REMARKS
Council Member Justin Brannan's remarks on animal welfare and legislation
0:06:43
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163 sec
Council Member Justin Brannan delivers passionate remarks on the importance of animal welfare in New York City. He emphasizes the need for better treatment of animals, discusses his personal commitment to animal advocacy, and highlights the importance of addressing root causes of shelter overcrowding.
- Brennan introduces his bill to prevent the sale of cats and dogs in retail settings
- He stresses the importance of adoption and the need for city support in subsidizing animal care efforts
- The council member calls for making New York the "most humane city in the world"
Justin Brannan
0:06:43
Thank you, Chairwoman.
0:06:45
And thank you for convening this very important and long overdue hearing.
0:06:50
And I appreciate you hearing my bill today.
0:06:53
They they say that a the moral progress of a society can be judged by the way.
0:06:57
Its animals are treated, and I think we're here today because we can all agree that the greatest city in the world needs to do a much better job at being the most humane city in the world.
0:07:07
And I am I've been an animal welfare advocate since I was thirteen years old.
0:07:13
I'm now one of 51 lawmakers in the city of New York and in a position to do something about it.
0:07:20
Often the first to defend the fiery passion of animal activists when others assume that there's some sort of ulterior motivation.
0:07:28
There is no ulterior motivation.
0:07:29
We just all really, really care about animals, and we wanna get this right.
0:07:35
And not not just only on my bill, but but on the on the hearing today that chair Schulman has convened us for, I think, you know, the mayor talks a lot about going upstream.
0:07:45
Instead of waiting to pull people out of the river, We should go upstream to find out why people are falling into the river.
0:07:51
And I think we can do the same when it comes to animal welfare in the city.
0:07:57
And the fact that as chair Schulman mentioned that so much of our overcrowded shelters are due to the lack of veterinary care and the lack of subsidized TNR resources.
0:08:09
And and and I am worried that the city of New York right now is taking advantage of if not exploiting the compassion of animal lovers.
0:08:19
We all care very much about animals, and we're always gonna do everything we possibly can for animals.
0:08:24
And even if it comes down to spending our last dime, we're gonna use it to buy cat food for our feral cat colonies.
0:08:32
But the city should be helping and subsidizing these actions.
0:08:38
So but the bill that we're we're hearing today has been a very long time coming working with our partners in Albany as well to prevent the sale of cats and dogs in retail settings.
0:08:53
I am the I've only ever adopted and had adopted pit bulls, and now I have an adopted racing greyhound, and adopting an animal is you save 2 lives, you save your own, and you save the life of that animal.
0:09:06
So with pushing this bill today and with all the issues that I think will help air rate today, This is gonna be an important hearing, and I wanna thank chair Schulman for putting it together, for hearing my bill, and, most of all, for the administration, for being here, but for all of you, for being here today with us, and doing everything we can to make this a more humane city.
0:09:25
Thank you.
0:09:25
Thank you, chair.