NOT
Euthanising Animals
And, not only was Mr. Hart terminated, the shelter's board has reinstated the shelter's euthanasia policy, concentrating on population control and killing the poor animals rather than trying to find homes for them.
We must write letters protesting this injustice. First of all, the Life Policy needs to be reinstated; i.e., concentrate on finding these poor animals homes rather than killing them. Secondly, the current board members need to be replaced with new board members. Thirdly, Tom Hart either needs to be part of a transition team to reinstate the policies that were in effect under his direction, or Tom Hart needs to be reinstated as Director of the Assisi Center.
If the practices of the current board are allowed to continue, hundreds of poor innocent animals will die.
These poor animals are victims of the shelter's board. They have no control over what the board does. The board holds power over them, and the board has made the decision to kill them. We need to do everything in our power to stop them. We can't let these poor little babies be killed just because of the actions of a group of arrogant, uncaring, irresponsible individuals.
Please write your letters, and address them "To Whom It May Concern", and email them to me at [email protected]. Tom Hart is in the process of filing a law suit against the board and the shelter to try to get the Life Policy reinstated and, at this time, we do not know who we will need to address the letters to, but, if you will email your letters to me, I will forward them to Mr. Hart.
Thank you.
Jamie J. Knight
Animal shelter reinst
The shelter serves Jersey City, Hoboken, West New York, Secaucus and Bayonne.
The board has reversed a change made by former Executive Director Tom Hart when he took over in the summer of 2000. Hart had stopped the policy of euthanizing animals after seven days at the shelter. But Hart was fired three weeks ago from his non-paying position for reasons that board members attributed to financial problems.
After the SPCA Board voted to oust Hart, various board members resigned and new ones were nominated. Once again, the board consists of nine members who said they face financial problems amidst an overcrowded shelter.
"All you're doing is amassing cages all over the place," said Stanley Rotopel, a North Bergen Municipal Utilities employee who was appointed to the board two weeks ago. Rotopel noted that some municipalities have stopped using the Assisi Center as a resource for abandoned animals because of the lack of room. He said that these municipalities had served as a revenue stream for the shelter in the past that it desperately needs now.
President of the North Hudson Regional Health Commission Louis Manzo attended the Nov. 8 board meeting in an advisory capacity. "They decided to have a euthanasia program, but they want a vet to come in and hear from people what kind of euthanasia policy to adopt," Manzo said. "They've got dogs down there that have been in cages for over a year. That is extremely inhumane."
Manzo and Rotopel did not have a date at which the euthanasia would start again. They must first discuss it with a vet.
Rotopel said the policy will resemble the former rule that saw animals destroyed after seven days of being held at the shelter.
"Most of them are pit bulls and Rottweilers," said Rotopel. "If you can't adopt a dog within six months to a year, what else are you supposed to do?"
Since he stepped into the shelter, Tom Hart has stated that every dog is adoptable. He said that some animals have been adopted even after a year in the shelter. Hart pointed to the shelter's record of adopting 950 animals during his year-long tenure.
"The argument that it is better to euthanize an animal than to let it live in that shelter does not hold up," Hart said last week.
Rotopel said the board would implement an aggressive adoption policy that would increase community awareness about the shelter. However, he argued that dogs like Rottweilers and pit bulls are not as easy to adopt as kittens and puppies. "In an idyllic world, we'd have a big farm with runs, a staff and a big budget," Rotopel said. "That's not the case."
Although Hart has managed to turn around a shelter that was harshly criticized by a State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation report for having deplorable conditions, board members contend that this transformation has burned through the non-profit organization's budget. "They are in financial straits," Manzo said. According to Manzo, the shelter has used $1 million in the last six months with few prospects of receiving additional funding.
Rotopel claimed that the shelter had a $1.2 million treasury when Hart took over, and is now left with $117,000. "There was no income coming in practically, except for some adoptions," Rotopel said.
