As part of an ongoing effort to compel the Humane Society of New York (HSNY) and Sarah Gore Reeves, the daughter of its absent board president, to send the homeless animals in their care to other adoption centers or to foster homes, about 30 animal rights activists staged a three hour protest at the prominent shelter and vet clinic on Manhattan’s East Side. It was the fifth such protest at the HSNY, which has been closed to the public for over 28 months and has no plans to re-open, according to its website. A two-month investigation by TheirTurn corroborated the allegations of multiple whistleblowers that adoptions have come to a virtual standstill and that the animals are being warehoused.

In recent months, the activists have turned their attention to the HSNY’s staff veterinarians who they say have the power to compel the organization’s Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, to send the homeless animals to adoption centers that are open to adopters or to foster homes. Instead of acknowledging the activists’ concerns or disputing the warehousing allegations, the veterinarians have ignored the activists while quickly exiting their building. Activists say that, in the weeks ahead, they plan to further expose the complicity of the six veterinarians — Dr. Shingo Soeda, Dr. Ralph Gutierrez, Dr. Lauren Postler, Dr, Liz Higgins, Dr. Yaron Schmid and Dr. Ellen Hirshberg.

Animal rights activists say that the veterinarians who work in the Humane Society of New York’s clinic are complicit in the warehousing of animals at the organization’s adoption center

The activists have also begun targeting Sarah Gore Reeves, the daughter of the president of the board of the HSNY, Virginia Chipurnoi, who has been silent since the allegations of animal warehousing emerged in July 2021. Activists suspect that Chipurnoi, who is in her late 80s, is either unable to fulfill her duties as board president or is purposely keeping a low profile because the husband of her other daughter, Alexandra Chipurnoi, was sentenced to seven years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme. Reeves, a fashion stylist who has been a presence at the HSNY over the years, has ignored hundreds of letters sent to her by advocates and has instead posted heart emojis on the HSNY’s social media posts.

In August 2022, whistleblowers at the HSNY sent an incriminating letter to TheirTurn encouraging activists to “bring attention to those around Mrs. Chipurnoi’s daughters social circles so they might feel pressured to have their mother handle Sandra.”

Sarah Gore Reeves, the daughter of Humane Society of New York board president Virginia Chipurnoi, has ignored hundreds of letters from advocates expressing their concern about the animals being warehoused at the prominent Manhattan shelter

During the protests at the HSNY, area residents routinely ask why the shelter is warehousing the animals instead of sending them to facilities that are open to the public. Activists can’t say with certainty what motivates Sandra DeFeo, but they believe the answer is any or all of the following:

1. DeFeo describes the cages as “apartments” and the shelter as the animals’ “foster home.” She therefore might genuinely believe that keeping the animals in shelter cages indefinitely is humane.
2. Facilitating adoptions while the building is closed to the public is complicated and labor intensive, as adopters have no practical way to meet the animals, especially the cats, who cannot be brought out into the street.
3. Many of the HSNY’s donors contribute to the organization because it’s a shelter. If DeFeo empties the cages, then she could no longer raise money off of the animals.
4. DeFeo doesn’t want to capitulate to the activists.

Animal rights activists stage a moving picket to call attention to the plight of the dozens of animals being warehoused at the Humane Society of New York by Sandra DeFeo, the organization’s Executive Director.

DeFeo claims that the building has been – and will continue to be – closed to the public due to COVID, but whistleblowers and lawyers advising the activists say that DeFeo can’t reopen the building due to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations. The HSNY has already been sued once over its failure to make the building wheelchair accessible. Re-opening to the public without making it accessible would subject the organization to another ADA lawsuit.  Instead of acknowledging the ADA violations and making the renovations, DeFeo is keeping the building closed indefinitely under false pretenses, claiming that she is protecting her staff from COVID. According to whistleblowers, the veterinarians are going along with the lie because they prefer not having their clients in the clinic with their animals. Activists say that the deception has victims — the dozens of animals who have been stuck in cages for more than 28 months and are not being seen by adopters who would otherwise give them a loving home.

