The outbreak of avian flu has prompted parents in New York City to call on the mayor and governor to suspend the operation live animal markets, particularly those near their children’s schools and playgrounds. In a letter shared with the media, the parents argue that the markets, which sell and slaughter multiple species of birds, potentially expose their children to a host of infectious diseases, including e. Coli, campylobacter and the current strain of avian flu, which has infected people in several countries, including the United States.

“The sidewalk in front of the live animal market next to my son’s school is often contaminated with chicken feces and blood,” said Irma Labiosa, one of the public school parents who signed the letter to Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul. “He could be tracking this waste into his classroom, onto the subway and into our home.”

Brooklyn’s leading newspaper, The Brooklyn Eagle, published the letter in full.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle published a letter sent by parents of NYC schoolchildren calling on Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams to suspend the operation of live animal markets near schools until an avian flu risk assessment is conducted.

New York City’s 70+ live animal markets, also known as storefront slaughterhouses, are retail businesses that are open to the public. Many operate in densely populated neighborhoods and are located in close proximity to homes, health care facilities, businesses, public transportation, schools and playgrounds. Despite the biohazards, customers are not required to wear PPE to protect themselves and the animals from disease. Among the 10 or more bird species slaughtered in these markets are chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pigeons, quails and pheasants. 

“For years, I have been documenting and reporting dead chickens left in open dumpsters and puddles of blood and feces contaminating the sidewalks and streets in front of live animal markets in Queens,” said Edita Birnkrant, the Executive Director of the animal advocacy group NYCLASS. “The filthy sidewalks and putrid odors compromise the quality of life of everyone who lives and works in their vicinity and pose health risks, along with serious animal welfare violations that go ignored. That is why NYCLASS supports passage of state legislation that would prohibit the operation of these neighborhood slaughter markets and create a task force to investigate the public health risks and animal welfare concerns.”

The sidewalks in front of NYC’s live animal slaughter markets, many of which are located near schools and playgrounds, are often contaminated with feces and body parts

In response to the recent avian flu outbreak in New York in March 2022, the NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets banned the operation of fowl shows, auctions and exhibitions. In his announcement about the ban, Richard Ball, the Commissioner, stated, “By banning fowl shows and exhibitions in New York until further notice, we are taking a commonsense step to limit the co-mingling of birds to slow the spread of this disease.” Labiosa, the school parent, believes this ban should apply to New York’s live markets too. “Given how tightly confined the animals are, avian flu could spread like wildfire if an outbreak occurs in a live animal market,” said Labiosa. “They should not be exempt.” 

Irma Labiosa and her son Max walk by a live animal market located one block away from Max’s public school in New York City

Across the street from the live animal market near her son’s school, Labiosa told TheirTurn that she believes that the presence of live animal markets in lower-income areas is a form of environmental racism. “Wealthy New Yorkers would never allow slaughterhouses to operate in their neighborhoods, but lower income communities don’t have the resources to fight back,” said Labiosa. 

Labiosa’s son, Max, is also disturbed by the live animal market near his school, though, while speaking to TheirTurn, he expressed more concern about the mistreatment of animals than getting sick: “I’ve seen trucks stuffed with chickens, ducks and other birds. It makes me sad to see them treated that way.” Neither Labiosa nor Max eat meat anymore.

When COVID-19 reached New York, mainstream media outlets reported on the ongoing efforts of the advocacy Slaughter Free NYC to shut down the City’s 70+ live animal markets (click photo to view ABC News story)

Since 2019, Slaughter Free NYC, an advocacy group comprised of public health and animal rights advocates, has been calling on city and state officials to shut down the city’s 70+ live markets until a public health risk assessment is conducted. The group believed that the outbreak of COVID, which is believed to have been transmitted to humans in a live animal market, would trigger them to take its concerns more seriously, but they did not react. In fact, instead of shutting down the live markets, the state designated them as “essential businesses” during the lock down in March 2020.

