We can't scoop them all the time--all of us have day jobs or other obligations, after all. (But imagine what we can do if this was our full-time job/s! Anyone want to sponsor us as an independent, nonprofit news organization?)
The current hard-copy issue of New York Tails Magazine, which has been out and about for several weeks now, published a story called "NYCs Pit Bull Problem -- And Why You Care" by our wonderful writer/reporter Courtney Kistler. We've also been following this story in general since way back in May, because my nose for news told me to stay on the trail of this one.
Today, (September 23, 2009) the New York Times has covered the story.
Like I said, we can't break them all, but when we do, I admit I get some smug satisfaction out of it, especially if we're on top of it before the mainstream press. :)
Here is the article you can find in the current issue of New York Tails Magazine. (If you haven't subscribed yet, now is a great time to do so. Just visit our website at http://www.newyorktails.com/ to find out how.) We do distribute a limited number (very limited) number for free at various locations but we really depend on readers like you, much like public television or NPR, for support.
We are an entirely volunteer operation. And remember, New York Tails Magazine is the ONLY local pet news publication and has been serving you since 2002. Please help us continue to do so by subscribing today.
So, without further ado:
New York City’s Pit Bull Problem – And Why YOU Care
Written by Courtney Kistler
Edited By Diane West
Large dogs are a common in New York City’s projects, but a new provision may change that. Residents and others speak out about how this new law will change, or has already changed, their lives and the lives of their dogs. But citywide, New York City’s already overburdened shelter system may feel the effects of a flood of these now ‘banned’ dogs being surrendered by New York City Housing Authority residents (NYCHA) who fear of losing their apartments.
East River Houses resident Samuel* walked
his two Rottweilers, ‘Addy’ and ‘Nelson’, from
105th Street and First Avenue to another
nearby development, the George Washington
Houses, one recent summer afternoon. Once
there, he let the two large, seemingly tame
dogs off their leashes for some exercise in
the courtyard. Almost immediately, a woman
begins arguing with him. She is afraid of the
dogs and demands Samuel put them back
on their leashes.
Samuel refuses. His dogs have never hurt
anyone, he tells the angry woman, and they’re
under control. After a few more minutes of
arguing she walks away cursing.
“I can’t win,” Samuel shrugs. By his own
admission, he is an intimidating sight. Sixfoot
five, dark skinned, tattooed, and flanked
by two large dogs, he says he’s an ‘easy target’
for both public housing residents and police
officers alike.
“Kids as young as ten years old, looking to
become Crips or Bloods, flash red or blue
bandanas and threaten to ‘blast’ me because
they think I’m a cop. And the cops? They
think I’m fighting my dogs and doing other
bad things, and they won’t leave me alone.”
Add to the kids and the police one more
group who will have Samuel and other public
housing residents under a more watchful
eye-The New York City Housing Authority
(NYCHA).
On May 1st, the Housing Authority, which
is responsible for overseeing some 178,489
apartments throughout five boroughs,
imposed a 25-pound weight limit on family
dogs, almost half of the 40-pound weight
limit instituted seven years ago. Additionally,
the new rule specifically bans pit bulls,
Rottweilers, and Doberman Pinchers from
public housing, period. Residents may either
have one pet dog or one pet cat but not both.
All pets living with public housing residents
must be registered with NYCHA. And, like all
dogs in the city, they must also be licensed.
“Dangerous Dogs”
The new weight and breed rules do not apply
to service dogs or to residents of Section 8
subsidized apartments, which NYCHA does
not manage. But those who have had dogs
over 40 pounds since 2002 and did not
register them with the housing authority
at that time may now face eviction. Some
residents have already been told to remove
their dogs.
“Over the years, we had been getting an
increasing number of complaints about
problems associated with dangerous dogs;
dogs that are used for fighting, dogs that
are attack dogs, and dogs that are not
being handled and trained properly by their
owners,” says NYCHA spokesman Howard
Marder when asked what prompted this
latest change.
