The euthanasia rate for stray and abandoned cats and dogs that are taken to New York City’s animal shelters has steadily fallen to a projected 38 percent for 2008, down from 74 percent in 2002, giving advocates for animals hope that they will be able to meet an announced goal of bringing the rate to zero by 2015.
The Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, a nonprofit coalition of about 140 animal shelters and rescue groups, was founded in 2002. In 2005, it announced the goal of making New York City a “no kill” community by 2015. Experts say that San Francisco is the largest United States city with a “no kill” policy for cats and dogs, but the city has only 9 percent of New York City’s population, so the scale of the New York effort is considerably more ambitious.
The problem of homeless cats and dogs remains serious, officials say. About 43,000 cats and dogs were taken in by the city’s animal shelters in 2008, a figure that has barely budged from the 46,187 recorded in 2003.
The goal of the alliance is to eventually eliminate the need to kill any “dog or cat of reasonable health or temperament” merely because the animal does not have a home.
Among the steps being taken to reduce the need for euthanasia are more aggressive neutering and spaying of animals, thus reducing the number of births; increasing the transfer of animals to alternative shelters and rescue groups, thus increasing the chances of adoption; offering $25 microchip implanting for pets, speeding the return of lost dogs and cats to their owners; improving adoption outreach and in some cases providing adoption subsidies; and providing free spaying and neutering services for pets whose owners have cards for Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for poor and disabled people.
In addition, the city has a Feral Cat Initiative that has financed so-called trap-neuter-return programs since 2006.
From 74 percent in 2002, the euthanasia rate dropped to 69 percent in 2003, 59 percent in 2004, 53 percent in 2005, 47 percent in 2006, 43 percent in 2007 and a projected 38 percent in 2008.
“We have a long way to go, but we’re definitely making progress toward our goal,” says Jane Hoffman, president of the alliance. “The current economic downturn puts additional pressure on our facilities, but we’re determined to become a no-kill community and the alliance has realized some impressive achievements along the way.”
Nonetheless, the number of dogs and cats coming into the city’s shelter system — which is managed by a private nonprofit group, Animal Care and Control — has remained fairly constant, at around 43,000. More than twice as many cats as dogs come into the shelters each year, and more than twice as many cats as dogs are killed each year.
An independent expert said that New York City’s goal of becoming a no-kill community was laudable, but might be difficult to achieve.
“No-kill is a model, an aspirational goal,” said the expert, Dr. Michael R. Moyer, who is the Rosenthal director of shelter animal medicine at University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. “I don’t think it should be dismissed out of hand, but it takes a lot of coordination, orchestration and resources.”
There are a “formidable set of challenges” involved in eliminating the need for euthanasia, Dr. Moyer said, adding that animal population control problems result from human and social problems.
Animals end up in shelters after they are brought in by residents or animal control officers, or voluntarily surrendered by their owners.
Cats are a particular challenge, he said, because “feral cats that are poorly socialized and have never been raised with people” are generally not adoptable as pets.
Nearly half of all cats come from neighbors, and spaying and neutering are not as widespread as they should be, he added.
Cats also are far more likely than dogs to live in the wild in packs, Dr. Moyer said. They are also more elusive than dogs, he said, more adaptable, capable of living in a fairly tiny habitat and better able to live in difficult underground environments like sewers.