Despite the government’s decision to ignore the calls of Slaughter Free NYC, the COVID outbreak did generate widespread mainstream media coverage about the risks of live animal markets and the advocacy group’s efforts to shut them down. In July 2020, Now This released a 10 minute documentary film (Here’s What Goes on Inside America’s Wet Markets) that went viral on social media.

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

Animal rights activists staged a disruption inside of Nike’s flagship store in New York City as part of a “Global Protest Day” against the company’s support of the mass slaughter of kangaroos for soccer shoes. Organized by the Center for A Humane Economy, a Washington-D.C.-based advocacy group leading a campaign to end the use of kangaroo leather, the protest called on Nike to stop hunting kangaroos and stealing their skin.

After chanting on megaphones for 30 minutes and distributing information to customers, the activists exited the store, with prodding by the NYPD, and unfurled a banner at the entrance – “NIKE PROFITS. KANGAROOS DIE.”  The protest continued on Fifth Avenue, where activists engaged with customers and pedestrians.

Animal rights activists with the Center for a Humane Economy, NYCLASS and TheirTurn protest Nike’s use of kangaroo skin at the company’s flagship store in Manhattan

As part of the Global Protest Day, animal rights groups also staged #KangaroosAreNotShoes disruptions in Portland, Oregon, where Nike is headquartered, and in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide.

As part of the “Global Protest Day” against Nike’s support of the mass slaughter of kangaroos in Australia, animal rights activists in Portland staged a #KangaroosAreNotShoes protest at a Nike store near the company’s global headquarters.

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, approximately two million kangaroos are killed each year for commercial purposes. Seventy percent of them are used to make soccer shoes.

Nike make soccer shoes from the skin of kangaroos in Australia who are hunted down at night and shot in the head

Animal rights groups argue that killing wild kangaroos is especially cruel because an estimated 40% of the victims don’t die instantly. In some cases, the wounded kangaroos escape and die slowly from the gunshot.

Each year, hunters in Australia kill an estimated approximately two million kangaroos for commercial purposes.

The mass killing has secondary victims. When mothers are shot, their babies (joeys) typically don’t die with them. In accordance with government guidelines, the hunters bludgeon them to death. Some of the babies escape, only to die slowly from exposure and predation. Each year, hundreds of thousands of joeys die during the nightly kangaroo hunt.

“Slaughtering mothers and their babies in the dark of night is an atrocity,” said Edita Birnkrant, the Executive Director the animal rights group NYCLASS and an organizer of the NYC disruption. “How do Nike executives sleep at night knowing how much pain and suffering they are causing?”

Nike supports the mass slaughter of wild kangaroos in order to use their skin to make soccer cleats

According to The Center for a Humane Economy, Nike rationalizes the mass slaughter of wild kangaroos by engaging in green washing and humane washing. Nike states, “Suppliers must source animal skins from processors that use sound animal husbandry and humane animal treatment/slaughtering practices whether farmed, domesticated or wild (managed) . . . If wild caught, [kangaroos] must be sourced from actively managed populations with government agency oversight.”

Animal rights activists, including young children and senior citizens, disrupted business in Nike’s flagship store in NYC over the company’s support of the mass slaughter of kangaroos to make soccer cleats

The sale of kangaroo parts is banned in California. The Kangaroo Protection Act, federal legislation introduced in 2021, would ban their sale nationwide. Several retailers, including Nordstrom, Gucci, Prada, and Versace, have stopped selling kangaroo skin products.

Bonnie Tischler, the former Adoptions Director of The Humane Society of New York (HSNY), is sounding the alarm about animal warehousing at the prominent cat and dog shelter on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. When she retired in early 2020 after serving for 22 years, Tischler assumed that her boss, Executive Director Sandra DeFeo, would hire a replacement. In August 2021, she learned that a whistleblower was reporting that adoptions had come to a virtual standstill and that the shelter was closed to the public for the indefinite future. In an on-camera interview with TheirTurn, Tischler speaks about the plight of the animals, the management culture that enables warehousing to take place and her decision to come out of retirement to advocate on their behalf.