But Hart said that the spending was not due to the no-kill policy. He said $400,000 of the fund that went to legal fees caused by incidents that occurred prior to his tenure.
In the past 10 months, the shelter spent $116,000 on veterinary bills, $17,000 on medicine, and another $20,000 on supplies. Two weeks ago, the board cut the shelter's staff from 22 people to 11 people.
Manzo suggested that the SPCA board slowly relinquish control of the Assisi Center and hand it over to the Regional Health Commission, a semi-autonomous county agency that services all the health departments for air pollution control, hazmat response, and other items that would be too costly for local health departments. "What you need is not just a Jersey City solution," Manzo said. "You need a county solution."
According to Jersey City officials and SPCA board members, the need for a euthanasia policy is based on the premise that the shelter is overpopulated and incapable of housing all the stray animals in Hudson County.
"It's not like we're inundated with animals roaming the streets," Hart said, accusing city officials, board members, and the Jersey City animal control officers for exaggerating the number of stray animals to promote their personal agendas.
Emergency shelter
Whether or not the problem is of a great magnitude, Jersey City animal inspection officers have been taking stray animals to an emergency shelter by the Liberty Science Center. The two-story cinder block building houses approximately 10 pets at a time.
"They built an emergency shelter until they can find a permanent solution," Manzo said. "Under state health law, if the health officer declares an emergency, he can do that."
The Hudson County SPCA is a non-profit organization that has no ties to a national organization. Although it has worked in partnership with municipal health departments to clear stray animals from the streets, its decisions are made independently from government agencies.
The Hudson County SPCA board members are: Mary Avagaliano, a former Jersey City councilwoman; Harriet Hughes, an accountant at a bank; Dennis Salerno, an attorney; Frank Falcicchio; Richard Green, a purchasing agent for Hudson County; Brian Gajewski, a Jersey City police officer; Frank Alonso, a retail store manager and Union City resident; Hector Carbajales; and Stanley Rotopel, an employee of the North Bergen Municipal Utilities Authority.
Hughes declined to comment when contacted, and Avagaliano did not answer her phone when called for comment.
Rotopel was appointed to the board at the Nov. 8 meeting. When asked how he came to be involved, Rotopel said that someone nominated him. He said that the board has visited the shelter a few times since the meeting.
To adopt an animal, call 435-3557 and make an appointment to visit the shelter on 480 Johnston Ave., Jersey City. Photos and information about some of the animals can be found on the web site at www.theassisicenter.org (note that it's dot-org rather than dot-com).
Cheryl Jewhurst
Glenn D. Cunningham
Mayor
280 Grove Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Phone: (201) 547-5200
Fax: (201) 547-4833
The Assisi Center
480 Johnston Avenue
Jersey City, NJ 07304
Phone: 201-435-3557
Fax: 201-435-1705
Email: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.theassisicenter.org/about.htm
the Editor at The Jersey City Reporter
Sample Letter Below
Contributed By:
Karryn Hart
City of Jersey City
280 Grove Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Phone: (201) 547-5200
Fax: 201-547-4833
Re: Tom Hart and The Assisi Center
Dear Mayor Cunningham;
We are writing in regards to the Board of the Assisi Center's firing of what appears the only caring person associated in the proper care of and helping these homeless companions find new homes.
How privileged your community 'was' to have a man with compassion, fore-sight and the back-bone to stand up for these 'disposable pets'. From the readings of prior articles, it appears the community as a whole was very approving of Tom Hart's work and the fact he adopted over 950 homeless pets in a (14) fourteen month period speaks highly of his doing an excellent job.
We are so concerned for the future of those trusting animals who are now left at the hands of people who could care less, like the prior cruel and violent persons who committed such horror on their charges.
Please see that Tom Hart is reinstated to carry on his compassionate ways to these deserving animals.
It sounds like a new Shelter is necessary, and adoptions, dog tags and a reasonable priced spay and neuter clinic would bring in money and reduce the population of unwanted pets. Education of the people on the subject of spay and neuter, with a clinic available, would reduce the large numbers of unwanted animals. This would stop the unacceptable slaughter of animals deserving of homes.
