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Animal Advocates Encourage Fostering To Help Relieve Animal Shelters Animal Shelters are Impacted by a Lack of Legislation

By Kennedy Houston

Kennedy Houston: Central New York animal shelters are full. This is partially due to animal neglect. Director of humane CNY Maureen Davison says there is no law in place to protect animals from abusers.

Maureen Davison: We had one case the guy pleaded he surrendered his animals, but it took one year to get through the court system and really all he got was you can’t have any more animals. That was pretty much it.

Houston: Central New York animal shelters are full. This is partially due to animal neglect. Director of humane CNY Maureen Davison says there is no law in place to protect animals from abusers.

Sarah Anson-Ordon: You know funding for spade neuter clinics or curbing the amount of strays’ um in the city we’ve always been told that it’s not in the budget. Um so it’s really, it’s for shelters, animal
advocates, veterinarians’ people are really on their own and it’s very frustrating.

Houston: A law could have a positive effect on shelters if implemented properly. Davison says the results would allow for stricter adoption.

Davison: They need to be prosecuted in a timely manner. You know get those cases through the court system and then where appropriate put these people on the do not adopt registry, so that when they are caught with another animal they can be confiscated right away.

Houston: Legislation shouldn’t just focus on the adoption of animals but their well-being too. Currently in the Central New York Community there is a virus called the Parvo Virus affecting puppies throughout the community. It’s considered an epidemic and the cost of treating this illness is five-thousand-dollars. In Liverpool, Kennedy Houston, N-C-C News.

LIVERPOOL, N.Y. (NCC News) — Some of Central New York’s animal shelters are at full capacity. This can be attributed to multiple factors. Sarah Anson-Ordon of the Animal Alliance of Greater Syracuse said a contributing factor is the pandemic.

“People had good intentions about wanting to adopt pets for their home,” Anson-Ordon said. “People were home more. Now I think one of the issues is that people are back to their normal life, and are realizing that somehow a pet doesn’t fit in.”

However,  the main area of concern is the lack of legislation to curb the number of stray animals on the streets. Anson-Ordon said it’s a financial issue.

“As advocates for pets and strays in the area, we’ve always been told that you know spay and neuter services legislation it wasn’t in the budget,” said Anson-Ordon. “So that’s always been an issue.”

Maureen Davison, director of the non-profit animal shelter HumaneCNY in Liverpool, said this is affecting the veterinarian industry too.

“The vet industry is really suffering,” said Davison. “There’s a lack of vets and a lack of vet techs, so it’s hard to get a vet appointment now. Good Samaritans used to be able to take a cat, get it spay and neutered and now at least it can’t reproduce anymore on the streets. Those appointments are really hard to get, so you’re waiting months.”

Davison said the best thing people can do is to foster animals.

“We can’t save these animals without homes to put them in if when we are full,” said Davison. ” If we can only move these one or two dogs that means another dog can come from a bad situation and get here and be safe and get the medical care it needs.”

 

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