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 the following:

1. HSNY ignores adoption applications. (TheirTurn knows of 13 individuals who did not receive a response after submitting applications.)
2. HSNY’s website lists just 14 of the reported 90 animals in the shelter.
3. HSNY does virtually no adoption promotion on social media. (In response to a letter-writing campaign, HSNY made two unconvincing posts on Instagram)
4. Adopters are not meeting the animals because the shelter is closed to the public.
5. Sandra DeFeo is misleading the public about why the building is closed. HSNY’s website states that it’s due to COVID, but a lawyer retained by TheirTurn asserts that HSNY would expose itself to another ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) lawsuit if it reopens without making the building accessible to the public. If COVID was the reason for restricted access to the building, then DeFeo could allow vaccinated, masked adopters into the building to meet the animals who need homes.

When confronted with questions about animal warehousing, DeFeo claims that HSNY has been “doing adoptions all along.” Tischler, the former Adoptions Director, disputes that assertion, not only because of the evidence demonstrating otherwise, but also because members of the public don’t know that the animals exist. “If the building is closed to the public and the animals aren’t listed online, much less promoted, then few people are submitting adoption applications in the first place.”

During her interview with TheirTurn, Tischler also expressed concerns about DeFeo’s belief that the animals’ cages are like apartments. “If she believes that the animals are ‘home’ in their ‘apartments’ at the shelter, then she’s not going to act with a sense of urgency to find them forever homes.”

The Humane Society of New York has been warehousing cats and dogs for at least 22 months, according to an anonymous whistleblower and a two-month TheirTurn investigation which corroborated his or her allegations

Since posting the report, TheirTurn launched a grassroots campaign calling on HSNY to either reopen the shelter to the public and resume adoptions in earnest OR send the animals to foster homes or adoption facilities that are sending animals home. To date, the campaign consists of a Facebook page, a petition and a letter-writing campaign targeting several of the organization’s board members.

As of February 22, 276 advocates sent letters to Humane Society of New York board members calling on them to reopen the shelter to the public and resume adoptions or send the animals to foster homes or adoption facilities that are sending animals home.

Two of the five board members targeted in the letter-writing campaign, C. Jones Perry and James Gregorio, resigned from the board. Both men are attorneys.

Two of the five Humane Society of New York board members targeted in a grass roots letter writing campaign denouncing animal warehousing at the shelter, C. Jones Perry and James Gregorio, have resigned

Among the board members who have ignored the letters are Cornelia Guest and Alexandra Rowley. Guest, a famous socialite who describes herself on social media as an “animal rights” advocate who “finds animals new homes every day,” owns a catering company that sells meat and other animal products. Rowley, who adopted a dog from Bonnie Tischler, has ignored her letters and phone calls. “The board members, many of whom I’ve known for years, are ignoring me, despite my 22 years of service to the Humane Society,” said Tischler. “Maybe that’s because they can’t argue with the truth — that the animals have been languishing in cages for 22 months or longer because HSNY is doing hardly any adoptions.”

Despite the fact that she describes herself as an “animal rights” advocates who “finds homes for animals every day,” Humane Society of New York Board Member has ignored hundreds of letters from advocates concerned about animal warehousing at her shelter.

By turning a blind eye to the animal warehousing, the board members are, according to Tischler, betraying the animals for whom they are responsible, failing to fulfill their duty to uphold the shelter’s mission and deceiving their donors, who believe they are contributing to a bonafide adoption center.

TapInto Sutton Place/Lenox Hill, a media outlet on the East Side of Manhattan, reported on animal warehousing controversy in November 2020.

Instead of addressing the warehousing, several of the board members are participating in HSNY’s deception, posting congratulatory comments on the few posts in which the shelter is attempting to give the impression that it’s doing adoptions. On February 14th, Alexandra Gore and Sarah Gore Reeves, the two adult daughters of HSNY Board President Virginia Chipurnoi, wrote “Love @humanesoceityNY” and “So cute” on one of these posts, despite having been informed about the animal warehousing by TheirTurn in January. According to HSNY insiders, Mrs. Chipurnoi, who is in her mid-80s and lives out of state, is elderly and unable to fulfill her duties as President of the Board.