Many New Yorkers, NYCHA and non-NYCHA
residents alike, were taken aback by the public
housing authority’s seeming haste to put
the new weight and breed bans into effect.
In addition to some initial glaring missteps,
like the publication of a list containing the
names of 27 so-called ‘dangerous breeds’
(which included the likes of Boston Terriers)
the new rules seemed to contradict a New
York State law which has long prohibited
state municipalities from making laws which
ban the ownership of specific dog breeds.
To that, Mr. Marder says, “NYCHA is not a
municipality. Therefore the rule does not
apply.” However, he says, NYCHA met with
city animal advocacy organizations prior
to implementing the new rule because “we
didn’t take [this] change lightly.”
Residents, Animal Groups Taken By
Surprise
“In no way shape or form did they [the
Housing Authority] consult with us prior to
coming up with this list, and we categorically
reject breed discriminatory legislation,”
says an angry Jane Hoffman, President of
the Mayor’s Alliance For NYC's Animals and
founding member and Chair of the NYC
Bar Association Committee on Legal Issues
Pertaining to Animals. “They only put out a
notice to their tenants about a month before
May 1st, and it came to our attention when
residents started calling us in a panic.”
The Mayor’s Alliance and other city animal
rescue organizations have a strong interest
in the potential repercussions of NYCHA’s
weight-and-breed ban. Since its founding
in 2002, the Mayor's Alliance has been the
recipient of millions of dollars in grant money
from Maddie's Fund, a national animal resuce
fund created by software developer David
Duffield in memory of the family's Schnauzer,
Maddie. The Mayor's Alliance anticipates
spending (and raising) a total of $24.4 million
by 2016 to help reach their stated objective:
reaching the day "when no New York City dog
or cat of reasonable health and temperament
is killed merely because he or she does not
have a home.”
“We are concerned from a policy standpoint,
as we’re trying to make New York a no-kill
city,” Ms. Hoffman says “We knew this [NYCHA]
policy would cause an increase in shelter
intake and the 25-pound weight limit would
make it difficult for public housing residents
to adopt from Animal Care and Control
(AC&C). Seventy percent of dogs who come
into the shelter system, according ot the
AC&C website, are pit bulls--one of the three
breeds now banned from NYCHA projects.
The Domino Effect
It is impossible to say exactly how many
animals have already ended up at the AC&C,
the city’s animal shelter system, as a result of
the new NYCHA rules. But if early predictions
are correct, the number of dogs turned in
could be substantial.
According to Debora Bresch, ASPCA's
Legislative Liaison in Government Relations,
six percent of all dogs available for adoption
from the AC&C were adopted by public
housing residents between January and April
2009, a total of about 172 dogs. Under the May
1st NYCHA rules, 107 of these 172 dogs - over
60% - are not supposed to be there, making
them prime candidates to be returned to
the city’s shelter system.
Early attempts to discourage city housing residents from
surrendering their animals before knowing
what their rights are under the new rules
include the distribution of a memo in several
languages at each of the city’s shelters. (The
English version of the memo can be accessed
here: http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/
press/memo2009-06-08-English.pdf )
There were 4,656 dogs and 1,264 cats
registered as pets of housing authority
residents when the May 1st policy went into
effect but, Mr. Marder says, NYCHA did not
keep records of them by breed. However, he
says, NYCHA will use its “limited resources to
address lease violations such as this as well
as all other lease violations or Quality Of Life
infringements or crimes as it is made aware
of them.”
Pit Bulls In the Projects
Public housing residents are among the first
to admit pit bull fighting and animal abuse
are common within certain housing projects
and must be stopped. But several interviewed
for this article feel the new NYCHA rule is too
broad and unfairly affects people and pets
who never have, nor would, do anything
criminal with animals.
One of those fighting against NYCHA’s new
pet rule is 26 year-old Marquis Jenkins,
community organizer for a tenant advocacy
group called the Good Old Lower East Side
(GOLES). Mr. Jenkins has been circulating
and gathering thousands of signatures for a
petition against the new policy. At the crux
of his efforts is a request that NYCHA “halt
any and all evictions in association with the
[new] pet policy”.
