New York City Animal Control

Last night I had one of the most disturbing experiences I"ve had in a long, long time. I was coming home from an absolutely amazing show- The Drowsy Chaperone- after a great evening with my friend C- who scored us great seats for free! and was in a great mood until I got off at my usual stop at the West 4th Street Station (for God's sake, dont' tell my mother I took the subway after dark). I was coming up the stairs and there was a homeless man sitting on the steps, hat out to collect money. That wasn't the disturbing part. What was disturbing was what was in his lap- several newborn kittens, twisting around each other in an old rag. THere were several people talking to him already, telling him that it wasn't a great idea to have kittens that young, asking where their mothre was. I stopped for a moment, horrified, then continued up the steps, resolved to call 311 and assuming that they would send Animal Control out to retrieve the animals.

After being on hold for a while I finally got put through to someone, and they told me that not only was there nothing they could do, that Animal Control wasn't open until eight. I badgered her enough for her to transfer me to the police but there was very little they said they could do. Besides, what would they have done differently with the kittens. So I cried and held Lucy and spent another hour and a half or so on the phone with various emergency vets around the city (all unfortunately private). I'm n ot sure why these kittens struck me as something to fight for, but the idea of them not having a chance really got to me. And I'm already very emotional when it comes to animals as it is.

This morning it started all over again. I began making phone calls and found out that Animal Control could not legally take away the animals. Then I called the ASPCA and was on hold for twenty minutes before realizing how late I was. So I walked to work on hold on my cell phone. Just as I was entering the building I finally got to speak to a real, live, person and it was such a relief to find out that I was not the first caller that morning and that they were, in fact,, on the look out for this man. Of course he had moved since last night, and God only knows where he sleeps during the day. But I have more hope that they will find him and at least find out what happened to those poor kittens. What i'm upset about is the lack of integrity on the part of city-wide vets and the police. They should all be equipped to handle these situations, or at least to humanely put the animals to sleep. I know it's hard- I've bottle-raised animals before and there is nothing easy about getting up and down several times a night to measure out liquid in a dropper, praying that it's the right amount, that they will live to see another day. But it's something they should look nto. Or at least give civilians access. Two ofthe vets I spoke with did not even have kitten formula on their premises.

Just makes me wonder where the tax-payer dollar is going. Yes, I'm aware that there are more pressing matters at hand- some could make a strong argument for the homeless problem, for one. But to place defenseless animals in the hands of a man who is probably mentally unstable or an addict just seems foolish.