New York Post, Thursday, December 3, 2020nypost.comBy GaBrielle
FonrouGeThis watchdog has no
bite.
A long-promised city
office meant to oversee
New York’s pet-shelter
system is barely func-
tioning, even as a scan-
dal exposed by The Post
engulfs the Big Apple’s
Animal Care Center.
Mayor de Blasio signed
a law in 2019 that would
create an Office of Ani-
mal Welfare — but more
than a year later, the
agency is staffed with
just a single known
worker and has done
hardly anything.
“It is unacceptable that
at this late date this criti-
cal office appears to not
be functioning,” City
Councilman Mark Le-
vine (D-Manhattan) told
The Post.
The comment comes
following a Post investi-
gation that revealed
squalid and neglectful
conditions at the Brook-
lyn Animal Care Center,
including dogs left with-
out water for hours on
end and filthy cages filled
with urine and feces,
which was backed up
with photos and videos.
“One of the prime
functions of the office is
to adjudicate complaints
about our animal-shelter
system,” Levine contin-
ued, adding the office in
its current form is “inca-
pable of responding to
these current highly dis-
turbing allegations.”
Councilman Justin
Brannan (D-Brooklyn)
sent a letter to the of-
fice’s only known em-
ployee, senior commu-
nity liaison Christine
Kim from the city’s Com-munity Affairs Unit, on
Oct. 26, demanding more
information, including a
list of staff.
While a call was ar-
ranged to placate the
councilman, it was just
“more of the same,”
Brannan recalled.
“We all celebrated and
high-fived each other
and then nothing hap-
pened,” Brannan said.
There are no social-
media accounts belong-
ing to the agency and its
only online presence is a
Web site.
That page includes
press releases from
other agencies and a list
of de Blasio’s animal-
welfare accomplish-
ments prior to the of-
fice’s creation.
“Not having a real of-
fice aside from a Web
site is a real problem be-
cause it was a bill signed
into law so I don’t know
what the city’s excuse
is,” Brannan fumed.
Following the agency’s
apparent creation, its
main accomplishment
was establishing a COV-
ID-19 emergency pet hot-
line. City Hall noted it got
emergency shelter for
more than 19,000 animals.
However, the hotline’s
programs were discon-
tinued on Oct. 4, right as
the Big Apple began to
feel the effects of a sec-
ond COVID-19 wave, ac-
cording to a recording
that plays when the hot-
line is phoned.
In response, mayoral
rep Avery Cohen spoke
only of the interagency
pet-response plan, writ-
ing in a statement, “No
city has been more re-
sponsive to the needs of
animal owners through-
out the pandemic.”City-shelter oversight a ‘failure’
A dog’s LIFE: While this poor pup lives in subpar conditions at the
Brooklyn Animal Care Center, the city oversight office is barely functioning.Come for the diamonds,
stay for the dogs.
Dozens of rescue dogs
and cats will be available
for adoption Thursday at a
Long Island jewelry store,
carrying on an annual tra-
dition with pandemic pre-
cautions in place.
The Rescue Paw Foun-
dation is among thegroups London Jewelers is
partnering with for the an-
nual Champions for Char-
ity event, which sees busi-
nesses devote a cut of their
profits to causes they sup-
port.
London’s Manhasset lo-
cation, however, will de-
liver both bucks and barks,
playing host to dozens offurry friends looking for a
home for the holidays.
The dogs and cats will
hail from groups the Res-
cue Paw Foundation works
with, including: The
Southampton Animal
Shelter Foundation, Bide -
awee, Jake’s Rescue Ranch,
Ruff House Rescue and the
New York City chapter ofCamp Happy Tails Rescue.
The adoption event will
be held between 4 p.m.
and 8 p.m. at the London
Jewelers at 2046 Northern
Blvd.
Where past partnerships
have included both indoor
and outdoor components,
this year’s adoption drive
will be a strictly outdooraffair with ample social
distancing in light of the
coronavirus pandemic.
The rolling nationwide
lockdowns have seen iso-
lated Americans increas-
ingly adopt pets for com-
panionship, from New
York to Chicago to Califor-
nia, shelters report.
Aaron FeisLI jeweler offers precious pups
Hong Kong pro-democracy ac-
tivist Joshua Wong and two others
were sentenced to jail Wednesday
over anti-government protests
that rocked the region last year.
Wong, 24, received 13½ months
after pleading guilty to organizing
and taking part in the June 21, 2019,
rally outside Hong Kong’s police
headquarters over a controversial
extradition bill and police use of
force against protesters.
Two others, Agnes Chow and
Ivan Lam, also copped to charges.
Chow got 10 months for partici-
pating and inciting other protest-
ers and Lam was given seven
months on incitement charges.
The three are among more than
10,000 people who have been ar-
rested since June 2019 in connec-
tion to the protests against a pro-
posed bill that would have allowed
extradition to mainland China.
Late last month, just before he
was taken into custody, Wong
vowed that he wouldn’t back
down from his work.
“I am persuaded that neither
prison bars, nor election ban, nor
any other arbitrary powers would
stop us from activism,” he said.
He also admitted that he was “a
bit scared” to spend time behind
bars. Lia Eustachewich, Wires
HK protest
trio jailed
A British Airways employee
who was “deeply in love” with a
baggage handler 24 years her jun-
ior allegedly died at his hands
after a “passionate and turbulent”
romance he pursued to fund his
drug habit, according to a report.
Nelly Myers, 58, a customer-ser-
vice worker at London’s Gatwick
Airport, was found dead at her
home in Rotherfield, East Sussex,
about a year ago, the Sun reported
after a court hearing.
The divorced mother of two be-
came “totally obsessed” with
Jayesh Gobar, whom she met at
work, but he was “only interested
in her money” to buy drugs, the
report said. Gobar has denied
murder charges. Yaron Steinbuch
A turbulent and
deadly romance
A three-story apartment build-
ing collapsed in Alexandria,
Egypt, killing at least six people
Wednesday, officials said.
Rescue workers were looking
for any survivors trapped under
rubble, an official said.
Alexandria’s governor said ini-
tial reports suggested two families
of nine people were inside at the
time of the collapse. AP
Bldg. collapse horror