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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Founder and Director of Fur Real NYC on Animal Rescue Challenges
5:50:02
ยท
4 min
The founder and director of Fur Real NYC, a small black-owned rescue and sanctuary in Queens, provides emotional testimony about the financial struggles and personal sacrifices made to run an animal rescue organization. She highlights the lack of support for small rescues, the high costs of veterinary care, and the disproportionate impact on the black community.
- The speaker has spent nearly $1,900,000 of her own money and is facing eviction and poverty due to rescue work
- She criticizes the price gouging by veterinary clinics and hospitals, making animal care unaffordable for many
- The testimony emphasizes the need for financial support for small rescues and regulation of veterinary care costs
UNKNOWN
5:50:02
I'm the founder and director of Ferrell NYC, a small black owned rescue and sanctuary in Queens in the Richmond Hill, Q Gardens area.
5:50:10
I've worked to save and help New York City's animals in 5 different decades spanning from walking dogs every Saturday in the eighties at the age of eight at Animal Haven, which at the time was a hole in the wall, a shelter, three Blocks from the housing projects where I grew up to today running a broke, failing rescue with over 60 street cats, some of whom were blind crippled and neurologically impaired.
5:50:34
I am in debilitating poverty.
Evril Caesar-Mason
5:50:42
Sorry.
UNKNOWN
5:50:48
This is the first time I've had a lake say it publicly.
5:50:50
It's hard.
Lynn C. Schulman
5:50:52
Okay.
UNKNOWN
5:50:53
I collect bottles and I rummage through recycling bins and to find things to sell so I can feed our animals because there's no money.
5:51:03
I go back and forth between my rescue and housing court.
5:51:08
Thank you.
5:51:10
Assume my rescue and housing court because I'm being evicted from the 3 apartments that I have to house our cats.
5:51:17
I have no more credit cards.
5:51:18
I have no more bank account.
5:51:19
I have nothing.
5:51:24
I emptied out my retirement to keep my rescue and life support.
5:51:28
I haven't had a connected phone for most of the year.
5:51:30
I fair beat to get here today, and I'll fair beat when I leave.
5:51:34
That's like a way of life.
5:51:35
I'm on the train with cats.
5:51:37
I'm carrying trapping equipment.
5:51:38
I've been doing it for over a year now.
5:51:40
People don't like it, but it's my life.
5:51:43
I've spent nearly $1,900,000 of my own money to get this far while working over a hundred hours a week.
5:51:52
I haven't had a day off in nearly 5 years since becoming a nonprofit.
5:51:57
I pay to do this unseen work.
5:51:59
I've paid with everything I own as well as with my health.
5:52:02
Now among the full time rescuers who do this for a living, except I've never been paid a dime.
5:52:08
I've written personalized pleas to a number of local politicians only to be ignored.
5:52:12
I've witnessed famous wealthy rescues receive generous funding from local government while ignoring the rest of us.
5:52:18
This only builds monopolies and will not save more animals.
5:52:21
Our animals are dying, and we all need money.
5:52:24
We need help.
5:52:26
Not all of us have the resources or time to become social media famous, and I applaud those who have been able to do that.
5:52:31
But that would be another full time job for me to become a content creator.
5:52:35
I don't have the time.
5:52:37
I've worked too long I'm sorry.
5:52:40
I've worked too long to to be stuck in this situation.
5:52:46
I'm not alone in this plea.
5:52:47
Many of us are suffering out here alongside of our animals.
5:52:50
The big name rescues aren't the only ones who deserve attention.
5:52:53
I along with so many others who serve the city for decades.
5:52:57
Are all compassionate fatigues for many years.
5:53:00
Where is the relief?
5:53:01
And one more thing, just vets offices, which this has been coming up all day.
5:53:06
The animal crisis is being fueled by egregious price gouging by both private and nonprofit veterinary clinics and hospitals.
5:53:12
When the guy down the road raises his prices, the guy over here will follow suit and so on and so forth.
5:53:17
Now just walking into most vets offices around the city is 80 to a $100 just to sit in the waiting room.
5:53:24
For emergency hospitals, even those who are fellow nonprofits, the charge is up to $330 just to have your companion animal looked at while they're in crisis.
5:53:32
Why are these businesses not being regulated?
5:53:35
Being able to help your fur family has now become a luxury rather than an necessity.
5:53:40
Who gets price out of this the most?
5:53:43
This is the roach on the wall that we all want to ignore.
5:53:45
It's the black community.
5:53:47
Black people cannot afford to spay new to their animals.
5:53:50
Black people cannot afford urgent care for their animals.
5:53:53
It's literal discrimination.
5:53:55
New Yorkers are being priced out of vet care.
5:53:58
What can the council do to change this?
5:54:00
And I just wanna add one more thing very quickly.
5:54:03
Mhmm.
5:54:03
I have done a lot of international rescue yes, it's not New York City, but what led me to that?
5:54:09
Number 1, I love animals all around the world, and I used to travel a lot.
UNKNOWN
5:54:12
Right.
UNKNOWN
5:54:13
I emptied out a shelter in Thailand, and I got a lot of flack from New Yorkers.
5:54:16
Oh, you could help animals here.
5:54:18
I spent exponentially less doing that than rescuing here from the ACC and using vets offices here.
5:54:25
That should tell you something.
Justin Brannan
5:54:26
Right.
UNKNOWN
5:54:27
I brought a 120 animals myself over from Thailand and got them all homes here.
5:54:31
That caused that would have cost me the same amount of money to save 20 animals here.