester coverage prior to the October 22 protest.
Tydings has another job lined up. Her new employers are aware of the video and its release, and are supportive of Tydings’ effort to draw attention to conditions at RAS, she said.
“This is what happens when you’re not allowed to hire more staff,” Tydings says in the video. “The animals suffer.”
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Here’s the latest New York companion animal news:
Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Eric Adams’ health department commissioner, will step down early next year after three years of doing jack to improve conditions for animals at NYC ACC.
Related: Like I said.
Gothamist ran an excellent Q&A with a veteran NYC ACC foster parent.
NYC is looking at birth control for rats in lieu of spreading poison that kills other animals, like Flaco the beloved (and famous) owl.
State lawmakers from the boros will introduce a bill to increase penalties for drivers who cause crashes that injure or kill companion animals.
Meet Kimi, a 2-year-old Lab mix deployed by Queens DA Melinda Katz to help calm crime victims and witness.
A veterans group is helping service members and their dogs stay together in Long Island, reportedly the first such initiative in the state.
Watch cats and dogs at Bideawee in Chelsea relax and engage as a teenage volunteer plays piano for them.
A Jersey-based rescue recovered a dog missing from New Windsor, in Orange County, for the better part of a year. And look, there’s video.
Buffalo Guinea Pig Mafia Rescue might have the best rescue name ever — and you can get tickets now for their November fundraiser and basket raffle.
Did Petco think people wouldn’t notice when its stores resumed selling rabbits, or what?
Landlords will continue to squeeze households with pets for as long as elected officials allow.
Godspeed Pani and Dwight and Philip and Nimai, Tofu and Tempeh.
New York adoptables
NYC ACC will hold adoption events in Manhattan on Saturday and Sunday.
A Buffalo car dealer will donate $100 to the Erie SPCA for every cat and dog adoption through October.
Culture Lab LIC will host its last regular dog adoption event of the year on Sunday in — where else? — Long Island City.
Food recalls
ANSWERS Pet Food has recalled some beef and chicken formulas due to "potential salmonella and listeria."
Check here for info on earlier recalls.