Jam-packed NYC animal shelters get $1 million boost from Mayor Adams

Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on Jul 26, 2025

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NEW YORK — City animal shelters, bursting at the seams because of an unprecedented influx of animals, have been given an additional $1 million from the city to tackle their critical capacity issues, The New York Daily News has learned.

“My commitment to serving all New Yorkers truly means ALL!” New York City Mayor Eric Adams wrote on his @ericadamsfornyc X account. “And that includes New York City’s pet population. This is why my office has announced a $1 million investment to Animal Care Centers of New York City. Their work ensures no animal is left behind and is essential to protecting animals across New York.”

On his official account, Adams said that the money would be used to hire 14 new staffers and “increase capacity to better care for our pets.”

“In the concrete jungle, we take care of all our animals,” he wrote on his office account, encouraging New Yorkers to adopt an animal.

The city agency responsible for homeless pets was happy to receive the additional finances.

“We are grateful to have extra funding to hire more staff to care for more animals,” a spokeswoman for Animal Care Centers of NYC said Saturday.

Last week the agency announced it was caring for more than 1,000 shelter animals at one time and wouldn’t be able to take in any more pets.

Citing a “critical capacity issue,” the ACC suspended general intake, but said it would remain open for adoptions, plus drop-offs of animals that require emergency medical care, are a public safety risk or are dropped off by government agencies, officials said.

“It’s the worst it’s ever been,” an ACC source told the Daily News of the capacity crisis.

The 1,000th pet taken in was a dog named Rocky, who had lived with his family for the past seven years, but his owners had to give him up.

Rocky was among 382 adult dogs in ACC’s care, along with 13 puppies, 383 cats, 163 kittens, 47 rabbits, 12 guinea pigs and several birds. ACC also currently has 290 pets in foster care, with 180 available for adoption directly from their foster homes, agency officials said.

The cause of one of every three pets being given over to ACC this year is housing insecurity, with their owners having to relocate to a smaller place and unable to take care of their pet or moving out of the city due to the high cost of living and being unable to take their pet with them, according to ACC studies.

Mayor Adams, in announcing the move on his office and mayoral campaign X accounts, turned the financial boost into an election issue that Republican Mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa has sunk his teeth into.

The Guardian Angels founder, and known cat lover, on Friday scoffed that the investment is “a drop in the bucket.”

“The city has completely ignored animal welfare,” he wrote. “ACC has a 34-year contract worth over $1B — and yet our shelters are overcrowded, surrenders are paused, and animals are suffering.”

In addition to adopting pets, ACC is urging pet owners to re-home their animals if they can no longer care for them — and also to just “try to figure out a way to keep your pet.”

Amid the ongoing animal shelter crisis, ACC is encouraging New Yorkers to adopt pets, which they can view on NYCACC.org.