Killing is the easy and cheapest way of remove the problem, short time fix, it is not stopping the problem.
Tom Hart deserves a big " Thank You ", not the slap in the face he received by this Board .
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
� To enhance our animals' quality of life, so that each might live in the healthiest and happiest manner possible
� To accomplish these aims in a proactive manner by means of formal education and public awareness programs, activities, and events, and by addressing the needs of any and all animals who might become homeless, abandoned, displaced, ill or injured
� To provide an appropriate living environment for such animals through sheltering, fostering, relocation, and adoption programs
� To provide professional veterinary care for animals in need, including disease prevention, health maintenance, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and appropriate spay and neuter services
� To preserve and sustain the life and the dignity of our animals
� Euthanasia shall be employed solely at the behest of a veterinarian and only when absolutely necessary for humane reasons
� To serve as Hudson County's environmental life center, and to promote the importance and the rewards of interaction between human individuals and families, and the area's animal life
Ex-director of county animal shelter, and others, try to understand reason for his firing.
By: Prescott Tolk
Reporter staff writer November 11, 2001
The shelter serves Jersey City, Hoboken, Secaucus, West New York and Bayonne, although due to recent overcrowding at the facility, Secaucus and West New York have been trying to hold a limited number of dogs on their own.
Hart's dismissal came as a shock to the people who viewed Hart's year-long tenure as a time of rebuilding for the beleaguered facility. Fearing that the shelter would return to its former condition, dozens of residents and animal activists staged a protest outside the facility a week ago Sunday in response to the firing. Hart attended the rally as well.
"I went down because I wanted to stress the point that it's not about me," Hart said.
As the controversy over his firing has caused a public outcry, board members have ducked questions. Hudson County SPCA Board Chairman Mary Avagliano refused to comment last week. Ed Pulver, a 15-year member of the board who resigned after taking the vote on Hart, attributed the decision to remove Hart to "financial reasons."
With board members refusing to comment, the outlying cause for Hart's dismissal has been the subject of speculation.
Avagliano replaced Pulver as chairman of the board during the summer. Hart, who served with Avagliano on the City Council from 1981-85, said that his dismissal was a result of a "personal vendetta" Avagliano has against him.
According to Hart, the controversy arose after he discussed a financial settlement for $100,000 with Jersey City for the services the shelter provided for the past year. The shelter is an independent entity that is supposed to be reimbursed from other towns who contract with it.
Alex Booth, Jersey City's corporate counsel, said that he met with Hart recently to negotiate a settlement, but was forced to end the negotiations when he was told that Hart did not have the authority to make such a deal.
Two days after the meeting, Mary Avagliano and Dennis Salerno - one of Hart's childhood friends - entered the Assisi Center to dismiss the executive director, Hart said.
"She berated me for an hour," Hart said, "asking who am I to go and meet with the mayor."
Jersey City Mayor Glenn Cunningham, who has visited the Assisi Center twice since he took office, said he saw vast improvements in the conditions since Tom Hart took over. Before Hart's ascendance, the facility had been cited by the state for health violations. One shelter employee was fired for allegedly beating a dog with a shovel. And then, a report released in December of 2000 by the state's Commission on Investigations accused a board member's brother, a volunteer at the shelter, of having taken dog food to sell to a private guard dog company. "The Hudson County SPCA is a loosely run financial operation with no controls, no procedures and no policies," read the SCI report. "The abuses were many and the diversion of money rampant."
Cunningham said that he will ask the board to reconsider Hart's firing, and would even allow Hart, who works full-time on special projects for the Jersey City Department of Recreation, to use two hours a day of his city-paid time to spend at the shelter. Hart had been volunteering at the shelter in his off-hours.
