193+ cats put down in the past weeks as of 10/16 at New York animal control centers, you can look at pictures every single one, including the cat pictured above, who was put down. People of NY and NYC I highly urge you to rise up and call for reform on the practices and rather impossible nature of the New York City Animal Control centers. Now, all animal control across the country are in need of serious reform, but the New York ACC are slaughterhouses, taking in many, many cats and dogs surrendered by owners willingly and shortly euthanize them. Anywhere from 15-22 cats are put on the list each day and killing can begin as soon as 6 am.

All animal control centers across the nation are in need or reform on how they work, Maryland (where I live) is no exception, but the volunteers or whomever actually document these cats in the NYC ACC centers and post them online so people can rescue them, this is hardcore cataloging and people need to see it, it makes the need real. People should be calling for these shelters to be more open to contacting independent rescues to literally outsource cats to deal with the influx of strays and surrenders. There are people wanting to come rescue them, WILLING, but there is so much red tape in order to pull, it is almost impossible to rescue and often times it is too late. Sure there are there for some reasons, zealous cat collectors rescuing animals is a no-no, that guy who tortured cats after adopting them from NY that was recently caught in Baltimore is also not something you want either. But it shouldn’t be this hard.

What I find most heartbreaking is the treatment of former housecats here, mostly middle aged to senior, 6-10+ age, not only are many surrendered and the ACC openly accepts them as strays, even if it’s obvious it was once someone’s pet. Owners often submit under “allergy” claims.. In this instance, the NYC ACC are incredibly difficult and unforgiving and are not helping direct people to better venues to surrender their at one point, much loved pet. It appears some people who surrender even think their pet has a chance to find a new home. It is one thing when a cat comes in that is sick and needs to be put down due to true incurable illness or injury, a stray that was just fatally hit by a car, etc, but the animals they put down here are often from the look of pictures were generally very nice housecats that were betrayed by owners and surrendered and were probably put to sleep for dubious reasons due to them being scared, depressed, and angry and thus act out, earning a low behavior rating….for acting perfectly appropriate in their situation. The animal control centers in NYC show NO signs of openly working on getting such senior and former pets out to sanctuaries and specialized rescues that can ensure them homes. If they showed that initiative and allowed co-operation with rescues across the nation, then a great deal of these animals would still be alive.

This Facebook page is a cataloging and response page for the cats at NYC animal control centers, and again, you can see each and every one. New York is supposed to be a model of excellence and is one of America’s most iconic of cities. You would think, then there would be more anger for such inadequate and heartless practices and underfunding when their mayor is a billionaire. I highly urge people to contact the mayor’s office with complaints and concerns.

New Yorkers, I urge you to take a look at the photo albums for the cats, every single one, and then their sister page for dogs, and then take action, because like Occupy Wall Street, inaction doesn’t give results.