Problems

One of the main problems to the animal crisis in the Tri-State area is the high expense of having a dog. Affordability is one of the biggest issues for New Yorkers, leading them to leave their pets on the side of the road. In addition to the high cost of owning a dog, housing costs are increasing, making people leave New York City and forcing them to leave their pets behind. Those are some of the reasons animals end up in animal shelters. Not only have housing costs risen due to inflation, dog supplies and food costs have risen too. This makes it a challenge for pet owners to take good care of their dogs.

 

Another main problem to the animal crisis in the Tri-State area is the inaccessibility of medical care. These animal shelters are being underfunded and need your help with financial support. This insufficient funding limits resources that could help the animals thrive. 50% of pet owners can no longer afford a basic vet visit, let alone a spay/neuter appointment. Many strays aren’t spayed nor neutered which leads to an overpopulation of animals in the shelters. New York City Local Law 59 says that any outdoor cat must be spayed or neutered which is a challenge to accomplish. This law puts a burden on people who can’t afford to have their cat spayed or neutered. New York City needs funds for emergencies and for long term solutions such as affordable medical care for pets. 

 

The third main problem to the animal crisis in the Tri-State area is the overcrowding in animal shelters. Due to dogs spending more time in shelters, shelters are exceeding their capacity by significant margins. These shelters are not getting enough support which increases the number of animals being euthanized. An example of this is the Animal Care Center which has room for 185 dogs but is forced to hold over 300. Workers in the shelters are overworked and tend to spend less time with pets, causing the pets to get stressed. To envision this, there is the same amount of staff for double the capacity of animals in some shelters. It is especially hard for large dogs when the shelters are overcrowded because they have less space. The city is trying to help this issue by promising $3 million over 6 years for spay and neuter services for 24,000 animals, but there are currently over 85,000 animals who need this procedure. 

 

The last main problem to the animal crisis in the Tri-State area is that people are buying instead of rescuing animals. Since many people are having to leave their dogs on the streets, it is difficult to find homes for all of them. Due to the lack of public awareness and engagement of the overcrowding in shelters, many New Yorkers are unaware of the struggles animal shelters face. Because New Yorkers aren’t aware of the benefits of rescuing, the length of time strays spend in shelters has tripled. Countrywide, millions of people buy new pets from breeders each year, but hundreds of thousands of pets still die in shelters. This shows that people don’t understand the importance of adopting, and if they did there would be fewer animals put down in shelters. Since there are so many problems affecting animal shelters, we need your help to overcome them.