However, it remains unclear who is actually on the shelter's board of directors. Pulver refused to comment and Avagliano repeatedly hung up the phone when asked to comment on matters relating to the shelter.
After Hart was dismissed, the board appointed Hector Rosario, an employee of the shelter for 25 years, as the interim director. Unlike Hart, Rosario has been a paid employee of the shelter, but did not receive a raise with the new title.
Hart said he applauds Rosario's work with animals.
However, the board also fired six other employees after Hart's dismissal, causing Hart to cry out that the shelter is going back to its "old ways." He fears that this will soon lead to a moratorium on his no-kill policy.
Rosario released a statement Thursday that indicated he would keep that policy intact. He assured that he "will do everything within my power as the Center's Interim Executive Director to insure the preservation of life and dignity and health of all the animals that become residents of the Assisi Center."
The statement disclosed that the shelter is in financial trouble, however, and is in need of "dog food, cat food, cat litter, blankets, towels, cleaning supplies, paper towels, mops and monetary donations to operate the phone, lights and heat."
Hart become the executive director last summer when the shelter formerly known as the Hudson County SPCA, was in shambles. Marred by reported incidents of animal abuse, unsanitary conditions, and operating without a license, the shelter needed change fast. Hart, an animal lover with 35 years of experience in non-profit organizations, changed the facility's name to the Assisi Center and instilled the "no-kill" policy. This has remained a controversial issue, as people saw it as a prelude to overcrowding.
Hart said he has proven that that is not the case.
After eliminating the staff he determined inadequate, he began using a web site to increase the amount of pets being adopted. Under his direction, 950 animals were adopted.
The shelter is located at 480 Johnston Ave. in Jersey City and can be reached at 435-3557.
"Animal shelter director terminated"
By: Caren Lissner
October 28, 2001
Hart, an animal lover and full-time employee with the city of Jersey City, took over as director a year ago in order to help steer the agency out of numerous problems that had plagued it.
The shelter had been beset by poor conditions, a board that was said to have
rarely met, and a situation in which one employee was charged with beating a dog with a shovel. In December of 2000, an independent state commission released a report stating that before Hart took over, the shelter harbored "a number of fraudulent schemes to divert the shelter's funds."
The report alleged that one employee was routinely taking dog food from the shelter and re-selling it to a guard dog company.
Nevertheless, Hart was controversial when he took over. He declined to euthanize animals in the shelter, thus leaving little room for new animals to be brought in. Hart defended the act last week, saying that he has adopted out 950 animals since he took over 14 months ago.
Rival animal welfare groups in the county also have been trying to raise money for a new, larger shelter, saying that this is a better idea than fixing up the old shelter.
Friday, Hart said of his termination, "I'm angry and I'm saddened. I'm concerned about what's going to happen down there. This is not about Tom Hart. It's about the animals down there. I have 35 years of experience with non-profits. We're not an animal shelter. We're a life center."
Hart said that he was hoping to talk to the board members about the situation.
Assisi Center board attorney Thomas Giblin of Union did not return a phone call by press time.
More information will be reported as the story develops.
County animal shelter celebrates first anniversary under new management
By: Prescott Tolk
Reporter staff writer August 12, 2001
When Ruffles arrived at the Assisi Center, which serves several Hudson County towns, he was practically immobile, crippled by a serious hip displacement and a case of pneumonia. With the help of surrounding animal hospitals and persistent nurturing from the center's staff, Ruffles not only regained his health, but also became the center's mascot. Now there is a "Ruffles Fund" in honor of his recovery.
As the center celebrates its first year since changing its name from the generic SPCA of Hudson County, Ruffles serves as a model of what the center has accomplished since Hart took over as the executive director last year.
Like Ruffles, the center is also back on its feet after experiencing some tough times, largely stemming from accusations in the recent past of animal neglect and mismanagement.
Despite the public relations fiasco, the center has survived the storm and Hart looks back on the year with pride on the accomplishments.