Supported by Councilwoman Rosie Mendez,
Chair of the New York City Council’s
Subcommittee on Public Housing, Mr. Jenkins
asserts that nearly all the dog owners that
have joined the fight against the policy with
GOLES have received a letter from NYCHA--
the first step of the eviction process. Some
have refused NYCHA management’s request
to remove their pets. Their next step is to
schedule a hearing at the NYCHA head offices
at 250 Broadway.
Back uptown at the George Washington
Houses, 70 year-old resident Gladys and her
seven year-old pit bull, “Dream”, say they’ve
had run-ins with NYCHA long before the May
1st rule went into effect. When Dream was still
a puppy, Gladys says, a resident complained
to the Housing Authority that Gladys’ dog
was vicious. Gladys found herself not only
having to prove allegation false in order to
keep Dream, but to keep her apartment as
well.
“So I took pictures of her
playing with people, with children, and I got
a petition, because all [the] people are crazy
about her.” Eventually, NYCHA ruled in her
favor. A public housing resident for 38 years,
Gladys says she’s received a written notice in
the mail regarding the pet policy change but
is unconcerned. Dream is registered, spayed,
with vet certification, and although over 40
pounds, is exempt from the weight limits
because she is considered a type of service/
therapy dog for Gladys.
Gladys says she took Dream as a four-month old
puppy from her niece, because “I didn’t
want her to fall into the wrong hands. My niece
was being offered hundreds of dollars for this
puppy.” People willing to purchase Dream at
such a large price, she believes, were looking
to either breed her or use her for fighting – or
both.
Gladys’ friend, Moncit*, agrees. She’s
witnessed firsthand what she believes were
people training dogs for fighting.
“Last Summer, right there,” Moncit recounts,
pointing to a large tree in the courtyard, “is
where I saw a rope hanging. A pit bull was
holding onto it with his jaws, swinging from
this rope, while a man was whipping it with
his belt over and over again.
“This used to be a breeding ground for pit
bulls,” says Marietta, who has lived in public
housing for 52 years and currently lives at
the Washington Houses. Up until about two
years ago, she says, the problem was easy to
see. “They used to fight dogs wherever – it
did not matter. In the street, on the sidewalk,
right here in this yard,” she says. She is
standing in front of the same area Samuel
had let his Rottweilers run earlier that day.
The housing authority’s ban on pit bulls and
other breeds often favored by dog fighters
does have some unlikely supporters, however.
One of them is Emelinda Navarez, a life-long
resident of the South Bronx and founder of
Earth Angels Canine Rescue. Over 45 years, Ms.
Navarez estimates she’s rescued over 6,000
pit bulls in and around her neighborhood.
Another is Stacy Alldredge, a Chelsea
resident who has a dog training business
and has worked at animal shelters as well as
been involved in animal rescue for more than
two decades. Both Emelinda in the Bronx and
Stacy in Chelsea think the NYCHA ban on pit
bulls may be the right thing to do.
Other advocates, who don’t support the ban,
nonetheless acknowledge there is a problem,
problems which have not necessarily ceased
since implementation of the new policy.
On July 8th, police called to check out a
disturbance at the Stanley Isaacs Houses East
94th Street shot and killed a pit bull during
the melee, according to a Daily News report.
Weeks later, a 19 year-old boy was arrested
for throwing a young pit-bull mix off a roof in
Brooklyn’s Red Hook housing development.
And on September 29th, a trial will begin
against seven men who were arrested during
a police raid of an East 179th Street building
where the basement and yard was allegedly
used to carry out an organized dog fighting
operation. (See the homepage for the NYC
Anti-animal Fighting Campaign (http://
stopdogfightingnownyc.wetpaint.com) for
more details.)
