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On July 22, 2021, an anonymous whistleblower informed animal rights activists in New York City that dozens of cats and dogs had been languishing in cages for at least 15 months at the Humane Society of New York, an animal shelter and low-cost vet clinic in midtown Manhattan. The whistleblower alleged that shelter management closed the building to the public under false pretenses; has done virtually nothing to find homes for the animals; and has discouraged people from adopting in order to avoid the extra work associated with introducing people to the animals when the building is closed.

Upon hearing the allegations that HSNY is warehousing animals despite its mission to place them in homes, advocates with TheirTurn, which is based in NYC, decided to investigate. 

The Humane Society of New York is centrally located in a heavily populated, easily-accessible residential neighborhood in Manhattan, but the animals are languishing in cages because members of the public cannot enter the building to meet the animals.

FINDINGS:

HSNY IS MISLEADING THE PUBLIC ABOUT WHY THE BUILDING IS CLOSED

The HSNY closed its building to the public in April 2020. During a phone call on August 16th, 2021, Sandra DeFeo, the Executive Director, told Donny Moss of TheirTurn that, in order to protect her staff from COVID-19, she would not allow anyone in the building to meet the animals. She also stated that she has no plans to re-open.

The Humane Society claims that the adoption center is closed to the public due to COVID when, in fact, it cannot re-open until it takes steps to make the building accessible to people with disabilities.

According to attorney Bonnie Klapper, who reviewed an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) lawsuit filed against HSNY, Ms. DeFeo cannot re-open the building to the public until HSNY begins renovations to make it accessible to people with disabilities.

A wheelchair-bound client of the Humane Society of New York’s veterinary clinic sued the organization under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If fear of COVID-19 was the real issue, then Ms. DeFeo could require adopters to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask. These are safety precautions being taken by dozens of other New York City shelters that are open to the public, including Bideawee, Animal Haven, Best Friends and Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC).

The Humane Society of New York is closed to the public and is warehousing animals instead of finding homes for them

HSNY IS DISCOURAGING CALLERS FROM ADOPTING

In August, TheirTurn asked several advocates, including people interested in adopting, to call HSNY to inquire about the process. In every case, Anne-Marie Karash, the Associate Director of HSNY, directed them to submit an application and wait for a response. When the callers asked specific questions about how they could meet the animals after submitting their application, Ms. Karash refused to provide any information and, in several instances, suggested they contact another shelter.

HSNY IS NOT RESPONDING TO ADOPTION APPLICATIONS

TheirTurn asked nine other people who have or had companion animals and were willing to adopt to fill out and submit adoption applications. HSNY did not respond to any of them.

Six of the nine people called HSNY one or more times to follow up on their applications. Two of them left voicemails but did not receive a return call. Four of them called back until they reached Ms. Karash, who either discouraged them from adopting or told them that the Executive Director of the shelter would follow up with them, which did not happen.

HSNY DOES VIRTUALLY NO ADOPTION PROMOTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Since closing its shelter to the public 18 months ago, HSNY has posted just 12 photos of adoptable animals (on Instagram only), and it did not respond to questions posted by people who expressed an interest.

HSNY rarely promotes adoptions on social media. When they do, they do not respond to inquiries from people who are interested.

THE HSNY WEBSITE LISTS JUST 14 ANIMALS, A FRACTION OF THE TOTAL

According to the whistleblower, the list of animals on HSNY’s website is not only incomplete, but it is also several years old. If the 14 animals listed are still there, then they have been living in cages for far too long. If they are gone, then HSNY is wasting the time of people who are taking the time to apply for them.

The Humane Society of NY lists 14 animals available for adoption despite having 85, according to the organization’s Executive Director

ADOPTERS HAVE NO WAY TO MEET THE CATS

HSNY is located on a busy street in midtown Manhattan. While HSNY staff could, if motivated to do so, bring dogs outside to meet prospective adopters, they cannot introduce people to cats in this setting. That might explain why HSNY has made just two social media posts about adoptable cats since closing the building to the public in April 2020.

HSNY HAS AT LEAST 85 ANIMALS

During the August 16th call with Donny Moss, Ms. DeFeo stated that HSNY has approximately 85 cats and dogs in the shelter. HSNY’s tax forms indicate a much higher number of animals in the shelter– approximately 200  in 2018 and 175 in 2019.

