PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Deborah Kalish, Volunteer at Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC)
6:37:51
·
135 sec
Deborah Kalish, a volunteer at ACC Manhattan, testifies about the severe overpopulation crisis in animal shelters and the urgent need for affordable spay/neuter services in New York City. She describes the deteriorating conditions for shelter animals and proposes several solutions to address the crisis.
- Highlights the influx of unaltered, poorly cared for dogs into shelters, leading to behavioral and medical issues
- Suggests expanding funding for existing nonprofits, introducing spay/neuter rotations in vet schools, and creating incentives for private vets to perform low-cost procedures
- Emphasizes that rescue efforts alone cannot solve the crisis and calls for more accessible and affordable services to help animals in New York City
Deborah Kalish
6:37:51
Hi.
6:37:51
My name is Deborah Kalish.
6:37:53
I'm a dog volunteer at ACC Manhattan.
6:37:56
I live in District 6, and my city council rep is Gail Brewer.
6:38:00
I've been volunteering at ACC for over 3 years, 7 years somewhere else.
6:38:05
The overpopulation situation is the worst I've ever seen.
6:38:09
It's a tragic, unending parade of surrendered and abandoned dogs.
6:38:14
Many of them come in un groomed, unvetted, underfed, and now unaltered, largely a function of the insane cost of New York City vet care.
6:38:23
Unaltered dogs in shelter contribute to behavioral problems.
6:38:28
On a good day, shelter dogs can deteriorate from stress, noise, fear, not enough exercise.
6:38:34
Unaltered dogs can exacerbate bad behavior, leading to more emergency placement, please, and more euthanasia.
6:38:42
It's just simply heartbreaking.
6:38:45
Unaltered dogs have medical issues too.
6:38:47
I recently teamed with an ACC rescue partner to pull a seven year old unaltered male who now needs a perinarial hernia operation to fix this very serious GI problems.
6:38:59
It will cost 1000 of dollars so unnecessary for us and so avoidable for this poor dog.
6:39:06
Here are some things that I think the city can do to kind of help this overpopulation crisis and add to Spain Newter Services.
6:39:15
Fund existing nonprofits to expand their services.
6:39:19
They're already doing the work.
6:39:22
Work with boards of vet schools to introduce Spain Newter rotations into their curricula.
6:39:28
Give vet students course credit or tuition breaks for semester long Spain newter work in the city.
6:39:35
Jointly fund a program to train city vet techs to perform Spain newters throughout the city and pay them to do so.
6:39:43
Use tax breaks or other incentives to incent private vets and corporate chains to perform a minimum number of low cost Spain noodles per year.
6:39:53
There are too many unwanted animals in New York City.
6:39:56
We can't rescue our way out of this crisis.
6:39:59
We need more affordable, accessible services.
6:40:02
Please help us, help the animals of New York City.
6:40:05
Thank you very much.