Then and now
For one thing, the cramped quarters of yesteryear have been replaced with a spacious layout that gives abandoned animals a viable home. The center has also restructured most of its physical dimensions by vacating an entire building next door that was used for storage by the SPCA, and creating two more rooms for dogs as well as a medical room where sick pets spend their days until they are rehabilitated.
All together, there are five rooms that shelter approximately 90 dogs and a separate room for an estimated 20 cats.
Each pet occupies its own cage, giving him or her enough space to stand up and move around.
"The perception is that they are animals in a cage," said Eddie Lawson, the executive assistant at the shelter. "But they're hanging out."
For larger dogs, 28 kennels provide a bigger living space, allowing the dogs to roam around in the cage and even walk outside through a square opening. The new rooms for the animals have made it more manageable for the staff to conduct routine clean-ups, providing a sanitary environment.
The newly installed medical room has allowed the staff to give animals better medical care. When a new animal is admitted, it immediately receives a physical examination.
"Our first step is to cure the animal of any illness, and then make sure they are happy," said Christiana Rivera, the veterinary technician. The center gives the animals the necessary vaccinations, checks them for fleas and ticks and gives them pills to prevent heartworm disease
The center's 15-member staff - a mix of employees and volunteers - play a large role in the animals' mental health as well, by regularly taking them out for walks and giving them an opportunity to get exercise in a fenced-in area that serves as a dog run.
"The state law says they must be out of the cages at least 20 minutes a day," Lawson said, "but we take them out for a good hour."
In another effort to keep the animals mentally healthy, the center implemented a foster program that allows people to take animals home temporarily or spend time with them at the shelter.
Heidi Gluck, a Jersey City resident, has not had a pet since her dog died seven months ago. After taking a dog named Mahogany home for the night, she is debating whether or not to keep the mixed breed. "It may turn into an ownership," Gluck said.
Hart said that the shelter has adopted out 800 cats and dogs in the past year.
Adopting, not killing
Also, the center has partnered with schools to take part in the fostering programs.
Schools like P.S. No. 3 have donated food and toys to the shelter as well as visited it on a learning expedition. Lawson, who formed these partnerships, would like schools to adopt living spaces to take an active part in what goes on in them, so that members of the community would ultimately have a stake in the shelter.
While the center provides animals with a temporary home, animal rights groups have criticized Hart's refusal to endorse euthanasia practices for animals after a certain period of time, like most shelters do. As far as Hart is concerned, "You respect all living things."
The predominant philosophy for animal shelters has been that animals are better off dead than living in a shelter, according to Hart. "We have clearly shown that you don't have to do that," he said. To stress this point, Hart refers to the Assisi Center as a "life center," making a distinction between the shelters and dog pounds that practice euthanasia.
Looking ahead
After making these improvements in just one year, Hart has new goals for the center.
According to him, the center and Jersey City were often at odds with one another during former mayor Bret Schundler's administration. Hart, who is a long-time friend of Mayor Glenn Cunningham, said that he is confident that the new administration will work with the center. In fact, Sandra Cunningham, the mayor's wife, visited the center for the first time on Wednesday.
"The animals look enthusiastic and healthy," she said, after touring the building.
They also plan to get a "Spay Mobile" that will travel through the neighborhood and provide spaying services in an effort to stop the population of abandoned animals from growing. The mobile, according to Hart, would roughly cost $100,000 per year to operate. It would also serve as a way to educate the community about the need to spay animals.
In October, the center will sponsor a two-day street festival in the adjacent lot to attract the community and educate them about the center's role.
No-kill policy part of the 'life center'
08/04/01
Hart's most dramatic move was to eliminate the policy of euthanizing dogs and cats that had only slim prospects for adoption. While putting down animals that have been sheltered for seven days or more may be routine in other parts of the country, it doesn't happen any more at the Hudson SPCA.
"Killing a dog or a cat because someone thinks it is unadoptable is not euthanasia, it's murder," said Hart. "We believe that there is no such thing as an animal that is not adoptable."
