NYC: Please contact your City Council Rep!!! See below my letter on animal-related issues...and a new City Council Speaker
Deborah Tanzer
PLEASE CROSS POST
From: <zpe...@twcmetrobiz.com>
Date: Sat, Nov 15, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Subject: Please contact your City Council Rep!!! See below my letter on animal-related issues...and a new City Council Speaker
Hi Harvey....I voted for you and I'm delighted that you will be representing me and my neighbors in the NY City Council. I know you will have a full plate but want to make sure to let you know, that many of us in the animal rights community are hoping you will be open and ready to take on the many unaddressed and neglected issues concerning animals - totally lost on your predecessor - and actually intentionally and maliciously ignored by the current Speaker.
I'll start off with Ryder's Law, and the long awaited ban of the cruel and inhumane horse carriage industry. With horses dropping dead on the streets, running amok and causing danger, injuries and chaos, there can be absolutely no justification for the presence of these suffering animals in our city. It's long past time to follow the examples set by Paris, London, Istanbul, Beijng among many others abroad - and in the US - Chicago, Dallas, Palm Beach, San Antonio, Santa Fe, Key West etc. The influence of $$$$ and the TWU, have managed to take precedence over the horrors we see happening on our streets and in Central Park...and even the CP Conservancy has finally acknowledged that it's time for that miserable industry to be gone. We hope you will be willing to address this by helping to get passage of Ryders Bill, totally shut down by the sham "hearing" just this past week.
A second urgent and equally - perhaps even more important matter - relates to the thousands of companion animals - our precious kitties and dogs, being killed in our archaic and failed shelter system; the present NYC ACC has a 32 year multi-billion dollar contract, ushered in by Di Blasio during the pandemic, providing little to no monitoring which allows shocking neglect and appalling practices, that are shunned by animal-lovers everywhere. The Mayors Office of Animal Welfare, presently headed by a former member of NYC ACC staff, the only person to deal with problems and complaints, along with a do-nothing ACC Board, make for a totally unworkable and useless set-up to deal with the real issues confronting animals. NYC ACC leadership, policies and practices are outdated and inadequate to meet the needs of a city with @600,000 dogs, and numbers close to 1,000,000 cats (one million, including strays). The immoral and senseless, unnecessary killing of so many healthy, treatable, adoptable animals is unconscionable. These are the very same animals who sleep on our beds, protect our children and bring so much joy and comfort to the elderly, the infirm, and all those families who are privileged to share their loving presence. Major change is essential and needed, NOW!
There is no longer any doubt that a separate Department of Animal Welfare may be required and that animal-related issues must be removed from the responsibility of the NY City Council Health Committee, which has enough other matters on their plate. In lieu of a special department, nothing less than a separate City Council Animal Welfare Committee, whose members are compassionate individuals concerned about the many animal related issues in our city, must be considered.
- eg: Wildlife: birds and other animals killed by ingesting poisons set down to kill rats. Millions of birds killed by window collisions, requiring laws that would mitigate the present dangers.
- Effective non-lethal deer population management relying on a combination of methods including habitat modification (planting deer-resistant species or lure crops), physical barriers like fences, and repellents and scare tactics. Also, more advanced techniques that include contraception/sterilization for reproductive control and public education to foster tolerance.
- Zoos: The Bronx Zoo, that has refused to send Happy - the very sad and suffering elephant to a sanctuary, where she would be free to roam hundreds of acres, in the company of her own kind. This very intelligent animal, is instead confined to live a solitary life, in isolation, on a tiny plot of land - totally unsuited for her and the other solitary elephant at the zoo. These 2 elephants languish in spaces comparable to your back yard, relatively speaking, devoid of interactions that would be normal with their own families/herds, the distances and stimulation of living, at the very least in a proper sanctuary.
There are undoubtedly numerous other animal-related issues that have not been properly or adequately addressed...such as animals in housing, pet shops, streets sales of kittens, birds, puppies, etc. and we hope that you will be able to be their voice at the City Council.
and....
one more thing: having heard Christopher Marte (District 1), share his very positive views on all of these issues, I hope you will support him for Speaker.
I and my followers on Facebook and social media, look forward to your response!
Many thanks,
Zelda