In response to complaints that it is not promoting animals for adoption, the Humane Society of New York posted two animals for adoption in February, but the posts contained very little information and did not encourage people to submit adoption applications.

According to scientific studies, keeping animals in cages for prolonged periods of time negatively impacts their physical and mental health. It also flies in the face of best practices for animal shelters. “Many of the animals at HSNY have been living in cages for two or more years, “said Tischler. “If HSNY continues to keep the shelter closed to the public while doing virtually no adoption promotion, these animals will spend the rest of their lives in a cage.”

With $6 million in annual revenues and $42 million in net assets, HSNY can afford to hire a new Adoptions Director and make the building ADA compliant in order to be able to reopen to the public. If it cannot or will not take these steps, then it should send the animals to adoption facilities that are sending animals home. 

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

After a 1.5 year, multi-prong pressure campaign demanding better animal care and living conditions conditions at Project Chimps, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has announced a $20 million commitment to its Georgia sanctuary. According to its press release, HSUS is allocating $5 million in 2022 toward the creation of habitat space for the chimpanzees and $15 million in operational support to be distributed evenly over the course of 10 years. The campaign, called #ChimpsDeserveBetter, was led by the grassroots animal advocacy groups Chimps Deserve Better, Progress for Science and TheirTurn.

Lindsay on a porch at HSUS sanctuary Project Chimps (photo: Crystal Alba)

“We are pleased that HSUS has pledged critical funding to create a new habitat for the 81 chimpanzees who reside at Project Chimps,” said Donny Moss, a NYC-based Chimps Deserve Better campaign organizer. “After living in laboratories and being subjected to cruel research experiments, these chimpanzees deserve to spend their final years in as natural a setting as captivity can provide.”

After a 1.5 year, multi-prong pressure campaign demanding better animal care and living conditions conditions at Project Chimps, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has announced a $20 million commitment to its Georgia sanctuary.

The animal rights community learned about the plight of the chimpanzees in May 2020 after Project Chimps sued two former employees who launched a website exposing poor animal care and living conditions at the sanctuary. Following online actions and protests at the homes of HSUS board members, Project Chimps dropped the lawsuit against the whistleblowers, Crystal Alba and Lindsay Vanderhoogt.

Following protests by grassroots animal rights groups, HSUS dropped its lawsuit against Project Chimps’s whistleblowers Crystal Alba and Lindsay Vanderhoogt

Starting in July 2020, the animal rights groups launched a broader campaign calling on HSUS to hire a veterinarian with chimpanzee experience and create enough habitat space at Project Chimps to enable the chimpanzees to have daily access to the outdoors.

Animal rights activists around the country called on The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to create additional yards at Project Chimps so that the 81 chimpanzees in their care have daily access to the outdoors.

“With a new veterinarian in place and funding to break ground on a new habitat, we are pausing the protests against HSUS,” said Bob Ingersoll, a San Francisco-based primatologist and organizer on the Chimps Deserve Better campaign. “We hope to replace the protests with an open dialogue about the changes being made to improve the lives of the chimpanzees.”

“The infusion of funds will help improve the facilities, if spent wisely,” said Lindsay Vanderhoogt, a whistleblower with Chimps Deserve Better. “But we’d also like to see a change in culture where management prioritizes the welfare of the chimpanzees in the decision-making process.”

“Five million dollars is a significant step towards providing the chimps with adequate housing and daily outdoor access,” said Cory Mac, a Chimps Deserve Better campaign organizer with Progress for Science, an anti-vivisection animal rights activist group in Los Angeles. “We look forward to hearing more about how HSUS and Project Chimps will be moving forward to guarantee these necessities along with instituting improved health care and practices for the chimps.“