The Itty Bitty Kitty Rescue
A healthy 3 week old kitten arrived at the ACC, and 45 minutes later was killed for “having no mother”.
No adopter or rescuer was given the opportunity to save this kitten.
On Mother’s Day, a mother cat and her two tiny kittens were on the ACC kill list. What in the world?
These are tiny kittens, some as young as two weeks old. Dying by the dozens in our NYC shelters. At Pets Alive we simply could not stand by and watch that. With the help of volunteer, John Sibley, we went in and took 64 kittens (and mamas) out of the NYC shelter system and saved all their little tiny lives.
It is for reasons like this that New York needs a rescue access law like CAARA. CAARA would make it illegal for shelters to kill animals without giving rescues an opportunity to help.
How can it be that the three week old kitten was not even offered to rescue to help? How is it that these decisions – life and DEATH – can be made so arbitrarily? At what point do people stop seeing each of these tiny creatures as little lives? Little beings deserving a CHANCE at a life? The kitten was completely healthy. There was no reason to kill her.
Pets Alive is committed to stopping the killing of all animals in the shelter system. We took 64 cats and kittens in one shot. 64. Think about that number. 64 tiny babies never having a chance at a life. Why? Who decides these things? With CAARA they wouldn’t have a CHOICE but to let us have a chance to save them all. That is why Amy Paulin’s bill is worthless, because HER bill wouldn’t stop this. This is why we NEED to pass a law like CAARA. To save these delicate lives that some organizations may not care about.
And some of the workers at the CACC do care. Some of them send us emails or get on the phone and ask for help. They feature a dog or a cat and personally take the time to write something about that animal, what they know about that animal. They reach out. They take pictures of the animals being held by people, poignant, loving, affectionate. And what do they get for it? Reprimands. Termination. It is forbidden to take pictures of animals WITH people in them, even though all studies have shown that this can increase adoptability. It seems to us that any staff member there that starts to actually care a little, either has to hide it, or risk termination. We’ve been watching this happen for years. Why does this continue in NYC? When will we get some sort of leadership that cares?
And the lack of care is monstrous. As you know, we have taken dogs from the cacc where their bladders were not expressed and almost burst (Robert). We have taken a cat with a broken leg (Gloria) that was left to sit there for weeks without any care.
And now look at THIS cat. We have named her Mitzee. Her medical sheet says this cat has conjunctivitis. I’m no vet but even *I* can tell THIS is not plain old simple conjunctivitis. A week later, a vet examination notes a possible ruptured eye. Possible? A week later? But no pain meds? No drops? No ointment? I know this is grainy, but look at this kitten’s intake picture a week before. Look how bad the eyes looked THEN. Now look at them a WEEK later. Was there any CARE for them, any treatment?
This is an absolutely disgrace and this is what goes on in your NYC shelters. The BEST city, the most FAMOUS city, one of the RICHEST cities in the nation.
Pets Alive will work feverishly to provide medical care and find loving homes for all of the “Itty Bitty Kitties”. Half of the kittens are at the Middletown NY sanctuary, and half are being cared for at our Elmsford, NY rescue center.
Little Mitzee, the cat pictured above is at risk of going blind. Our vets feel that one of Mitzee’s eyes must be removed and the other needs daily care and possible surgery in order to save her vision, if indeed it can be saved. Could it have been saved a week ago when she entered into the Animal CARE and Control Facility in NYC?
Maybe.
Where is the “CARE” part of Animal CARE and Control??
One of the kittens has no foot. Almost all are sick with URI and various infections. One has already passed away from a massive blockage in her little intestines. Did the staff not notice that she was not defecating? Within less than 24 hours of having her, WE did. But by then it was too late and we lost her early this morning.
Please note that this is not some hoarder. We did not go in and do a mass rescue. This is the New York City Animal Care and Control Facility. YOUR NYC shelter.
The cost to Pets Alive to save this many lives, and handle the medical crisis, the vetting, the altering and the caring for all these cats will be astronomical. But THEY ARE WORTH IT. These little lives are WORTH saving and WORTH having a chance. Please help us. Pets Alive is asking for donations to help not only this little kitten have a chance at life, but to help cover costs for all 64 of these saved lives.
How To Help:
Financial donations are urgently needed to help provide continued care and medical treatment for the itty bitty kitties, including Mitzee, who is currently undergoing treatment to try to save her vision. To help provide care for them, donations of kitten food, toys, and scratching posts are also needed. Please also consider welcoming one into your home. They should all be in a home, being loved. Please fill out an application now to adopt an Itty Bitty Kitty.
Because THIS is the kind of life they have now. Now that they are with us. We take responsibility for all the animals in our care and we tend to all their needs. This is how every shelter should be run. Including the one in the most famous city in the world. Look at the BEFORE kittens on this page – from the CACC. And the AFTER kittens – at Pets Alive. Which do YOU think is the right way? Support no-kill. Support CAARA. Together, let’s put an end to this madness of murdering tiny creatures that haven’t even had a chance at life.