Neighbors of the Humane Society of New York are turned away when they attempt to meet the animals who need homes

Since launching the campaign to help the animals in mid-2021, activists have also attempted to engage with members of the HSNY’s Board of Directors. Two of the board members, James Gregorio and Alexandra Rowley, told Bonnie Tischler, who served as Adoptions Director for 22 years before retiring in early 2020, that they would ask DeFeo for proof that adoptions were taking place while the building was closed to adopters. Instead of providing the proof, they resigned and refused to engage any further with Tischler. Tischler and the activists say that Gregorio and Rowley’s decision to resign and walk away from the problem did nothing to help the animals who were warehoused on their watch.

Please send automated letter to Sarah Gore Reeves and other HSNY decision makers calling on them to send the homeless animals at the Humane Society of New York to adoption centers that are open to adopters and/or to foster homes.

Click image to send automated letter calling on Sarah Gore Reeves and other Humane Society of New York decision makers to send the homeless animals at the shelter to adoption centers that are open to adopters and/or to foster homes

Angered that animal rights activists are calling out the names of veterinarians and other staff members as they exit the building, employees at the Humane Society of New York (HSNY) sent an anonymous letter to TheirTurn calling on the protesters to instead confront the Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, about the warehousing of animals at the prominent Manhattan shelter.

To our surprise, the employees incriminate the HSNY in the letter, confirming the allegations that DeFeo is warehousing animals (and passing off breeder dogs as rescues, a secondary issue). Following are excerpts from the employees’ letter:

EMPLOYEES: “Look at the most recent Instagram post by HSNY with dogs Lila and Teuscher. Both have been at HSNY since 2016. They can’t possibly be that difficult to find experienced owners for.”

OUR REACTION: Lila and Teuscher are two of many animals who have been needlessly living in the HSNY’s cages for years. (Note: Even when the building was open to the public, Sandra DeFeo, the Executive Director, often discouraged adopters from rescuing animals, according to people who contacted TheirTurn. Until early 2020, however, Adoptions Director Bonnie Tischler was there to neutralize Sandra and place the animals into homes.)

In an angry letter to TheirTurn calling on animal rights activists to protest the Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, instead of staff members, the writer incriminates the HSNY by acknowledging that the animals are being warehoused

EMPLOYEES: “How does Bonnie know that cats stay in cages 23.5 hours a day? Because that’s how it was when she was here.”

OUR REACTION: This is an acknowledgment that cats are, in fact, kept in cages for 23.5 hours a day. (Note: “Bonnie” refers to Bonnie Tischler is the former Adoptions Director who retired in early 2020 and is speaking out on behalf of the animals. When Bonnie worked at the HSNY, she ran a robust volunteer program that enabled the animals to spend long periods of time outside of their cages each day. Sandra DeFeo disbanded the volunteer program when she shut down the building.)

The Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, claims that it’s closed due to COVID, but lawyers have advised the activists that it’s closed due to violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The building is not ADA compliant for people who use wheelchairs, and the HSNY already settled one lawsuit.

EMPLOYEES: “Why didn’t Bonnie do anything during her years to stop the relationship with backyard breeders Brenda and Sadarra Serrano of Brooklyn?

OUR REACTION: This is an acknowledgement that Sandra takes in breeder dogs and passes them off as rescues. (Note: Bonnie has told the activists that, when she ran the Adoptions Department, she pled with Sandra to pull animals from ACC instead of taking in breeder dogs from the Serranos.)

The Humane Society of New York passes off breeder dogs as rescues. (Click image to play video.)

EMPLOYEES: “It’s not right to tarnish the reputations of the veterinarians. Please leave them out of this. They do not have the power to change the way Sandra does anything. No one does, except maybe Lowell, Lexi Montgomery or Richard Phibbs. Not even Bill [Berloni], Anne-marie or Dr. Schmid can get through to her.”

OUR REACTION: Veterinarians take an oath to prevent and relieve animal suffering, yet the vets at the HSNY have been turning a blind eye to animal cruelty under their own roof since April 2020, when Sandra closed the building to the public. (Note: The nationwide shortage of veterinarians gives them leverage. They can insist that Sandra send the animals to adoption centers that are open to adopters or to foster homes. Until they do, they are accountable.)

