November 25, 2008

Jenny Olsen cradles an orphaned kitten at the New York City Animal Care and Control's Harlem shelter. She co-runs Safety Net, a program that helps cash-strapped pet owners keep their animals out of city shelters. (Pet Pulse Photo by Amy Lieberman)

NEW YORK -- Sitting in an animal shelter's lobby for six hours with a crossword puzzle is a good day for Jenny Olsen.

It means people aren't surrendering their animals to the shelter -- and that Olsen doesn't have to talk them out of it.

Monday morning was relatively uneventful for the co-organizer of Safety Net, a New York City Animal Care and Control program devoted to catching desperate pet owners when they fall under financial constraints.

"Surrenders are on the rise, but adoptions are, too," said Olsen, her eyes automatically shifting to the swiveling doors of the ACC's 110th street shelter, scanning for hesitant owners and pets.

"People come in and we talk to them. We say, 'If we could help you solve your problem, whatever your problem is, would you want to keep your pet?' "

More often than not, the answer is no. Of the hundreds of people that Olsen and other Safety Net volunteers encounter in shelter lobbies each month, around 60 percent of owners still surrender their pets.

But then there are the hundreds of other New Yorkers who are willing to fight for their pets, those who pave a way through disastrous situations.

Safety Net, established two years ago, provides New York City pet owners with almost anything needed to prevent a surrender: low cost veterinary fees, food, animal behavior training, legal assistance, boarding and foster homes.

The condition for eligibility -- aside from dire financial strain -- is simple.

"If people don't want to work with us, it won't work," Olsen said. "We can't do it all for them."

What Safety Net does, though, is quite a bit. With the help of 40 volunteers, it operates a seven-day-a-week hotline service, fielding calls about everything from fleas to foreclosures.

The necessity of the go-to network is clear: in January, 115 pet owners called seeking assistance. Last month, 240 people picked up the phone in the name of their pets.

Volunteer Leah Bonnema's phone sessions with clients mostly focus on foreclosure and medical crises. Those cases typically involve people struggling with astronomical vet fees, or temporary housing arrangements that do not allow for pets.

People also remain largely unaware that when animals go into an ACC shelter -- which by law is not permitted to turn any animal away -- they risk euthanasia.

"People need to know what their options are," the professional comedian said. "They don't want their pets to be hurting. The people who are calling us are making an effort, and I haven't seen anyone who isn't willing to try."

Queens native Tony Aponte is one Safety Net client who certainly falls under the "trying" category. Within the past two months, both Aponte and his fiance lost their jobs. Last week, they were evicted from their studio apartment in Jackson Heights.

Aponte brushed off their ongoing stay at a local homeless shelter, focusing only on who he described as a "very, very good boy": Rocky, his 7-year-old American Pit Bull.

"My concern was not having a place for him to be beside us. Just to lay down with us in the bed," Aponte said.

Rocky had been living in the couple's van for the past week, as their shelter does not allow pets. Aponte has been trying to spend as much time as he can with the dog, leaving him alone only after 11 p.m., the shelter's curfew hour.

As Aponte described his dire situation during a phone interview, he was driving around Manhattan in the van, with Rocky snoring in the backseat.

"On Tuesday morning, we walked Rocky and put him in the van and people called the police, thinking the dog was abandoned. The police came and it was this whole big show, saying that we couldn't be leaving him there," Aponte said.

With the looming threat of abandoning Rocky in a shelter, Aponte called Safety Net's hotline. Olsen, whom he dubbed an "angel from above," sprang into action with the rest of her team, including co-organizer Joy Friedman.

Like the majority of their volunteers, Olsen and Friedman, who hold full-time jobs, consider themselves "unpaid employees," Olsen says.

Their work led to Rocky's recent placement in a temporary boarding center, which costs around $80 a week, with the hope that a more permanent foster home will soon become available.

Safety Net can't afford to front veterinary or any other fees, Olsen says, and has thus far relied primarily on the kindness of volunteers to fill in the gaps.

The program has five dog trainers and one cat behaviorist on hand to offer free phone consultation services; it has relationships with 21 veterinarians, who offer treatment at a reduced rate, normally by 40 percent.

Three lawyers also work pro-bono with Safety Net, allowing the program to tackle tenant related issues, which prevent owners from keeping their pets in apartment buildings.

The attorneys have helped justify cases of pet ownership for people who are suffering from emotional and psychological issues, which, they argued, could be alleviated by the animals' therapeutic nature.

Yet the goal, Olsen says, is to anticipate crises before they become unmanageable.

"This program is about prevention," she said. "The idea is, let's get this under control before these animals ever have to go into a shelter. Let's just nip it in the bud."

Some problems, however, can't always be fully anticipated.

Six months ago, Sadie Judge was working as an instructor at Brooklyn College and living in Staten Island with her four cats. An illness then forced her to quit her job -- soon after, she lost her apartment.

She moved around with her four cats, staying with different friends and family. Then one roommate became impatient with Judge's progress in finding homes for the cats.

Taking matters into her own hands, she had her boyfriend drop the cats off at a shelter, without telling Judge first.

"It was always just me and the kitty cats. I never married and I have no children," Judge said. "To see them caged like that [in the shelter], I was just crying. I said to them, 'I am coming back and I am going to get you out.' "

After one foster home failed to materialize, Olsen took two of the cats into her own apartment. Judge says throughout her time working with Safety Net, she has witnessed similar truly empathetic actions and attitudes.

"It wasn't like anyone told me I don't fit their rules or regulations," Judge said. "They weren't saying, 'We are so sorry, but we can't help you.' The level of professionalism and empathy that the program has exhibited is phenomenal."

Safety Net, Olsen says, is still trying to recruit additional volunteers and foster homes. For more information, visit NYCACC.org/safetynet.htm.

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