New Rescue Policies At Newark Animal Shelter Draw Praise, Scorn

NEWARK, NJ — There are plenty of friendly dogs and cats at the Associated Humane Societies’ facility in Newark ready for adoption. But according to an executive at the nonprofit, many are being overlooked because of “demographics,” and they’re paying the price with lengthy stays in one of the state’s largest animal shelters.

Earlier this week, Ken McKeel, the newly appointed assistant executive director at AHS-Newark, released a statement about some new policies that rescue groups will have to follow if they want to pull animals from the shelter.

“Recently there has been some miscommunication amongst our rescue friends that I’d like to take a moment to address,” McKeel wrote in his Jan. 6 social media post. “When I first took over this position, I noticed that this facility had extremely long-time residents who were very sweet and friendly. It baffled me why they would still be here, so I began to look into the cause. What I found was that they were simply being overlooked by adopters and rescues.”

“I started to think that perhaps these animals were still in our care due to demographics,” McKeel continued. “It was then that I instructed my staff to concentrate on the animals who had been in our care for over six months in the hopes that rescues in different areas of the state could find them furever homes in their areas.”

McKeel also said there have also been issues with busy staff members not being able to provide rescue groups with the attention they need to make informed decisions. As a result, the AHS-Newark is rolling out a new policy: groups must call ahead and schedule an appointment before they drop into the shelter.

There’s also another big change, McKeel noted in the comments section of his Facebook post.

When one commenter asked if rescues are still able to pull other animals besides the long-term residents at AHS-Newark, including kittens and small dogs, McKeel replied:

“We are in the process of growing our adopter pool in order to increase adoptions. We won't let kittens, puppies or small dogs ‘rot’ here out of selfishness, but we do need to keep the doors open so that we can save as many animals as we can moving forward. When a rescue does take an older longtime resident or two, we will allow them to pull a kitten, pup or small dog as well. We understand that one hand washes the other, and as I said in my post, we love our rescue people and we're very excited to work side by side with them.”

McKeel added:

“I am very familiar with kitten season and everything we do here is always changeable depending on circumstances. I think I'd be safe in saying we will make an addendum to the policies for rescues when kitten season comes around.”

McKeel said that in the past few weeks, the shelter has had many wonderful rescues come and graciously offer to find some of its residents “purrfect furever homes.”

“When I had the opportunity to explain what we were trying to do they were more than receptive and wanted to help us in any way possible,” McKeel said.

Just a few days prior to McKeel’s statement, AHS-Newark shared posts about several rescue groups visiting the facility, including Eleventh Hour Rescue, which pulled 10 cats, and the Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter, which pulled 12 felines.

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At least one rescue group reported that they’d recently been “turned away” at AHS-Newark, however.

“Our rescue was turned away... been pulling for years,” a commenter wrote on McKeel’s Facebook post. “Hoping for three that would’ve gone to foster and then loving homes, but left with none.”

“Clarify all you want, but you turned away a rescue who has been pulling for years and was going to pull multiple animals that have been there and were very scared- and you turned them away,” another person wrote.

On Wednesday, the NJ Animal Observer blog, which has been a vocal critic of the shelter and its leadership in the past, offered a scathing rebuke to McKeel’s explanation about the new policies.

The blog charged:

“AHS-Newark's new rescue policy will increase killing. While I strongly believe AHS-Newark should adopt many more animals out, it should not restrict ANY animals rescues want to take since AHS-Newark is a high-kill facility. First, rescues pulling more adoptable animals quickly allows the shelter to put more resources towards saving the harder to adopt animals. Second, getting easy to adopt animals out quickly reduces the shelter's average length of stay (since AHS-Newark does a poor job with adoptions) and that will decrease disease rates. Third, rescues are not likely to pull more hard to adopt animals just to get some easier to adopt pets. These rescues will simply go to other shelters. Fourth AHS-Newark is destroying its relationship with rescues who it will desperately need when the shelter becomes full. Fifth, many rescues will likely not pull animals since they have to make an appointment with an organization that is notoriously difficult to deal with.”

In addition to its Newark facility, the AHS, which describes itself as "largest animal sheltering system in New Jersey," maintains shelters in Forked River and Tinton Falls. It also operates the Popcorn Park Zoo, and contracts with the City of Newark and several other New Jersey towns to provide animal sheltering services.

Newark has had an especially checkered past with the organization. In November 2018, city officials pulled the plug on their longtime contract with the AHS after a dust-up over finances, temporarily using St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison for sheltering services.

In May, Newark officials began a new, "temporary emergency contract" with the AHS after St. Hubert's was unable to continue service to the city.

• See related article: Money War Between Newark, Animal Shelter Erupts
• See related article: Newark Switches Animal Shelters: Goodbye AHS, Hello St. Hubert's

AHS-NEWARK: LEADERSHIP SHAKEUPS

McKeel inherited his post at AHS-Newark from former assistant executive director Rob Russotti, who resigned in November.

Citing “irreconcilable differences” with the organization, Russotti also said “substantive policy reasons” and “a lack of acknowledgment and appreciation of the positive changes” from the AHS board of directors were behind his decision.

Russotti took over his post in 2017, shortly after former AHS executive director Roseann Trezza was hit with several animal cruelty charges following a scathing inspection of the Newark shelter.

• See related article: NJ Inspectors Find Grim Violations At Newark Animal Shelter

The charges were dismissed last year as part of a plea deal that will allow Trezza to return to the helm of operations at AHS after a two-year probation period.

• See related article: NJ Animal Shelter Director May Get Job Back After Alleged Cruelty

Several people referenced the shelter’s rocky past in Newark in the comments section of McKeel’s Jan. 6 social media post.

• “We applied to be a rescue partner over the summer. I’ve sent two emails to confirm our status to try and pull dogs, both of which have gone unanswered.”
• “I pray to God it improves there.”
• “I honestly hope this place improves. I used to volunteer dog walk but there was too much politics going on. I loved getting the dogs outside and showing them some love.”

However, other people said things are looking brighter at the embattled animal shelter.

• “God bless you for turning this place around,” one person wrote. “I used to be very afraid and upset for the animals because of all the bad stories. I pray that every animal thrives and goes on to wonderful forever homes that are there.”
• “You are one of the most animal loving people I know and you will transform that place in due time,” another encouraged McKeel. “People just need to be more open to good changes.”

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

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