Advocates argue that the veterinarians who work in the Humane Society of New York’s clinic are turning a blind eye to the warehousing of animals in the organization’s shelter, where adoptions came to a virtual standstill 28 months ago when the Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, closed the building to the public. The veterinarians pictured are Shingo Soeda, Lauren Postler, Yaron Schmid, Ellen Hirshberg and Ralph Gutierrez. Not picture: Elizabeth Higgins.

EMPLOYEES:  “To heckle and harass the current support staff is directing your efforts in the wrong direction. They are earning their livelihoods to support their families and just doing their jobs. Their paychecks depend on them keeping quiet and staying in line.”

OUR REACTION: This statement is another acknowledgment that animal warehousing is taking place. If Sandra was doing adoptions, then these employees would have made that point in the letter. (Note: We agree that protesting the support staff is misguided, as Sandra could fire them if they express their concerns. We will therefore direct our protests toward the veterinarians and other senior staff members who have the power to speak out on behalf of the victims.)

EMPLOYEES: “Why not protest outside Sandra’s Riverdale home? Or focus efforts on other board members? Bring attention to those around Mrs. Chipurnoi’s daughters social circles so they might feel pressured to have their mother handle Sandra. Sandra needs to be your sole target.”

OUR REACTION: We’re not going to take advice on strategy from people who are only speaking out because they are angry about the protests, not the cruelty that led to them. That said, we have been contacting and, in some cases, protesting, the Board of Directors throughout 2022.  The once active president of the board, Virginia Chipurnoi, has been conspicuously silent since a whistleblower sounded the alarm about animal warehousing in July 2021. Humane Society insiders speculate that she has keeping a low profile because her daughter’s husband was sentenced to seven years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme in which his family members were victims.

Humane Society of New York insiders speculate that the board president, Virginia Chipurnoi, has stayed out of the spotlight at least in part because her daughter Alexandra’s husband, Alvin Wilkinson, was sentenced to seven years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme. According to court documents, Chipurnoi and Wilkinson are now divorced.

After Chipurnoi failed to respond to inquiries from people who she knows personally, activists sent letters by email and regular mail to her two daughters, Alexandra Chipurnoi and Sarah Gore Reeves, both of whom have been a presence at the HSNY over the years. Neither has responded, but both have engaged with the HSNY’s social media posts, which only serves to legitimize the organization as a bona fide adoption center.  We therefore agree with the HSNY employees’ suggestion to hold them accountable.

Despite the fact that they know that adoptions at the HSNY came to a virtual standstill 28 months ago when it closed its doors to the public, Sarah Gore Reeves and Alexandra Chipurnoi, the daughters of board president Virginia Chipurnoi, have helped to legitimize the HSNY as a bona fide adoption center by posting compliments on the organization’s Instagram page. They have not responded to letters sent by activists via email and regular mail.

As activists began to protest animal warehousing at the HSNY, three members of its board of directors resigned — Alexandra Rowley, James Gregorio and C. Jones Perry.  The board appears to be effectively defunct. The absence of supervision has enabled DeFeo, who describes the shelter as the animals’ “foster home” and the cages as “apartments,” to keep the building closed under false pretenses and to warehouse the animals indefinitely.

Accompanied by a giant mobile billboard, several hundred animal rights activists descended upon the Nike store in Soho to protest the company’s use of kangaroo skin in its soccer shoes. It was the fourth and largest protest staged in New York City as part of the Center for a Humane Economy’s global #KangaroosAreNotShoes campaign. During two of the previous protests, activists disrupted business inside of the store, but NYPD officers and Nike security guards blocked the entrance as the activists who were participating in the 2022 Animal Rights March arrived at the store.

“Nike’s dirty little secret is that its commercial hunters chase down hundreds of thousands of kangaroos in the dark of night, shoot them in the head and steal their skin to make soccer shoes,” said Donny Moss of TheirTurn, an organizer of the NYC protest. “Instead of massacring innocent animals and using their skin as fabric, Nike should make the obvious switch to cruelty-free materials.”

