NYC ATMs offer more than money - Mayor's Alliance for Animals uses technology to save lives - by Nikki Moustaki, Dog Fancy, April 2005, p. 16 - Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, Inc. - Working with the City of New York to promote dog and cat adoption and spay and neuter programs to make New York a no-kill city.

Home > The Alliance in the News > 2005 Alliance News Items > NYC ATMs offer more than money: Mayor's Alliance for Animals uses technology to save lives

NYC ATMs offer more than money

Mayor's Alliance for Animals uses technology to save lives

by Nikki Moustaki, Dog Fancy, April 2005, p. 16

Celebrities help publicize Pet Arks.

Nearly 40,000 animals — many healthy and adoptable — are put to death in New York City's shelter system each year. After 9/11, New York City drastically cut already tight shelter monies. In 2002, a group of animal-loving lawyers decided to become the voice of the 100-plus animals euthanized each day. Members of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals formed the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals with an ambitious goal — to turn New York into a no-kill city.

The Alliance's purpose is to bring together animal welfare organizations to work toward the common goal of placing all of the city's orphaned animals into good homes. In early 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Mayor's Alliance and the Center for Animal Care and Control, with the idea that New York City will someday — the goal is 2015 — no longer have to euthanize adoptable animals to make room for others.

The Alliance has signed on more than 65 participating nonprofit shelters in the years since its inception, from the large ASPCA (which donated $5 million dollars to help for the Alliance) to small, privately owned organizations such as Miss Rumples' Orphanage. But going no-kill in New York City will take more than just good intentions.

Fortunately, the Alliance has received a $15.5 million dollar grant from Maddie's Fund, the Pet Rescue Organization, found by Dave Duffield, chairman and CEO of PeopleSoft. Most of this grant will work to increase pet adoptions, and the rest will to to the Veterinary Medical Association of NYC, which will offer spay/neuter services for low-income New Yorker's pets.

The most innovative part of the plan is also the most technological. The Alliance is using Pet Arks placed around the city — like ATMs for finding pets. The kiosks feature user-friendly touch-screens, allowing people to find a pet in their area with just a few taps of a finger. When they find a pet that interest them, they can print out the pet's information and photo and take it to the shelter. The animals featured on the kiosk are an extension of those featured on www.pet-ark.com, the website run by the Pet Arks' manufacturer, Pet-Ark Technologies. The Arks are already in cities such as San Francisco and Portland.

"Because of ATMs, our society is used to getting information via kiosks already," says Jane Hoffman, president and chair of the board of directors for the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals. "I think they're the marketing tool of the future for shelter animals. The shelters are often in areas where people don't want to visit, or people are afraid that they'll go to the shelter and become overwhelmed. Now, they can just view the animals and get a description, and it empowers them to go to the shelter because they're going with one particular animal in mind."

Currently, there are nine Pet Arks in shelters located around New York City, sponsored by Mary Tyler Moore, her husband Rovert Levin, and PetSmart Charities. Hoffman's dream is to have a hundred of them in bank lobbies and coffee shops all over the city.

Nikki Moustaki is a freelance writer and lives in New York City.

Reprinted from Dog Fancy, April 2005, p. 16, with permission from the author.