NO KILL NEW YORK
Holiday Project: 12 Days of Christmas 2010

(if they could only speak for themselves)

Day 5 - MEDIA: Helping
Save Death Row Animals

For this our fifth day of Christmas, we turn our attention to the recent ABC Eyewitness News Investigative Report. Sarah Wallace conducted an investigation which resulted in an expose of the horrendous conditions in NYC's ACC shelters. A week ago they interviewed employees and volunteers, whose identities had been obscured, and asked them some tough questions.

What was reported was a shelter where animals, dogs and cats, puppies and kittens, languish in their own feces and urine. A place where animals enter healthy and quickly succumb to contagious diseases like kennel cough, ringworm and URI. A shelter so lacking in volunteer help that in some cases dogs are not walked for 2 or 3 days and cats and kittens are stacked in wire cages in holding areas for long periods of time. A shelter that seems to run out of pet food and pet medications on a regular basis.

Those who are in the know were not shocked by this expose. Those who were ignorant of the conditions were really shocked to hear what was going on in a taxpayer funded animal shelter. In Part 2 of the expose, it was revealed that the kill lists that are being posted on Facebook are actually not supposed to be posted beyond bonafide New Hope Rescues. Why in the world would a shelter, considering the conditions detailed above, be opposed to getting some of the animals out of there? We wish we knew the answer to that question.

Here are the links to the two video segments:

Eyewitness News Part 1 - Euthanasia at NYC Animal Care & Control

Eyewitness News Part 2 - Facebook campaign to save animals set to die

Special thanks to the animal advocates who work hard on the Urgent Part 2 page, Pets on Death Row and the many others that form the internet underground railroad for death row dogs and cats.

TODAY'S ACTIONS

Please contact ABC Eyewitness News and Sarah Wallace to thank them for covering this extremely important story. Encourage them to follow up on the story and to keep it in the public's eye.

After you view the videos, "Like" them, "Tweet" them, "Digg" them and post comments.

Start keeping a journal of the stories you hear about ACC animals who lost their lives through error, disease or any reason other than leaving with a foster home or a forever adopter. Keep pictures and personal observations about each case.

Develop relationships with newscasters and journalists, who have proven that they are sympathetic to animal issues. You never know when those contacts will come in handy.

Bring story ideas to major news outlets, even the ones that do not often report on animal stories.

Always make sure to thank the people involved in getting the story on the air.
Write concise and well thought out letters to the editor on the conditions at ACC.

NO KILL NEW YORK MISSION STATEMENT

No Kill New York is a coalition of individuals and groups dedicated to ending the abuse, the exploitation and the killing of animals. It is our primary mission to end the killing of animals in the NY Shelter System. We believe that animals have the inherent right to live, and to be treated with respect and dignity. No animal should be killed for any reason other than for dire and untreatable medical conditions. No animal should be treated as a disposable object.