That in mind, Hart and volunteers at the center have expanded efforts to find new homes for pets that were previously considered undesirable. Cuddly pictures of pit bulls, who account for 90 percent of the center's dog population, are posted on the Web to tempt even the busiest or farthest afield animal lover into adopting.
Thanks in large part to these postings, Hart said, the shelter has helped 800 animals find new homes in places as far away as Maine and Wisconsin over the last year.
Hart trumpets these efforts as evidence that a no-kill or limited-kill policy can work.
But some animal rights activists, including the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an international animal rights group, are angry about the fact that the only animals now euthanized at the facility are those that need to be put down for medical reasons.
In a letter mailed last November, a PETA spokesperson urged Hart to reverse center policy, arguing that "a painless release from the world" is often preferable to relegating an animal to "a lifetime in a cage."
Such criticism clearly stings the executive director.
"We are not a shelter," he said angrily Thursday. "We are a life center."
And under his watch, he has worked hard to try to ensure that the approximately 100 dogs and 40 cats under the center's care are not relegated to an uncomfortable life behind bars.
One way Hart has tried to improve the lives of the animals that end up at the shelter is by increasing their contact with people.
Thanks to a new "Foster Parent" program, dubbed "Big Puppies-Big Kittens," an animal lover can come to the center and temporarily adopt a dog or a cat. And many have.
Some take the animals home for the weekend. Others just walk them around the park near the shelter. Many, like new board of directors member Frank Falcicchio, take a dog home for the weekend and never bring it back.
"It's been a very long, long weekend," Falcicchio said recently.
Efforts have also been made to improve the facility itself. A building that was previously barely used has been cleaned up. It's now filled with barking dogs, a vet tech and "animal psychologists" who attend to them.
Down the road, Hart hopes to open up "a cattery" in a smallish room at the facility's center. The cattery, according to Hart's vision, would be a place where cats could run and play free from the confines of their cages.
"They could even stretch in the sun," said Hart, pointing excitedly to a back window.
Air conditioning and classical music are amenities the executive director would like to add soon as well.
Other changes over the past year include the name. The Assisi Center was added to the Hudson SPCA Animal Shelter to honor the saint who is said to be the first ever-animal rights activist.
Even the board of directors is different. Seven of the 10 members are new additions since Hart took over.
Hart also has plans to do some preventive work in the community to cut down on the number of animals that have to be brought to the center in the first place.
The SPCA is currently seeking $100,000 to run a community "spay mobile." The mobile, which could be up and running as soon as this fall, will tour the area providing spay and neuter services to the community for free.
"We are bringing the mountain to Mohammed," said Hart, thrusting his fist in the air. "As soon as this starts, it will cut the local animal population by one-third."
While critics admit that under Hart's watch the conditions for some animals have improved, they say they're still concerned about the direction the facility is going.
In particular, they argue that Hart's no-kill policy has left no space in the shelter for animals that should be taken in.
"There are animals left wandering the streets, or in abusive homes because the shelter has no place to put them," said Norrice Raymaker, a local activist who hopes to one day open a shelter of her own.
"He is causing all sorts of problems by not accepting these animals. He's endangering the public health and overwhelming other agencies that seek to help - not to mention what it does to the animals."
But Hart is unapologetic. Though at times he admits an animal's admission to the center has to be delayed, he said he's convinced that a limited euthanasia policy combined with the spay mobile is a more humane way to solve problems created by stray and unwanted animals.
All this is part of a larger mission Hart says he sees the Assisi Center playing in the community.
"We are trying to show that no particular group is superior to another," he said. "If I can think that I am superior to a dog, I also can think that I am superior to you. All kinds of things, like the Holocaust, happened because one group thought they were superior to another. We are not. And that is what we are trying to show here."
To contact the center, call 435-3557 or look it up at its Web site at www.theassisicenter.org. The shelter posts descriptions of animals for adoption at at www.petfinder.org.
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