Tax filings indicate that the Humane Society of New York has approximately “175 animals in the shelter.”

In March, 2020, the adoptions manager of 22 years resigned. Ms. DeFeo has not replaced her, and she is now the point person for adoptions, despite the fact that she is the Executive Director of an organization with $6 – $7 million in annual revenues.

THE ANIMALS’ CAGES ARE “APARTMENTS” 

When asked by Donny Moss why she doesn’t send the animals to foster homes or active adoption centers until she re-opens the building to the public, Ms. DeFeo stated that HSNY is their foster home. She also described their cages and kennels as “apartments.” 

The Executive Director of the Humane Society of New York, a shelter that is not allowing members of the public to meet the animals, describes the cages as “apartments.”

CONCLUSION

Given that the cages at the HSNY are filled with animals who need homes, we don’t know why the organization is neither responding to adoption applications nor promoting the adoptable animals online. Ms. DeFeo either doesn’t want to dedicate the extra time needed to adopt while she keeps the building closed to the public, or she truly believes that the animals are “home” at HSNY. One thing we do know (and any well-intended, experienced animal welfare professional would agree) is that animals are better off in real homes with families than in shelters. In a loving home, animals can move about freely, interact with their human families, play, climb, explore, patrol, stalk and engage in other behaviors that come naturally to them.  In shelters, which are stressful for animals, the dogs and cats spend the vast majority of their time in cages and kennels, where they pace, over-groom and show other signs of distress. 

If Ms. DeFeo is unwilling to begin making renovations that would allow her to re-open the building to the public, then she should send the animals to foster homes and/or adoption centers where they would have a chance of finding permanent home. The animals who have been living in HSNY cages for months or years have waited long enough.

Note: In August and September, Donny Moss and several other advocates sent letters to HSNY board member Cornelia Guest to address the issues raised in this article. She did not respond.

OTHER FINDINGS

HSNY SHOULD BE A HIGH VOLUME ADOPTION SHELTER 

Unlike NYC’s municipal shelters, HSNY is located in an easily-accessible, heavily-trafficked residential neighborhood in midtown Manhattan. Given its prime location and the large number of homeless animals it has at any given time, HSNY should be a high-volume shelter that sends dogs and cats to foster homes and/or permanent homes every day. If Ms. DeFeo was motivated to find homes for the animals, then she could be emptying several cages every day, as other shelters do, even before she re-opens the building.

FULL CAGES AT “NO KILL” HSNY = MORE KILLING AT OPEN-ADMISSION SHELTERS

If HSNY doesn’t move its adoptable animals into permanent homes, then it can’t free up space to accept newly surrendered animals. As a result, those animals are often taken to open-admission shelters that kill adoptable animals due to over-crowding.

HSNY IS PASSING OFF BREEDER DOGS AS RESCUES

According to the whistleblower, a backyard breeder in Brooklyn has, over the course of many years, given HSNY hundreds of designer dogs in exchange for free vet care for her own animals. Ms. DeFeo passes these dogs off as rescues, often giving them to friends of HSNY and to celebrities. In 2021, for example, Ms. DeFeo gave Shih Tzus to Kelly Ripa and her producer Michael Gelman. For every breeder dog who HSNY takes in, a dog in a high kill shelter in need of rescue pays the ultimate price. 

The Humane Society of New York is passing off designer dogs from a backyard breeder in Brooklyn as rescues. Among those who have received these dogs are TV host Kelly Ripa and and her producer Michael Gelman.

THE LOW-COST VET CLINIC IN THE SAME BUILDING PROVIDES VITAL SERVICES

Each year, HSNY provides thousands of New Yorkers with high quality, low cost vet care in a clinic housed in the same building as the shelter. This clinic is a lifeline for people who cannot afford to pay standard prices for veterinary care. Ms. DeFeo should make the necessary ADA renovations so that members of the public can not only meet the animals in the shelter who need homes, but also accompany their animals into the clinic, especially for euthanasia appointments.

While driving through a remote village in Liberia in November, 2016, Jenny Desmond, who runs a nearby chimpanzee sanctuary, saw a dying puppy lying on the side of the road. After confiscating the dog, who she named Snafu, she brought him home in an effort to save his life.