We are trying to pass legislation in NYS that would make this illegal. It would require the director to contact rescue groups and give them 8 hours to respond. Assembly Bill 07312 (CAARA) would empower non-profit animal rescue organizations to fulfill their missions, a right often denied to them by larger non-profit organizations and shelters. It provides whistleblower protection for rescue groups, creating an incentive for non-profit organizations to help end cruelty or neglect at shelters without fear of retaliation and loss of rescue access. It has specific provisions to ensure that these groups have the best interests of animals at heart and are able to care for them. And it prevents needless animal suffering by mandating precise, sensible, and objective criteria for determining which animals are dangerous or irremediably suffering and therefore exempt from rescue access provisions.
The bill will be voted on in the next week or two. Unfortunately, the ASPCA is trying to kill it, and the chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, William McGee, is willing to do their bidding by recommending that the bill be tabled. That will be the continued kiss of death for 25,000 animals a year who have an immediate place to go.
Please help us pass the Companion Animal Access & Rescue Act by Kellner. Use all three alerts to reach ALL members of the Assembly Ag Committee:
Be polite!
Use all three alerts to reach ALL members of the Assembly Ag Committee:
Alert #1 of 3: http://bit.ly/GJmNH9
Alert #2 of 3: http://bit.ly/GOUkwd
Alert #3 of 3: http://bit.ly/GHR7lW
Let’s stop the madness. And the murder.
Filed in Animal Rescue, Legislation, No-kill by kerry on May 16, 2012. There are 7 comments.
Pets Alive Westchester supports their decision but needs YOUR help
Onyx, also 12, was the next to venture out on his own. Soon after Jake, 14 and Webster, 14- each had been waiting since the late 90’s- now had the strength and the confidence to leave the nest. Before we knew it Brandy, 9, who had been spending the weekends at a friend’s house was offered a room to stay at the neighbors-permanently! Then Honey Bear, 13, and Oreo, 12, who had been shacking up together at the center for over 10 years decided that they too would like to see the world and experience something new. They are still together and loving life- they send us post cards of their wonderful adventures together.
Operators are standing by to give you more information on how you can make a difference today. Even better you can stop by the adoption center and meet any one of our wonderful teenagers- we guarantee you leave with a smile, a full and happy heart, and a new best friend!
There is a lot of confusion about the Town of Wallkill rottweilers. The media outlets recently covered the story. We want to explain the role that Pets Alive has had and not take credit for anything we have NOT been involved in. There are so many different stories out there and so many misquotes it is getting difficult to see what is factual.
Those dogs, who we named Josh and Kelli were brought to Pets Alive. Josh had such a badly mangled leg that had been untreated for so long that he was in agony every time he moved, severely malnourished, and very tiny, (most likely a result of having so little care and being in so much pain for so long). We rushed him to Dr. Furman who immediately had to amputate his leg. Josh had a very difficult recovery, but he is now well on his way to moving about comfortably.
The town gathered all their information and got all their ducks into a row and then this week they were finally able to arrest Sylvia on animal cruelty and other charges. Pets Alive has offered to take every single dog from the home, ONCE THE TOWN HAS OWNERSHIP OF THEM.
So the rotties are NOT here yet. We have a few of them that were in severe medical crisis – Josh and Kelli – and now we took in Eileen – another severely injured (or malformed) dog that needs some serious surgery or additional help. All the puppies were taken out of there (to Middletown Humane) and all the late term, very pregnant females were taken and put into foster by Mountain Rottie Rescue.
So I hope that clears up our role. We don’t really HAVE any official role in this. We can’t really ACT or do anything until the police have actual custody of the dogs. We HAVE gone up a few times to assess the situation and help in a minor way but we do plan (and expect) that eventually ALL the dogs will be here where they can be taken care of properly and moved into other rescues and into homes!
We also get all of the CACC mailings with the pictures of the dogs and cats that are scheduled to die the next morning and we look at those and help pull those animals whenever we can.
Thanks to the dedicated work of the volunteers helping with our Improving Adopt-ability Program, Homer is our first participant to find a home. His person reports that the handling sensitivity that has been part of Homer’s past is greatly reduced, to the point that he seems a different dog that we described.
It’s been one week today that Robert came home from the hospital. And what a hectic week it’s been! For anyone who doesn’t know Robert’s story, he was found in NYC with some abrasions on his body and no control of his hind end. He was brought to the city shelter where he sat for three days until his sweet, pathetic face was seen by our staff and he came to Pets Alive. Upon examination by our vet, he suggested we rush Robert directly to Oradell Animal Hospital (a 24-hour specialty practice) since the extent of his medical needs were beyond the realm of typical vet hospitals.
With rescue work you have really busy days – like helping to unload 100 dogs from a mass rescue, document them, get them settled, fed, warm, up on pet finder, into your database, vetted and cared for – and then there are other days when you can sit in your office all day paying bills or answering the phone and emails.
I think that most of you have followed the story of Gloria. Gloria was a cat that was abandoned at an ASPCA mobile clinic about a month ago. The ASPCA turned her over to the ACC in NYC. After three weeks the ACC put her on the kill list and Pets Alive pulled her. We discovered the following morning that this cat had a very severely broken leg.
Some of you have asked me in person, or in email how is it we could work with the ASPCA on the Arkansas rescue when we have vilified them in the past, especially over Oreo.