New City Hall Bill Mandates “Adopt Don’t Shop” Policy, But Leaves the Rest To Volunteers
In a bid to crack down on animal mistreatment and overpopulation, the New York City Council has passed a bill prohibiting the sale of animals in pet shops. The ban on “backyard breeding” passed in a 40-5 vote on Nov. 21 and will forbid the harmful practice of breeding and selling animals across the five boroughs.
“This has come 40 years too late, and there’s so much more to be done,” says Theresa Samsingh, 59, the founder of South Jamaica-based animal organization For Animals, Inc.
If signed into law by Mayor Eric Adams, the bill will prohibit the sale of all animal species from a residential dwelling or pet store and issue $500 fines per animal to violators starting Dec. 15. It is a first step towards alleviating the post-pandemic strain on animal shelters in New York City, where a new animal shelter in Queens reached 200% capacity in less than a month after its opening.
Whiskers A-Go-Go founder Eva Prokop listening to a kitten’s heart after vaccinating her in preparation for adoption. Bushwick Bark’s weekly adoption event hosts adoptable kittens from three shelters, all of which operate out of the houses of their volunteers.
Mandating that residents “adopt, don’t shop” only addresses one part of the broader animal welfare issues in the city. Expensive spay and neuter operations, underfunded animal shelters, and hard-to-come-by treatments for transmissible animal diseases are also to blame for the skyrocketing pressure on shelters and animal owners in recent years.
Animal shelter organizations and their volunteers have been advocating for laws like this for decades, said Samsingh. She has been operating a cat rescue shelter for over 20 years in her South Jamaica garage, and estimates that her 11-person team have rescued more cats than any other organization in the five boroughs. Samsingh is one of the few fortunate enough to receive funding from her former husband to build and operate her backyard shelter, but most shelter organizations don’t have a facility to house animals.
The Animal Care Centers of NYC is the only animal shelter organization funded by the city, and has been at critical capacity for years. All other shelters must raise funds on their own to save the city’s companion animals. Local organizations like Brooklyn-based Whiskers-A-Go-Go do what they can to rescue, TNR (trap, neuter, and release), and adopt out cats surrendered by owners or found on the street.
Eva Prokop, the founder of Whiskers-A-Go-Go, relies on the homes of volunteers and foster parents to house animals waiting to be adopted. Recently, she says she has seen a change in the kind of cats found on the street.
“We observed that while in the past, most outdoor cats we TNR’d were feral, in recent years they are more often than not friendly cats that used to be pets and were abandoned,” Prokop said.
The uptick in friendly cats found on the street points to a concerning trend in animal dumping after a brief pandemic surge in animal adoptions took the pressure off shelters. Now, as people return to their offices and no longer have time to care for their pets, organizations like Whiskers-A-Go-Go have had to take on more than they can handle without city funding.
66-time foster and Whiskers-A-Go-Go volunteer Chelsea Pickett has been housing cats for six years, helping feral cats get socialized around humans so they can be adopted.
“If you have the space, we need you. We also need [widespread] TNR of all animals—one cat equals 45 kittens over the course of their life if they are not fixed,” says Pickett, 30, a Ridgewood resident currently caring for three cats.
Affordable spay and neuter operations are hard to come by. Most private clinics charge between $250 and $500 per operation, according to a Rover study conducted by the ASPCA and other shelters. Samsingh says she has seen some clinics charge as much as $1,000 for a single operation.
Jennifer Rhein, a 9-year volunteer with For Animals, Inc., introduces the cats at the organization’s modified garage shelter in South Jamaica, Queens. The garage is outfitted with air filtration, a heating system, and a monitor that plays cat TV (outdoor footage of squirrels, mice, and birds) to keep them entertained.
“Most of these clinics are private, so operation prices cannot be mandated by the city,” says Samsingh, “but the ASPCA could really help. I see their [mobile clinics] parked on the street, closed, useless.”
Before the pandemic, the ASPCA operated mobile spay and neuter services in low-income New York City neighborhoods. The service has since been suspended, requiring pet owners to join waitlists and complete same-day eligibility surveys. Locations, often hours away, are revealed only after approval—a significant hurdle for full-time workers.
Before the pandemic, the ASPCA, which receives millions of dollars in public donations and other funding, ran mobile spay and neuter services out of vans in low-income New York City neighborhoods. They have since suspended the travelling service, and animal owners now must get on a waitlist and complete an eligibility survey morning-of, in the hopes that their pet will be accepted. Only then will owners receive the location of the clinic, which could be hours away—a significant hurdle for many full-time workers.
Founded 158 years ago to address the mistreatment of horses in Central Park, a problem that still persists, the ASPCA has faced investigation for hoarding donations and causing unnecessary animal death. With just 2% of its public donations going to pet shelters, the Center for the Environment and Welfare (CEW) found that the ASPCA made $390 million in 2021 and had $575 in assets. The group also had $11 million in offshore Caribbean accounts, and pays 259 of its employees six-figure salaries.
Yoda, a one-year old kitten at For Animals, Inc. that had Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). Without life-saving drugs that founder Samsingh acquired from China’s black market, Yoda would have passed away with her other siblings from the deadly disease. Though she survived, the disease stunted her growth severely and left her partially blind.
Animal shelter organizers argue that these funds could be diverted to local shelters nationwide, providing more facility space and supplementing spay and neuter operation costs for hundreds of thousands of animals and their families. Rescuers like Samsingh say they also wish the city would do more for these local shelters—although banning backyard breeding is an important step, the animal rescue system in New York City still lacks municipal support and supportive legislation.
“I don’t know who to call when I have an animal that needs help [that I can’t provide.] I call 311, and they say ‘call the ASPCA’. I call the ASPCA and they say ‘call your local precinct’. The NYPD doesn’t know what to do. There is no concrete avenue to take,” she says.
Community-based organizations continue to focus on TNR, homing friendly and feral animals, and doing the work that the city isn’t, but volunteers say the pressure is unmanageable without local funding.
“I don’t trap anymore; my bones hurt. It’s so rewarding, but it will destroy your life,” says Samsingh, whose marriage ended as a result of dedicating her life to rescuing animals on the street.
“They say throwing money at a problem won’t help. But I think, in this situation, throwing money wisely at this problem could solve it.”
