Save the Cats and Dogs at the AC&C (Animal Care and Control of NYC) Can you look into these eyes and turn away? Someone did! The cat shown above is one of 45,000 animals that was euthanized at the AC&C in one year.

Table of Contents The AC&C Story AC&C Links Groups Who Rescue From the AC&C How You Can Help

THE AC&C STORY

The cats and dog shown above were rescued from the AC&C and placed into good homes. That is not the fate of the majority of animals entering the pound. Almost 100 healthy and loveable animals are euthanized every day at the AC&C. Many are momma cats and their nursing litters. Momma cats and their litters cannot be held at the pound, nor can they be put up for adoption. Many of the cats are abandoned pedigrees. Highly adoptable Maine Coons, Persians and Siamese, and wonderful domestic short and long hairs arrive daily and are euthanized daily! These felines are all condemned to die without intervention. The animals do not have the luxury of time on their side. Help is needed NOW. Fewer than 20% of the dogs and cats that arrive at the AC&C survive. Before they die, these animals languish in crumbling facilities. More than 100,000 healthy, adoptable animals have been needlessly killed, frozen and burned since 1995. The AC&C does minimal advertising to promote adoptions. The Village Voice called the AC&C "The cruelest animal rescue system in the country." Once euthanized the dead animals are piled in bins, rolled into a freezer and picked up by trucks from the Pet Crematory Agency. Because there are so many forgotten animals, the agency is forced to operate two animal cremation ovens, eight hours a day, to burn 600 pounds of dogs and cats an hour for the AC&C and other shelters. Aside from a handful of local rescue groups, there is currently no-one rescuing cats from AC&C. This is a total disgrace to a city that prides itself in having lots of "cat lovers." Those of you who are local have read the many newspaper articles and know all about the conditions at the AC&C and the city's lack of funding, support and care. Read this heartbreaking and startling article on the AC&C (CACC) written by Sue Edelman which appeared in the NY Post on June 15, 1997. Similar articles have been written since. It is years later and I'm not sure how much has changed. (Information obtained from newspaper articles)

HELP THE AC&C HELP THE CATS

AC&C Links

Search the AC&C website for Adoptable Animals

Search the AC&C website for Lost and Found Animals

Give a cat or dog a temporary home by joining the AC&C Foster Program

Contribute to the AC&C for the welfare of the animals by Donate Online

NY GROUPS WHO RESCUE FROM THE AC&C

In addition to rescuing cats from the streets of New York and providing them with food, shelter and medical care until they are placed into permanent homes, these groups have been working with the AC&C for years to remove and save as many cats as possible. Due to the escalating number of abandoned cats, help is now desperately needed. Space and funds are dangerously low which means that only the small number of cats that can be cared for can be saved. The most oppressive problem for these groups is that they do not have room to rescue additional cats until homes are found for the ones they are currently fostering.

Bobbie and the Strays	Queens	(718) 845-0779
Muffins Pet Connection	Brooklyn	(718) 833-7988
New Yorkers for Companion Animals (NYCA)	Manhattan	(212) 427-8273

More groups will be added shortly.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Spay and Neuter Your Pets. It is the single most important thing you can do to make a difference! While you are viewing this page, thousands of cats and dogs are being euthanized across the United States because no one wants them and there isn't enough money or space for the shelters to care for them. It's a simple, surgical procedure that also prevents a host of bad behavior problems. Neutered males have much less of a territorial instinct to spray, fight or roam. Spayed females won't go into heat and are far less likely to develop many illnesses including breast cancer. You can promote Spay and Neuter on your website with one of the 36 Free Spay/Neuter Cat Graphics that we've created. Four are shown below. Our Spay/Neuter Dog Graphics are in our Dog Graphics section. Please do not take any of the images from this page.

Adopt directly from the AC&C, or from a group that rescues from the AC&C.

Be responsible and have a heart. Do not abandon your pets!

If you want to adopt and can't find what you are looking for, contact me.

To better understand and care for your cat both physically and emotionally, visit our Links section.

Please help the AC&C cats and dogs win their God given right to life. One or two saved may seem like a drop in the bucket in relation to the staggering numbers being euthanized, but each and every life saved is reason to celebrate.

Click on the home button to attend the Kings Highway Cat Rescue Kitty Personals, to meet me and some of the cats I rescued over the years in My Rescues, to see Handsome in heaven, to follow Katzenberg's illustrated trip to Rainbow Bridge, to meet my guys and Witch-Hazel, and so much more. And, don't forget to visit our free Cat Graphics section, our free Dog Graphics section... and The Cat Cafe!