As residents have attested, there is no
doubt that mistreatment, recklessness, and
irresponsible behavior when it comes to
animals in public housing take place and
causes quality of life issues. Whether or not
the NYCHA ban on pit bulls, Rottweilers,
Dobermans, and dogs over 25 pounds will
put a damper on these things, which have
created the problems that Mr. Marder says
residents have complained about, remains to
be seen. As the 90 day grace period has just
past, New York Tails will keep a close eye on
NYCHA’s enforcement of its new policy and
its effect on the city shelter system, as well as
progress by those who are part of the effort
to repeal the rule.
As for Addy and Nelson, just a few weeks after
being interviewed for this article, Samuel
relinquished the pair to Manhattan AC&C on
110th Street, saying that he is trying to save
up money to move away from New York and
cannot do so while also providing for the
animals. Luckily, the pair were removed from
the shelter by a Rottweiler rescue group and
eventually found a new home in Vermont.
Only first names of public housing residents have
been provided to protect their privacy.
Next week: Animal advocates Emerlinda Navarez and Stacy Alldredge, from two very different parts of the city, explain why the large breed dog ban in the projects may ultimately end up protecting the dogs.
Past Coverage:
May 12, 2009
Exclusive Interview: NYCHA On the Pit Bull and Other Large Dog Ban In Public Housing
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-nycha-casualties-begin-to-show-up.html
June 10th, 2009
First NYCHA ‘Casualties’ Begin to Show Up At City Shelters – New York Tails Magazine Investigation Underway
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-nycha-casualties-begin-to-show-up.html
Wave of Dog Surrenders Possible In Wake of NYCHA Dog Breed/Weight Ban (June 24th, 2009) http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/wave-of-dog-surrenders-possible-in-wake.html
May 12, 2009
Exclusive Interview: NYCHA On the Pit Bull and Other Large Dog Ban In Public Housing
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-nycha-casualties-begin-to-show-up.html
June 10th, 2009
First NYCHA ‘Casualties’ Begin to Show Up At City Shelters – New York Tails Magazine Investigation Underway
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-nycha-casualties-begin-to-show-up.html
Wave of Dog Surrenders Possible In Wake of NYCHA Dog Breed/Weight Ban (June 24th, 2009)
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/wave-of-dog-surrenders-possible-in-wake.html
The current hard-copy issue of New York Tails Magazine, which has been out and about for several weeks now, published a story called "NYCs Pit Bull Problem -- And Why You Care" by our wonderful writer/reporter Courtney Kistler. We've also been following this story in general since way back in May, because my nose for news told me to stay on the trail of this one.
Today, (September 23, 2009) the New York Times has covered the story.
Like I said, we can't break them all, but when we do, I admit I get some smug satisfaction out of it, especially if we're on top of it before the mainstream press. :)
Here is the article you can find in the current issue of New York Tails Magazine. (If you haven't subscribed yet, now is a great time to do so. Just visit our website at http://www.newyorktails.com/ to find out how.) We do distribute a limited number (very limited) number for free at various locations but we really depend on readers like you, much like public television or NPR, for support.
We are an entirely volunteer operation. And remember, New York Tails Magazine is the ONLY local pet news publication and has been serving you since 2002. Please help us continue to do so by subscribing today.
So, without further ado:
New York City’s Pit Bull Problem – And Why YOU Care
Written by Courtney Kistler
Edited By Diane West
Large dogs are a common in New York City’s projects, but a new provision may change that. Residents and others speak out about how this new law will change, or has already changed, their lives and the lives of their dogs. But citywide, New York City’s already overburdened shelter system may feel the effects of a flood of these now ‘banned’ dogs being surrendered by New York City Housing Authority residents (NYCHA) who fear of losing their apartments.
East River Houses resident Samuel* walked
his two Rottweilers, ‘Addy’ and ‘Nelson’, from
105th Street and First Avenue to another
nearby development, the George Washington
Houses, one recent summer afternoon. Once
there, he let the two large, seemingly tame
dogs off their leashes for some exercise in
the courtyard. Almost immediately, a woman
begins arguing with him. She is afraid of the
dogs and demands Samuel put them back
on their leashes.
