Disease, Poor Conditions Found At NYC Animal Shelters: Audit

NEW YORK CITY — City-run animal shelters housing 20,000 pets and strays are for the dogs — and not in a good way — a new audit found.

The audit led New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer found conditions and medical care fell short at Animal Care Center of NYC shelters.

It found that 57 percent of dogs tested at the shelters developed respiratory disease during their stays, among other findings.

“Our city is defined by how we treat our most vulnerable — and that includes our four-legged friends, too,” Stringer said in a statement. “Until we find them forever homes, we have an obligation to provide safe conditions, adequate food and medical treatment to the thousands of animals in the City’s care. Our review of ACC and DOHMH’s management of the shelter system uncovered multiple deficiencies that need to be fixed.“

Stringer, who is running for mayor, detailed 21 actions to address the “deficiencies” found by the audit.

The audit detailed that multiple shelter rooms had humidity at disease-fostering levels, animals were fed expired food and 16 of 40 inspected animal rooms with peeling paint, cracks and other repair issues.

Also, rooms for cats, guinea pigs and rabbit were put into literally-distressing proximity to the sound of barking dogs, the audit states.

“ACC Guidelines state that prey species (e.g., birds, guinea-pigs, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits) should be housed away from predatory species (e.g., ferrets, cats, dogs) at all times, since it is extremely stressful for them to be housed in an area where they are subjected to scent, sound, and visual contact with predatory species,” an audit summary states.

Read the audit summary and report here.