Fearing for the animals

Nearly 400 residents and animal rescuers protested outside the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter in Wantagh last Saturday afternoon. Hope for Hempstead Shelter, a local shelter-reform advocacy group, held the rally to protest and demand a retraction of policies recently announced by the shelter.

“I think the number of people that we saw yesterday is remarkable, and I think the enthusiasm for change is something else,” said Derek Donnelly, director of Hope for Hempstead Shelter. “Never have I seen everyone so vocal — it was chant after chant after chant.”

At a Hempstead Town Board meeting nearly three weeks ago, the town announced that the shelter has stopped taking calls inquiring about animals, claiming that repeated calls have distracted shelter workers from their duties. It now requires animal inquiries to be sent via email or regular mail.

The town recently issued a statement claiming that the new call inquiry policy will streamline the process of providing medical information and individual pet history to interested parties. However, Donnelly said, he believes the policy inhibits important disclosure about animals.

The town also announced that the shelter will no longer accept requests for “Do Not Destroy” tags on animals, stating that the DND policy has been replaced with a more efficient system for potential adopters to place holds on pets. According to the town, the DND label was not an effective adoption aid, since the town does not destroy adoptable pets. In its place, residents with intentions of adopting an animal can utilize “I will adopt” labels, according to the town.

However, Donnelly said, DND labels allowed animal rescuers to “buy” any animal time at the shelter while they searched for a foster or permanent home, or alternative no-kill shelter.