Samuel refuses. His dogs have never hurt
anyone, he tells the angry woman, and they’re
under control. After a few more minutes of
arguing she walks away cursing.
“I can’t win,” Samuel shrugs. By his own
admission, he is an intimidating sight. Sixfoot
five, dark skinned, tattooed, and flanked
by two large dogs, he says he’s an ‘easy target’
for both public housing residents and police
officers alike.
“Kids as young as ten years old, looking to
become Crips or Bloods, flash red or blue
bandanas and threaten to ‘blast’ me because
they think I’m a cop. And the cops? They
think I’m fighting my dogs and doing other
bad things, and they won’t leave me alone.”
Add to the kids and the police one more
group who will have Samuel and other public
housing residents under a more watchful
eye-The New York City Housing Authority
(NYCHA).
On May 1st, the Housing Authority, which
is responsible for overseeing some 178,489
apartments throughout five boroughs,
imposed a 25-pound weight limit on family
dogs, almost half of the 40-pound weight
limit instituted seven years ago. Additionally,
the new rule specifically bans pit bulls,
Rottweilers, and Doberman Pinchers from
public housing, period. Residents may either
have one pet dog or one pet cat but not both.
All pets living with public housing residents
must be registered with NYCHA. And, like all
dogs in the city, they must also be licensed.
“Dangerous Dogs”
The new weight and breed rules do not apply
to service dogs or to residents of Section 8
subsidized apartments, which NYCHA does
not manage. But those who have had dogs
over 40 pounds since 2002 and did not
register them with the housing authority
at that time may now face eviction. Some
residents have already been told to remove
their dogs.
“Over the years, we had been getting an
increasing number of complaints about
problems associated with dangerous dogs;
dogs that are used for fighting, dogs that
are attack dogs, and dogs that are not
being handled and trained properly by their
owners,” says NYCHA spokesman Howard
Marder when asked what prompted this
latest change.
Many New Yorkers, NYCHA and non-NYCHA
residents alike, were taken aback by the public
housing authority’s seeming haste to put
the new weight and breed bans into effect.
In addition to some initial glaring missteps,
like the publication of a list containing the
names of 27 so-called ‘dangerous breeds’
(which included the likes of Boston Terriers)
the new rules seemed to contradict a New
York State law which has long prohibited
state municipalities from making laws which
ban the ownership of specific dog breeds.
To that, Mr. Marder says, “NYCHA is not a
municipality. Therefore the rule does not
apply.” However, he says, NYCHA met with
city animal advocacy organizations prior
to implementing the new rule because “we
didn’t take [this] change lightly.”
Residents, Animal Groups Taken By
Surprise
“In no way shape or form did they [the
Housing Authority] consult with us prior to
coming up with this list, and we categorically
reject breed discriminatory legislation,”
says an angry Jane Hoffman, President of
the Mayor’s Alliance For NYC's Animals and
founding member and Chair of the NYC
Bar Association Committee on Legal Issues
Pertaining to Animals. “They only put out a
notice to their tenants about a month before
May 1st, and it came to our attention when
residents started calling us in a panic.”
The Mayor’s Alliance and other city animal
rescue organizations have a strong interest
in the potential repercussions of NYCHA’s
weight-and-breed ban. Since its founding
in 2002, the Mayor's Alliance has been the
recipient of millions of dollars in grant money
from Maddie's Fund, a national animal resuce
fund created by software developer David
Duffield in memory of the family's Schnauzer,
Maddie. The Mayor's Alliance anticipates
spending (and raising) a total of $24.4 million
by 2016 to help reach their stated objective:
reaching the day "when no New York City dog
or cat of reasonable health and temperament
is killed merely because he or she does not
have a home.”
“We are concerned from a policy standpoint,
as we’re trying to make New York a no-kill
city,” Ms. Hoffman says “We knew this [NYCHA]
policy would cause an increase in shelter
intake and the 25-pound weight limit would
make it difficult for public housing residents
to adopt from Animal Care and Control
(AC&C). Seventy percent of dogs who come
into the shelter system, according ot the
AC&C website, are pit bulls--one of the three
breeds now banned from NYCHA projects.
