New York State Assembly Member Micah Kellner has asked the Mayor and Health Commissioner of New York City to repeal a new policy at the pound which appears designed to intimidate and silence volunteers.
According to the letter Assembly Member Kellner sent to the Mayor, "Animal Care & Control of New York City (ACC) recently unveiled a new volunteer policy that threatens to expel volunteers for exercising their rights to free speech and to petition their government for redress of grievances. Specifically, the policy states that volunteers may not 'publicly criticiz[e]' or cast the agency 'in a negative light' without permission from ACC. It also prohibits them from '[p]osting [criticism] on any internet site such as Facebook, My Space, Craig’s List, etc.' It further states that '[v]olunteers are prohibited from distributing their personal information, or opinions in regards [to ACC] volunteers, staff, animals, and/or policies to the public.' Those who do 'will be terminated.' This policy violates the constitutional rights of volunteers."
Federal law prohibits “a state or municipal government to take action designed to prevent or intimidate people from exercising their First Amendment rights, or punish them for doing so, and there can be no dispute that complaining about neglectful and abusive conditions at animal shelters is a constitutionally protected right."
The new policy comes after complaints by volunteers and others about inhumane conditions at ACC including “animals wallowing in their own waste, cats and kittens going without food and water for extended periods of time, dogs not being properly socialized, ongoing killing of healthy animals, and failure to treat medical conditions.”
New York City has claimed that ACC is an independent non-profit, but federal courts have ruled that applicable civil rights laws apply to a private agency performing the function of a municipal animal shelter. In reality, however, ACC is a government agency. As indicated in the letter to the Mayor, "it was created by the Giuliani administration, has a singular mission of running animal control for the City, operates under city-owned and controlled facilities, and has a governing structure dominated by the City. While ACC was formed as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, it operates as a de facto government agency; it is controlled by you as Mayor and Health Commissioner. But even in the unlikely event a court determines ACC is an independent agency, the City is still subject to liability under Section 1983. Indeed, a number of federal courts already have ruled that Section 1983 applies to a private agency performing the function of a municipal animal shelter."
The No Kill Advocacy Center has called the new policy "an illegal attempt to intimidate and silence volunteers which cannot be allowed to stand. Volunteers are the voice of the animals and the conscience of the community. Silencing them allows the New York City pound to continue neglecting animals and killing them needlessly. If the volunteers are silenced through this unconstitutional policy, the animals won't stand a chance."
In 2007, the No Kill Advocacy Center sued the County of Los Angeles for retaliating against a volunteer who publicized inhumane conditions in that facility. The Los Angeles Superior Court applied Section 1983 and ordered the County to reinstate her.
The No Kill Advocacy Center has requested that any ACC volunteers terminated for exercising their free speech rights contact the organization: “We can provide information on resources for determining whether you have legal claims for the violation of your rights.”
For a copy of the letter, click here.
To contact the No Kill Advocacy Center, click here.
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Comments
Shelter volunteers have the right to exercise their First Amendment rights as written in the constitution! They / we should not be silenced! Thank you Assemblyman Micah Kellner and as always thank you Nathan for this article to keep us posted.
I think this law is totally wrong.
Thank you for the great article! This is an outrage!!
NYC Animal Care and Control killed 9,097 cats and 4,523 dogs this past year!!! Is that something to be proud of? This is outrageous, these poor helpless animals can't speak for themselves and the people that try to help are silenced. They are NOT even given a chance to survive. I thought we were living in a civilized society, this does not seem civilized to me. Things need to change immediately and views on animals need to change as well. This information needs to be given more attention and people need to be aware of what is going on. Thanks for the article and please continue to follow this story and make people aware.
PLEASE! STOP!! NYC SO HYPOCRISY !!! THEY KILLED SO MANY!! POOR AND INNOCENT *ANIMALS* THIS IS NOT HUMAN!! BUT LIKE KILLERS PSYCOPATHE!!! EVILS MEMBERS!!! AND TAKE CARE OF VOLUNTEERS NO BANNED THEY! PLZZZ!!! HELP US FIGTH THIS BATTLE , AND I SUPPORT YOUR CAUSE!!! FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGTH AS WRITTEN IN THE CONSTITUTION! THANK YOU FOR THIS ARTICLE BLESS YOU ALL VOLUNTEERS AND ALL ANIMALS*
Wow well you won't see that on Animal Plant...
The same attempts were made by the SF/SPCA's previous administration under Jan McHugh-Smith and her v.p. Dori Villalon. Volunteers were forbidden to speak to the press without permission. Staff were forbidden as well, it goes without saying. Rescue groups were asked to sign agreements that they would not say anything negative about the organization.
Media was always contacted immediately when such attempts to silence, intimidate and threaten occurred and the public exposure contributed to the community's outrage. Key is exposure. Keep it up. Thank you Nathan for keeping No Kill advocates across the nation updated on the foul shenanigans unfolding in NY.
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