NYC Animal Shelters Resume Cat Adoptions After Bird Flu Quarantine

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN — NYC's animal shelter system announced Wednesday that it officially resumed cat adoption services at all of its locations, and at mobile adoption events across the five boroughs, after it had partially suspended them due to an outbreak among cats of a rare strain of the bird flu.

The city's health department partnered with the Animal Care Centers of NYC (NYCACC), the ASPCA, Maddie's Fund and the vet school at the University of Wisconsin to find over half of the quarantined cats shelter as they recovered. The quarantine center will still be open as the remaining cats get cleared for adoption.

Hundreds of domestic cats were quarantined for at least 90 days beginning in the middle of January after they contracted the contagious bird flu strain. Health department officials warned cat owners who adopted their cats between Nov. 12 and Dec. 15 to monitor their health.

The health department also announced on Wednesday it would give $600,000 to the ACC for additional medical staff at its shelters for the summer and the springtime kitten season.

"We are grateful to the City of New York and the Health Department for their recent addition of $600,000 to our medical budget for the remainder of our fiscal year. This support will help ACC sustain our record success," said ACC President and CEO Risa Weinstock. "We have already helped more than 200 cats find their loving homes since resuming adoptions and look forward to placing many more in the coming months."

"Thanks to hundreds of local and out-of-state ASPCA responders, staff, and volunteers, we’ve been able to provide quality care and enrichment for these cats since late December as they recovered at our temporary shelter," said ASPCA President and CEO Matt Bershadker.

The ACC place 89.2 percent of its animals in homes in 2016, according to the center. The ASPCA took in more than 2,000 of those animals from the ACC and gave them homes in 2016.

The ASPCA announced it will donate $1 million to the ACC in 2017, much of which will be going to the ACC's surrender prevention program, which is dedicated toward helping people keep their pets.

If this story is making you want to adopt an animal, check out the ACC dogs, cats and rabbits available for adoption online now.

Photo via public domain