Adoptions Director Denounces Animal Warehousing at Humane Society of New York
A Companion Animal Care Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM TheirTurn.net
February 2022

Former Adoptions Director speaks about the management culture that enables warehousing to take place and her decision to come out of retirement to advocate on their behalf.

New York Humane Society

Bonnie Tischler, the former Adoptions Director of The Humane Society of New York (HSNY), is sounding the alarm about animal warehousing at the prominent cat and dog shelter on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. When she retired in early 2020 after serving for 22 years, Tischler assumed that her boss, Executive Director Sandra DeFeo, would hire a replacement.

In August 2021, she learned that a whistleblower was reporting that adoptions had come to a virtual standstill and that the shelter was closed to the public for the indefinite future. In an on-camera interview with TheirTurn, Tischler speaks about the plight of the animals, the management culture that enables warehousing to take place and her decision to come out of retirement to advocate on their behalf.

caged Kitten

Upon learning about the warehousing allegations in August 2021, TheirTurn conducted a two-month investigation and, in October 2021, posted a detailed report.

The investigation, which corroborated the whistleblower allegations, revealed the following:

  1. HSNY ignores adoption applications. (TheirTurn knows of 13 individuals who did not receive a response after submitting applications.)
  2. HSNY’s website lists just 14 of the reported 90 animals in the shelter.
  3. HSNY does virtually no adoption promotion on social media. (In response to a letter-writing campaign, HSNY made two unconvincing posts on Instagram)
  4. Adopters are not meeting the animals because the shelter is closed to the public.
  5. Sandra DeFeo is misleading the public about why the building is closed. HSNY’s website states that it’s due to COVID, but a lawyer retained by TheirTurn asserts that HSNY would expose itself to another ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) lawsuit if it reopens without making the building accessible to the public. If COVID was the reason for restricted access to the building, then DeFeo could allow vaccinated, masked adopters into the building to meet the animals who need homes.

Read the ENTIRE INVESTIGATIVE REPORT from THEIRTURN.NET here.

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