A mobile billboard in NYC displays video footage of commercial hunters in Australia shooting wild kangaroos for companies like Nike that use the animals’ skin to make soccer shoes

The protest comes two weeks after the Los Angeles Times published an editorial calling on the California state government to enforce the law banning the sale of “k-leather” and encouraging consumers not to buy the contraband. “There are plenty of quality soccer shoes in material that doesn’t require killing kangaroos.” California is the only U.S. state to ban the sale of kangaroo products, including skin, but The Kangaroo Protection Act, federal legislation introduced in 2021, would ban the importation of kangaroo products into the entire country.

The Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times called on the state government to enforce the law banning the sale of kangaroo parts

The massacre of kangaroos in Australia represents the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife in the world. According to the Center for a Humane Economy, 70% of the approximately two million kangaroos killed each year for commercial purposes are used to make soccer shoes for sportswear companies like Nike.

During the 2022 Animal Rights March, hundreds of activists in New York City descended upon the Nike store in Soho to protest the company’s use of kangaroo leather. (photo: Lori Hillsberg)

Some of the female kangaroos who are shot have babies (joeys) in their pouches or by their side. Code dictates that hunters either decapitate or bludgeon to death the joeys who are in the pouches. The joeys who are not in their mother’s pouch often die slowly from exposure and predation. Each year, an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 joeys die during the nightly kangaroo hunt.

Commercial hunters shoot and kill kangaroo mothers for Nike and other companies decapitate or bludgeon to death the joeys in their pouches

Animal rights activists in Los Angeles, Portland, where Nike is headquartered, and several Australian cities have also staged protests inside and outside of Nike stores.

Animal rights activists with Los Angeles for Animals stage an anti-kangaroo skin protest at Nike’s Santa Monica store (photo: Cory Mac)

Several retailers, including Nordstrom, Gucci, Prada, and Versace, have stopped selling kangaroo skin products. Animal rights activists plan to continue protesting Nike and other clothing and shoe manufacturers that use kangaroo leather, including Adidas and Puma, until they remove it from their inventory voluntarily or a nationwide ban.

The Center for a Humane Economy, which is leading the #KangaroosAreNotShoes campaign, has a petition calling on Nike CEO John Donahoe to “stop profiting from the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife!”  Approximately 77,000 people have signed the petition to date.

Center for a Humane Economy petition calling on Nike CEO John Donahoe to stop slaughtering kangaroos for soccer shoes

Carolyn Maloney, a U.S. Congresswoman who spent several years attempting to lease a pair of giant pandas from China and put them on display in New York City, has been voted out of office. Maloney lost the Democratic primary to fellow incumbent Congressman Jerry Nadler, who signed Voters for Animal Rights “No to Pandas in Captivity” pledge.

Carolyn Maloney’s election loss brings an official end to her quest to import pandas into NYC. It also brings an end to the animal rights campaign to stop it.

In 2016, Maloney partnered with two prominent billionaires, John Catsimatidis and Hank Greenberg, to create a not-for-profit organization “to raise funds to bring panda bears to New York City.” Money raised by The Pandas are Coming to NYC, Inc. would be used to lease two giant pandas from a breeding facility in China; to build a “pavilion” in Central Park in which to display them; and to pay for their care. Maloney’s motives for embarking on this expensive and complicated undertaking are unclear, though she and her partners on the project claim that the presence of pandas would bring joy to New Yorkers and tourists.

Carolyn Maloney spent several years raising money to lease a pair of giant pandas from China and put them on display in NYC. NYC’s animal rights community fought against the plan.

From the outset, the plan had one influential detractor, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCF), which runs the Central Park Zoo. For Maloney, the zoo was the most obvious place to put the pandas on display, but the WCF didn’t want the pandas because they are expensive and require more care than most other wild animals in zoos.  WCF’s opposition did not deter Maloney, at least at first. She and her partners said they would build a stand-alone “panda pavilion” in the park.

Animal Rights activists protest Carolyn Maloney’s plan to lease a pair of giant pandas from China and put them on display in a “Panda Pavilion” in NYC

In 2017, Maloney, Catsimatidis and Greenberg, hosted a fundraising gala at the Waldorf Astoria to raise money to lease and display the pandas. The gala raised approximately $125,000 for The Pandas are Coming to NYC Inc., a fraction of the tens of millions of dollars needed for the project. Still, positive media coverage of the “Black & White Panda Ball” generated widespread public awareness and gave the project momentum.