The Domino Effect
It is impossible to say exactly how many
animals have already ended up at the AC&C,
the city’s animal shelter system, as a result of
the new NYCHA rules. But if early predictions
are correct, the number of dogs turned in
could be substantial.
According to Debora Bresch, ASPCA's
Legislative Liaison in Government Relations,
six percent of all dogs available for adoption
from the AC&C were adopted by public
housing residents between January and April
2009, a total of about 172 dogs. Under the May
1st NYCHA rules, 107 of these 172 dogs - over
60% - are not supposed to be there, making
them prime candidates to be returned to
the city’s shelter system.
Early attempts to discourage city housing residents from
surrendering their animals before knowing
what their rights are under the new rules
include the distribution of a memo in several
languages at each of the city’s shelters. (The
English version of the memo can be accessed
here: http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/
press/memo2009-06-08-English.pdf )
There were 4,656 dogs and 1,264 cats
registered as pets of housing authority
residents when the May 1st policy went into
effect but, Mr. Marder says, NYCHA did not
keep records of them by breed. However, he
says, NYCHA will use its “limited resources to
address lease violations such as this as well
as all other lease violations or Quality Of Life
infringements or crimes as it is made aware
of them.”
Pit Bulls In the Projects
Public housing residents are among the first
to admit pit bull fighting and animal abuse
are common within certain housing projects
and must be stopped. But several interviewed
for this article feel the new NYCHA rule is too
broad and unfairly affects people and pets
who never have, nor would, do anything
criminal with animals.
One of those fighting against NYCHA’s new
pet rule is 26 year-old Marquis Jenkins,
community organizer for a tenant advocacy
group called the Good Old Lower East Side
(GOLES). Mr. Jenkins has been circulating
and gathering thousands of signatures for a
petition against the new policy. At the crux
of his efforts is a request that NYCHA “halt
any and all evictions in association with the
[new] pet policy”.
Supported by Councilwoman Rosie Mendez,
Chair of the New York City Council’s
Subcommittee on Public Housing, Mr. Jenkins
asserts that nearly all the dog owners that
have joined the fight against the policy with
GOLES have received a letter from NYCHA--
the first step of the eviction process. Some
have refused NYCHA management’s request
to remove their pets. Their next step is to
schedule a hearing at the NYCHA head offices
at 250 Broadway.
Back uptown at the George Washington
Houses, 70 year-old resident Gladys and her
seven year-old pit bull, “Dream”, say they’ve
had run-ins with NYCHA long before the May
1st rule went into effect. When Dream was still
a puppy, Gladys says, a resident complained
to the Housing Authority that Gladys’ dog
was vicious. Gladys found herself not only
having to prove allegation false in order to
keep Dream, but to keep her apartment as
well.
“So I took pictures of her
playing with people, with children, and I got
a petition, because all [the] people are crazy
about her.” Eventually, NYCHA ruled in her
favor. A public housing resident for 38 years,
Gladys says she’s received a written notice in
the mail regarding the pet policy change but
is unconcerned. Dream is registered, spayed,
with vet certification, and although over 40
pounds, is exempt from the weight limits
because she is considered a type of service/
therapy dog for Gladys.
Gladys says she took Dream as a four-month old
puppy from her niece, because “I didn’t
want her to fall into the wrong hands. My niece
was being offered hundreds of dollars for this
puppy.” People willing to purchase Dream at
such a large price, she believes, were looking
to either breed her or use her for fighting – or
both.
Gladys’ friend, Moncit*, agrees. She’s
witnessed firsthand what she believes were
people training dogs for fighting.
“Last Summer, right there,” Moncit recounts,
pointing to a large tree in the courtyard, “is
where I saw a rope hanging. A pit bull was
holding onto it with his jaws, swinging from
this rope, while a man was whipping it with
his belt over and over again.
