A new law takes effect next week, which will bring significant changes to care standards for animal shelters and rescues in New York State.
Starting Monday, New York’s shelters and rescues will see changes to regulation rules. Those include mandatory licensing, enforceable care requirements, and regular inspections.
As Lollypop Farm’s director of animal placement Vicky Pape explained, they are policies that haven’t been seen across the state before.
“At least for the last year, we’ve known it’s coming down the pike. I would say even more than a year. I think animal housing is a big piece. That goes both for shelters like us and rescue groups. There’s standards as far as the space each individual animal needs. There’s standards as far as the enrichment they need,” said Pape.
Pape added new inspectors will stop in facilities regularly. Over the last year, she says they have conducted pre-inspections to get shelters ready.
“They’ll come to your shelter or rescue and it doesn’t cost [those facilities] anything. They will essentially give you a list of things they see that need to be updated,” said Pape.
With the new legislation comes grant funding that organizations like Lollypop Farm could apply for. Lollypop will be using the money to go toward upgrades in their dog kennel program.
“They’re really backing it up and we hope they will continue to do so because even though at Lollypop, we have certain plans, the funding that they give is never going to be complete to keep this going. We rely on our community’s support and I know other shelters and rescues do as well,” she said.
In the meantime, Lollypop is running an adoption special this week. Through Sunday, all dogs or cats six months and older are free. Appointments are recommended, but walk-ins are accepted.
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