U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is flanked by Maurice Greenberg and John Catsimatidis, billionaires who backed her plan to lease pandas from China and display them in NYC.

Within weeks of the Panda Ball, the NYC-based animal rights group TheirTurn launched a campaign to discourage Maloney and her partners from moving forward with this project. After sending them letters and launching a social media campaign, activists began staging provocative protests at their public events with the message that pandas, like all wild animals, exist for their own purposes; that they belong in their natural habitat, and that they should not be held captive in an exhibit for our amusement.

During an encounter with protesters in Midtown Manhattan, John Catsimatidis invited TheirTurn’s Donny Moss onto his radio show to discuss the concerns of the animal rights community. During the interview, he argued that “90% of NYers want the pandas,” according to a poll he commissioned.  He also revealed that he found a donor who is “contributing $10 million to build a panda pavilion.”

After the radio interview failed to sway Catsimatidis, TheirTurn organized a protest at the Fifth Avenue home of Hank Greenberg.  Several hours before the protest, Greenberg called Moss and asked him to cancel it. Like Catsimatidis, Greenberg defended the panda plan, scoffed at Moss’s objections and gave no indication that he and his colleagues would back down. That evening, dozens of activists staged the protest at his building.

In a subsequent letter to the plans’ backers, Moss suggested that they create a virtual reality exhibit in which visitors could observe and experience pandas in their natural habitat. In response, an executive who was working on the project wrote, “Not in a million years would these guys buy this.” Several months later and in response to the protests, the same individual wrote, “Actually I think you have done well.  It seems stalled and without constant momentum, these things die.” In the years that followed the Black and White Panda Ball, the panda project did, in fact, appear to fizzle. Maloney stopped fundraising, and the not-for-profit became inactive, according to its tax forms.

The local animal rights community does not know what impact the protests played in Maloney’s apparent decision to stop pursuing the pandas, but they are pleased.  “We encourage Congresswoman Maloney, John Catsimatidis and Hank Greenberg to donate the money they raised and no longer need for the panda pavilion to organizations that conserve wild animals in their natural habitat,” said Allie Taylor, president of Voters for Animal Rights, which opposed Maloney’s plan to import the pandas.

A petition calling on U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to call of her plan to put pandas on display in NYC garnered almost 100,00 signatures

During two protests in August at the Humane Society of New York (HSNY), a prominent animal shelter and clinic in Manhattan, animal rights activists called on the staff veterinarians to put a stop to the warehousing of animals at the organization’s adoption center.

“The veterinarians know that adoptions came to a virtual standstill 28 months ago when the Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, closed the building to the public,” said Matthew Schwartz, an organizer in the effort to help the animals. “Instead of using their influence to compel DeFeo to send the animals to shelters that are open to the public or to foster homes, they are turning a blind eye in order to avoid confrontation with her. Their complicity has victims.”

Animal rights activists are calling on the Humane Society of New York to send the homeless animals in its shelter, many of whom have been languishing in adoption center for 28 months or longer, to shelters that are open to the public.

During the two protests, the activists confronted four of the HSNY’s veterinarians: Shingo Soeda, Ellen Hirshberg, Lauren Postler and Ralph Gutierrez. According to a source inside the building, DeFeo told the veterinarians and other staff members not to engage with the activists. While exiting the building, one employee stated “No comment” when asked why the HSNY isn’t sending the animals to adoption centers that are open to adopters.

Animal rights activists confront Drs. Lauren Postler and Ellen Hirschberg, staff veterinarians at the Humane Society of New York, over animal warehousing at the organization’s adoption center.

“The veterinarians and other senior staff members have a choice,” said Donny Moss of TheirTurn. “They can help the beleaguered animals being warehoused by their boss, Sandra DeFeo, or they can subject themselves to protests for the indefinite future. We’re not going away.”