“This used to be a breeding ground for pit
bulls,” says Marietta, who has lived in public
housing for 52 years and currently lives at
the Washington Houses. Up until about two
years ago, she says, the problem was easy to
see. “They used to fight dogs wherever – it
did not matter. In the street, on the sidewalk,
right here in this yard,” she says. She is
standing in front of the same area Samuel
had let his Rottweilers run earlier that day.
The housing authority’s ban on pit bulls and
other breeds often favored by dog fighters
does have some unlikely supporters, however.
One of them is Emelinda Navarez, a life-long
resident of the South Bronx and founder of
Earth Angels Canine Rescue. Over 45 years, Ms.
Navarez estimates she’s rescued over 6,000
pit bulls in and around her neighborhood.
Another is Stacy Alldredge, a Chelsea
resident who has a dog training business
and has worked at animal shelters as well as
been involved in animal rescue for more than
two decades. Both Emelinda in the Bronx and
Stacy in Chelsea think the NYCHA ban on pit
bulls may be the right thing to do.
Other advocates, who don’t support the ban,
nonetheless acknowledge there is a problem,
problems which have not necessarily ceased
since implementation of the new policy.
On July 8th, police called to check out a
disturbance at the Stanley Isaacs Houses East
94th Street shot and killed a pit bull during
the melee, according to a Daily News report.
Weeks later, a 19 year-old boy was arrested
for throwing a young pit-bull mix off a roof in
Brooklyn’s Red Hook housing development.
And on September 29th, a trial will begin
against seven men who were arrested during
a police raid of an East 179th Street building
where the basement and yard was allegedly
used to carry out an organized dog fighting
operation. (See the homepage for the NYC
Anti-animal Fighting Campaign (http://
stopdogfightingnownyc.wetpaint.com) for
more details.)
As residents have attested, there is no
doubt that mistreatment, recklessness, and
irresponsible behavior when it comes to
animals in public housing take place and
causes quality of life issues. Whether or not
the NYCHA ban on pit bulls, Rottweilers,
Dobermans, and dogs over 25 pounds will
put a damper on these things, which have
created the problems that Mr. Marder says
residents have complained about, remains to
be seen. As the 90 day grace period has just
past, New York Tails will keep a close eye on
NYCHA’s enforcement of its new policy and
its effect on the city shelter system, as well as
progress by those who are part of the effort
to repeal the rule.
As for Addy and Nelson, just a few weeks after
being interviewed for this article, Samuel
relinquished the pair to Manhattan AC&C on
110th Street, saying that he is trying to save
up money to move away from New York and
cannot do so while also providing for the
animals. Luckily, the pair were removed from
the shelter by a Rottweiler rescue group and
eventually found a new home in Vermont.
Only first names of public housing residents have
been provided to protect their privacy.
Next week: Animal advocates Emerlinda Navarez and Stacy Alldredge, from two very different parts of the city, explain why the large breed dog ban in the projects may ultimately end up protecting the dogs.
Past Coverage:
May 12, 2009
Exclusive Interview: NYCHA On the Pit Bull and Other Large Dog Ban In Public Housing
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-nycha-casualties-begin-to-show-up.html
June 10th, 2009
First NYCHA ‘Casualties’ Begin to Show Up At City Shelters – New York Tails Magazine Investigation Underway
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-nycha-casualties-begin-to-show-up.html
Wave of Dog Surrenders Possible In Wake of NYCHA Dog Breed/Weight Ban (June 24th, 2009) http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/wave-of-dog-surrenders-possible-in-wake.html
May 12, 2009
Exclusive Interview: NYCHA On the Pit Bull and Other Large Dog Ban In Public Housing
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-nycha-casualties-begin-to-show-up.html
June 10th, 2009
First NYCHA ‘Casualties’ Begin to Show Up At City Shelters – New York Tails Magazine Investigation Underway
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-nycha-casualties-begin-to-show-up.html
Wave of Dog Surrenders Possible In Wake of NYCHA Dog Breed/Weight Ban (June 24th, 2009)
http://newyorktails.blogspot.com/2009/06/wave-of-dog-surrenders-possible-in-wake.html
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