Activists Protest Humane Society of NY Board Member Alexandra Rowley Over Animal Warehousing

Prompted by verified reports of animal warehousing at the Humane Society of New York (HSNY), approximately 30 animal rights activists staged a protest at the Manhattan home of one of its board members, Alexandra Rowley. While chanting, marching and playing the bagpipes, the activists called on Rowley to re-open the shelter to the public and resume adoptions in earnest or send the animals to other adoption centers. The protest came nine months after a whistleblower at the shelter informed animal advocates that adoptions had come to a virtual standstill and that the animals had been languishing in cages for months, and, in many cases, years.

TAPinto Sutton Place/Lenox Hill, a local media outlet, filmed the activists protesting at Rowley’s home and marching to the shelter, which is two blocks away. It also posted an in-depth story about the protest and the campaign to help the animals.

During a briefing before the protest, Bonnie Tischler, the former Adoption Director of 22 years, spoke to the activists about the plight of the animals and the management culture that enables warehousing to take place. She noted that the shelter features just 14 animals on its website, despite having dozens more who need homes. She also explained that HSNY’s claim that the shelter is closed to the public due to COVID is misleading, as re-opening could subject the organization to another Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit. Before the pandemic, HSNY settled a lawsuit filed by a man who could not safely access the building in a wheelchair. Despite having ample resources, HSNY has neither renovated the building to make it ADA-compliant nor filed permits with the NYC Department of Buildings to do the work.

In January 2022, Tischler sent letters to HSNY’s board members, including the famous socialite Cornelia Guest, pleading with them to re-open the building to the public. During phone calls with board members Alexandra Rowley and James Gregorio, Tischler said she would call off the campaign if they provided evidence that adoptions had been routinely taking place since they closed the building in April 2020, as Executive Director Sandra DeFeo claimed. Rowley and Gregorio promised to follow up with that information, but neither did, despite Tischler’s follow up.

Despite the fact that she sits on the board of an animal shelter, Alexandra Rowley, who is a professional photographer, sells and licenses stock photos of slaughterhouses, fish processing facilities and animal-based meals

Upon learning about the warehousing allegations in August 2021, TheirTurn conducted a two-month investigation and, in October 2021, posted a detailed report. The investigation, which corroborated the whistleblower allegations, revealed that HSNY was ignoring adoption applications; was doing hardly any adoption promotion on social media; and was closed to the public under false pretenses.

Unlike most shelters, which post photos and bios of animals on their social media pages on a daily basis, the Humane Society of New York makes only an occasional adoption post with virtually no information about the animal and adoptions process

In March 2022, TheirTurn launched a letter writing campaign calling on HSNY’s board members to re-open the building to the public or send the animals to other facilities. Two of the five board members who were targeted in the campaign, C. Jones Perry and James Gregorio, resigned. Both men are attorneys. 

TheirTurn launched a letter writing campaign calling on Alexandra Rowley and her colleagues on the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of New York to re-open their doors to the public and resume adoptions in earnest or send the animals to other adoption centers

In addition to having an animal adoption center, HSNY has a low-cost vet clinic, which is funded in part by the organization’s donors. Because the building is closed to the public, clients are forced to wait outside in all weather extremes instead of being with their animals during their vet appointments and/or waiting in the lobby. Clients are not even allowed to be with their animals when they are euthanized. In March 2022, a neighbor of HSNY told TheirTurn that she witnessed an employee refuse entry to an 80 year old woman with a walker who asked twice to use the bathroom while she waited outside in the cold for her dog.

The Executive Director of the Humane Society of New York, Sandra DeFeo, claims that the building is closed to the public due to COVID, but labor lawyers have corroborated whistleblower allegations that re-opening the building would subject the organization to another Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit. The building is not accessible, and HSNY has not filed permits with the NYC Department of Buildings to make renovations.

In February 2022, Tischler sat down for an on-camera interview with TheirTurn to speak out about the warehousing taking place at HSNY.  She has come out of retirement to take a leadership role in the campaign to help the animals.

If you’d like to be a voice for the cats and dogs, please take any or all of the following steps:

1. Follow the the Facebook group, Humane Society of NY: Stop Warehousing Animals, for action alerts
2. Send an automated letter to the members of the board
3. Sign the petition