PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Leslie Ramos, Animal Advocate on Affordable Pet Care and Community Education
7:03:39
·
169 sec
Leslie Ramos, an animal advocate, testifies about the need for affordable veterinary care and pet resources in immigrant communities, particularly in Queens, New York. She emphasizes the willingness of Latino communities to spay/neuter their pets but highlights the lack of accessible resources.
- Advocates for affordable spay/neuter services, pet food banks, and multilingual education on pet care
- Highlights the need for resources in non-English languages, particularly Spanish
- Shares personal experience of fostering cats and owning special needs cats, emphasizing the importance of community support in understanding animal care
Leslie Ramos
7:03:39
Good afternoon.
7:03:41
First of all, thank you so much for staying with us the entire day.
7:03:45
It means a lot for me to know that our elected officials are with us in this battle, and I wish more of your colleagues were here to hear the stories that everyone has been sharing today.
7:03:57
But my name is Leslie Ramos.
Lynn C. Schulman
7:03:59
I do wanna point out that because it's livestreamed, a lot of them are watching and they're Oh, I
Leslie Ramos
7:04:04
mean, that is good, and I know some of them that have picked
Risa Weinstock
7:04:07
up on that.
Leslie Ramos
7:04:07
I mean, I know a few of them are animal lovers, but I also wish they would be here to meet us.
7:04:13
So my name is Leslie Ramos.
7:04:14
I'm a proud animal lover advocate.
7:04:19
I have owned ducks all my life, but about 10 years ago, I went from being scared of cats to now owning 2 special needs cats and having faster over hundreds of cats.
7:04:33
I'm perfect for those hissy kittens.
7:04:37
I'm a Brooklyn resident, and I but I work in Queens, New York with immigrant community in Jackson Heights, Elmer's, and Corona.
7:04:46
It is often that I come across people within the community, a lot of them are elderly, that I either owning pets and or have rescue pets, but they don't have any access to affordable vet care.
7:05:00
Food or transportation to take the animals to low cost clinics.
7:05:07
You know, there's a myth that among the Latino community, we don't wanna spade or or no other our animals.
7:05:13
That's not true is that their resources are not there.
7:05:17
Many of times we come from countries where there's no vet around, so it just become customary, but people are willing to stay the animals.
7:05:26
They're looking for vaccination, and there's no there's no access to it.
7:05:31
I'm sorry.
7:05:32
I lost my glasses, so I'm kind of skipping around here.
7:05:38
So I kind of want so I just wanna basically advocate for 3 things.
7:05:44
Affordable, space, and motor.
7:05:47
1, we need food, shelter I mean, food spaces.
7:05:53
For people who are poor where they can go and get food for their pets.
7:05:59
And we also need to more education in non English languages.
7:06:06
It is I speak Spanish.
7:06:08
I volunteer for the broken bridge animal warfare coalition, but it is often that I have to step from my job to translate.
7:06:16
But it could help if people understand like me.
7:06:19
I was lucky to have a support group to understand cats.
7:06:22
I know a lot of people who want to take care of animals, they just don't know how to.
7:06:26
So thank you so much for your