The protests come 13 months after a whistleblower at the HSNY informed local animal rights activists that the HSNY was sending very few animals home since closing its building to the public in April 2020. The whistleblower also reported that DeFeo is keeping the building closed to the public under false pretenses. DeFeo claims that the building is closed due to COVID. However, according to the whistleblower and lawyers advising the activists, she cannot reopen the building because of violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The HSNY already settled one ADA lawsuit and, unless it takes steps to make the building wheelchair accessible according to ADA guidelines, it cannot reopen to the public without subjecting itself to another.  

The Humane Society raises millions of dollars each year from individual donors, foundations and estates. These donors are under the mistaken impression that they are contributing to a bona fide animal adoption center.

Bonnie Tischler, who served as the HSNY’s Adoptions Director for 22 years before retiring in early 2020, was so distraught by the whistleblower allegations, which were corroborated by an investigation by TheirTurn, that she came out of retirement to support the efforts to help the animals. 

As of August 21, 2020, The Humane Society of New York’s website listed just 13 animals, a small fraction of the dozens of animals languishing in cages who need homes. Because the adoption center is closed to the public, potential adopters have no way of knowing that the unlisted animals exist.

“Cages are stressful, lonely and mentally debilitating, which is why shelters work so hard to find loving homes for the animals,” said Tischler.  “When I heard my former boss, Sandra, describe cages as ‘apartments’ and the shelter as a ‘foster home,’ I knew then that most of the animals would be stuck in cages indefinitely if we didn’t intervene on their behalf.”

During a call in July 2022, DeFeo told Christina Fritz, a client of the vet clinic who expressed concern about the shelter animals, that the HSNY had adopted out about 150 animals since closing its building to the public 27 months earlier. If that number is accurate, which the activists doubt, then the HSNY has sent home an average of 1.4 animals per week.

During a protest at the Humane Society of New York, animal rights activists call on staff veterinarians to put a stop to the warehousing of animals in the organization’s adoption center.

“A large, well-funded animal shelter in a bustling neighborhood that claims to have between 125 and 175 animals should be processing adoptions every day,” said Christina Fritz, a former client of the HSNY’s vet clinic who attempted, without success, to adopt and volunteer at the shelter. “In addition to doing hardly any adoption promotion and ignoring adoption applications, they won’t let anyone into the building to meet the animals. Why aren’t the leaders in the New York City’s shelter community speaking out?” 

In 2021, Donny Moss contacted the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, a prominent and historically influential shelter animal advocacy group where DeFeo serves on the board, to sound the alarm about the animal warehousing, but the organization’s Executive Director, Jane Hoffman, refused to help and stated, “Sandra’s presence as an Alliance Board member does not give me the authority to dictate the internal operations of HSNY.”

Moss, along with Tischler, the former Adoptions Director, also contacted the HSNY’s 15 board members, sending letters by email and regular mail. Two of them, James Gregorio and Alexandra Rowley, responded to Tischler, stating that they would provide her with the number of adoptions that had taken place since DeFeo closed the building to the public. Instead, they and one other board member, attorney C. Jones Perry, resigned. The Chair of the Board, Virginia Chipurnoi, who is 88 and lives out of state, has not commented on the warehousing scandal or responded to inquiries. Letters sent to her daughters, Alexandra Gore and Sarah Gore Reeves, both of whom have been active at the shelter over the years, have gone unanswered.

Virginia Chipurnoi, the President of the Board of the Humane Society of New York, has neither commented on the animal warehousing scandal nor responded to inquiries. She is 88 years old and lives out of state.

After the second protest at the HSNY, an anonymous whistleblower sent Moss an email calling on the activists to stop confronting employees and to direct their anger at DeFeo, the sole decision maker. In the message, this individual acknowledged the warehousing: “Look at the most recent Instagram with dogs Lila and Teuscher. Both have been at HSNY since 2016. A shih tzu that has aggressive possessive tendencies and a chihuahua mix that doesn’t get along well with dogs she doesn’t know. Why have they been here for so long? They can’t possibly be that difficult to find experienced owners for.” 

In an anonymous email to TheirTurn, an employee at the Humane Society of New York acknowledged that adoptable animals have been held in cages for six years

The message confirmed what the activists already know — that animals have been needlessly languishing in cages for years at the Humane Society of New York.