According to Jenny’s husband, Jim, who is one of two veterinarians working in Liberia, Snafu was digesting his own muscle and near death. TheirTurn, who was in Liberia documenting the Desmonds’ chimpanzee rescue and conservation efforts, captured Snafu’s rescue and his extraordinary journey from rags to riches.

After saving Snafu’s life, Jenny and Jim Desmond brought him to Colorado to live with Jenny’s sister and her family.

The Desmonds moved to Liberia in 2015 to oversee the care of 66 former research chimpanzees who had been abandoned by the New York Blood Center on six islands on a river about 1.5 hours outside of Monrovia, the country’s capital. Shortly after the Desmond’s arrival, forestry authorities began bringing them baby chimpanzees who they seized from poachers attempting to sell them as pets on the black market. With 35 chimpanzees in their care, the Desmonds are racing against time to build sanctuary in the forest that can house rescued chimpanzees and serve as a conservation center to help protect Liberia’s remaining wild chimpanzees in their forest home.

For more information and to see how you can help, please visit Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection.

By the time orphaned chimps arrive at Liberia Chimp Rescue & Protection’s (LCRP) new sanctuary, they have experienced more tragedy than most humans will experience in a lifetime. That’s because they watched poachers kill their mothers for bushmeat before kidnapping them and hauling them out of their forest home in an attempt to sell them as exotic pets. 

“Most of the orphans are inconsolable when they arrive,” Jenny Desmond, who, along with her husband Jim, created LCRP. “You can see the heartbreak in their eyes.”

When orphaned chimps arrive at Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection, caregivers work to help them recover from the trauma of losing their families; being kidnapped from the forest and being held captive by poachers. (photo: Jenny Desmond)

When government authorities deliver baby chimps to LCRP after confiscating them from poachers, Jenny and Jim swing into action right away, assigning a human caregiver to be the baby’s surrogate mother. With the support and guidance from the Desmonds, who have spent their careers working at sanctuaries, the caregivers spend the next days, weeks and months helping the chimps recover by bottle feeding them, playing with them, introducing them to other orphans, sleeping next to them and ultimately integrating them into a chimp group. In time, most of the chimps recover from their trauma and find happiness at the sanctuary.

“These babies should be in the forest, but, because poachers killed their mothers and families, they have to be raised by humans,” said Jenny Desmond. “We are their surrogate mothers – day and night. At about age five, wild chimpanzees start sleeping separately from their mothers, so we use this, along with their needs and personalities, to determine when they’re ready to fully integrate into our older nursery group and spend their days and nights with other chimps.”

Jenny Desmond, co-founder of Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection, plays with an orphaned chimp

The Desmonds hope that they can one day return some of these chimps to their natural habitat in the Liberian forests, which have an estimated 7,000 wild chimps remaining. Re-introduction, however, is a complicated, long-term process. In the meantime, they are creating as natural a life as possible for the chimps in a sanctuary setting. 

Jim Desmond, co-founder of LCRP and caregiver Annie, act as surrogate parents for the orphaned chimps.

The Desmonds arrived in Liberia in 2015 to take care of another population of chimps — the 66 who were abandoned on deserted islands by the New York Blood Center. Within weeks of their arrival, however, the FDA (Forestry Development Authority) knocked on their front door and dropped off two infants. In just over a year, that number has grown to 16.  The Desmonds have outgrown their space and plan to move to a more remote location in the forest where the babies can, along with their human caregivers and other chimps, can live in a semi-wild environment with minimal human contact.

As babies become adolescents, they are integrated into chimp groups and spend less time interacting with humans.

“Chimps are wild animals, not pets,” said Desmond. “Ideally, the only people who should be interacting with them are their surrogate mothers who provide them with the parenting and TLC that they need to survive during their first several years of life.” 

The Desmonds are working with government authorities and other NGOs to protect chimpanzees, a critically endangered species, in their forest home. Combatting Liberia’s illegal bushmeat and exotic pet trades means far fewer baby chimps will be orphaned and need sanctuary. They hope that ecotourism – trekking to see habituated chimps in the forest – can eventually be a source of income for those who are now poaching chimps and selling their meat. “Chimps are a valuable renewable resource for Liberians, as mountain gorillas are for Rwandans, but that means protecting them instead of killing them,” said Desmond. 

Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection (LCRP)

Between protecting wild chimps in the forest and raising orphaned chimps at the sanctuary, the Desmonds have a lot of work to do – in a difficult setting. Thankfully, they have a team of dedicated caregivers at LCRP who genuinely love the chimps and their jobs.

Please follow Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection on Facebook by giving their page a “like.”

Please make a contribution to support the life saving work of LCRP.

Dedicated caregivers at LCRP help orphaned chimps recover from the emotional trauma of losing their families.

On May 8th, animal rights activists in Dublin, Ireland, liberated nine lobsters from a Chinese restaurant and released them into their natural habitat, giving them the chance to live and generating widespread media attention about the cruelty of boiling live animals.

Animal rights activists scoop lobsters out of small tank in Dublin restaurant

Activists remove rubber bands from lobster claws before releasing them into the sea. (photo: NARA)

In an interview with BBC, the founder of the National Animal Rights Association (NARA), Laura Broxson, said that the activists were motivated by compassion in what was a “life or death” situation for the lobsters: “They were free and had the chance to live, rather than facing certain death by being boiled alive.”

By intentionally revealing their faces while filming the liberation (“Open Rescue”), the participants could face legal consequences, a risk that some activists take in order to show the public that they are regular, relatable people, not the mask-wearing “terrorists” portrayed in the media. The real terrorists, they argue, are those who exploit and kill animals, not those who rescue them from egregious abuse and imminent death.

In January, activists with London Vegan Actions used a different approach to advocate for lobsters – staging a loud disruption on their behalf inside of a restaurant that serves them at multiple locations. Using a megaphone, they chanted, “If you want to get some peace, make the lobster torture cease.” After being aggressively ejected from the restaurant by staff, the activists continued to chant through the bullhorn at the restaurant’s entrance.

https://youtu.be/HFJyA0CH_vU

In the United States alone, more than 20 million lobsters are consumed each year. The unthinkable end of lobsters’ lives – being boiled or torn apart while still alive – often overshadows the horrific journey they take from the ocean to the kitchen. After being caught in traps and dragged out of their homes onto boats, lobsters are transferred into restaurant or grocery store tanks where they suffer from hunger, low oxygen level, stress, confinement and overcrowding. Scientists have proven that lobsters suffer.

Rina Deych, a New York City-based activist who has spoken out against home delivery of live lobsters said, “We are quick to demonize people in other cultures for boiling puppies and kittens alive, yet in our society, people think nothing of dropping a sentient creature of another species into a pot of boiling water.”

In 2008, an Australian apparel company called Just Jeans produced a provocative commercial in which customers in Chinese restaurant make a spur of the moment decision to empty the lobster tank and release the animals into the ocean.

The Dublin liberation was conducted by the National Animal Rights Association, Direct Action for Animals and The Alliance for Animal Rights.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the City Council today voted 49-1 to ban the sale of commercially bred dogs, cats and rabbits in Chicago. According to a City clerk, the law “cuts off a pipeline of the animals coming from the horrendous puppy mill industry and instead moves us towards a retail pet sales model that focuses on adopting out the many, many homeless animals [from shelters and rescues] in need of loving homes in this city.” Chicago joins Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and many other U.S. cities have already instituted a ban. In January, New York state passed a law giving local municipalities the power to impose their own regulations on pet sales, according to the Daily News. The NYC Council has since introduced a bill that would prevent city pet stores from buying cats and dogs from unlicensed breeders.

Until every homeless animal in a shelter or at a rescue finds a forever home, we must continue to lobby for the passage of laws banning the sale of companion animals from commercial breeding operations. And, even then, we must always fight for the closure of puppy mills, which are cruel and dangerous businesses that treat animals like commodities. To anyone working in animal rescue, the “kill lists” are a daily reminder of the crisis of overpopulation and the importance of adoption and animal birth control. If helping homeless animals is important to you, please consider volunteering at a local shelter, helping place animals in foster homes, lobbying for laws banning the sale of commercially bred animals, and, of course, encouraging people to adopt, not shop.