Friday, April 16, 2010

More Kittens! And more and more and more...


Jay's kittens -- two girls and a boy



Without our foster families and our volunteers, A Tail at a Time would not be able to save the animals we save.  Kitten season is here in full bloom and we need help.  We're seeing more and more kittens on the alert lists, and just this weekend a cat we pulled from the kill list gave birth to three more.

While the number of euthanized animals has dropped in the past years, there are still thousands and thousands of healthy, affectionate, young, friendly cats and dogs killed annually simply because of lack of space and funds.  From February 2009 to January 2010, twenty-eight thousand one hundred sixty-eight (28,168) cats came into the NYC shelters.  Three hundred ninety-eight (398) of those cats were claimed and returned to their owners.  Eighteen thousand three hundred sixty-three (18,363) were adopted (either by individuals or adoption groups) and eight thousand one hundred eighty-eight (8,188) were euthanized.*

Each day, Tracey and Kathleen (founders of A Tail), receive an alert list from Animal Care & Control, which informs them of all new arrivals.  Thanks to kitten season, we are seeing nearly a hundred new feline arrivals each afternoon.  Some of the new arrivals are as young as three days and some are as old as nine years.  Some were surrendered by owners who are moving, getting a divorce, or having a baby.  Some were found as strays, wandering the street, crying for food, eager to be petted, stroked and picked up.  Some are there because their owner died and no one else wants them.  Some are there because their families don't want to deal with a cat and her new litter of kittens.

The good news is that you can help.  You can volunteer for an animal rescue organization by helping at adoption events, you can spread the word about free spay/neuter programs, you can foster a pet (or several!), you can encourage friends who want to buy a pet to adopt one instead.  We are a small group now, but it's our mission to recruit more fosters so we can save more animals, and it's our dream to have a greater impact on the people of NYC, who's responsibility it is to make sure that all of their pets are spayed and neutered.

The fact of the matter is that the animals pouring into the ACC every day are victims of people who are too busy, too distracted, and too uninformed.  We can change that.  We can't save all the animals, but we can save a tail at a time.

If you'd like to help, please email us at info@atailatatime.org or visit our website www.atailatatime.org for more information.  And always, always, always opt to adopt!



*Statistics taken from the NYC ACC website www.nycacc.org

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