Rockland County's Animal Shelter Woes Continue

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — The Hi Tor Animal Care Center has counter-sued Rockland Green, the quasi-public agency that handles waste disposal and animal control for the county, the Rockland County Business Journal reported.

Rockland Green ousted the nonprofit from the antiquated, overcrowded facility in Pomona without warning in late September. Six months later Rockland Green filed a $5 million lawsuit against Hi Tor for breach of contract.

Hi Tor's countersuit alleges that among other things that Rockland Green broke the contract by turning over control of the premises to a local cat rescue group without providing 30 days’ notice and without a chance for Hi Tor to cure alleged defaults, and by failing to pay Hi Tor monies owed for operating expenses incurred in August and September. It also seeks to have the court dismiss the part of Rockland Green's lawsuit that goes after Hi Tor board members for money, saying that by law individual members of a nonprofit or agents of that nonprofit cannot be held personally responsible in a contract dispute.

Read the entire article in the RCBJ.

"We cannot comment on current litigation," Rockland Green Executive Director Gerald Damiani told Patch.

The uneasy collaboration between Rockland Green and Hi Tor began in 2022.

Hi Tor is the only animal care and control shelter in Rockland, taking in more than 2,500 animals each year. The County of Rockland had traditionally provided some funding to and made county facilities available to Hi Tor for animal control and care. But the shelter had suffered for years from overcrowding and underfunding, in a facility basically unchanged since 1972, and also suffered from infighting.

Hi Tor had raised money through grants, donations and a contribution from the county to build a new shelter for the utterly inadequate one in Pomona, when all but one of Rockland's town supervisors decided they wanted to remove control and leadership over the animal shelter from the beleaguered nonprofit, and decided to do it through the quasi-public waste management agency which operates with taxpayer money.

Rockland Green contracted with Hi Tor to continue running the shelter operation, and talked about building a new shelter.

A year later, Rockland Green called in consultants from ASPCA Shelter Medicine Services to evaluate the shelter. Its report was scathing about the facility and about the leaders of both groups.

The facility in which Hi-Tor operates falls far short of a modern functional animal shelter. The original building, designed as a dog holding facility, classic in the middle of the last century, is the only structure with running water on the property. All the cat housing and human spaces are temporary office trailers or retrofitted. Many of the fences and runs are insecure, causing hazards for animals and people.
The shelter operates severely over capacity for care for animals, both in terms of physical space and of staffing/delivery of care services (veterinary care, spay/neuter, behavioral care and enrichment). It is our assessment that both Rockland Green and Hi-Tor Animal Care Center truly believe they are doing “the best that they can with what they have”. However, leadership of both agencies express an unwillingness to change decision-making processes for animal admissions, evaluations, and outcomes.
The mandate of Rockland Green and the mission of Hi-Tor are incompatible with the humane capacity of the facility. Rockland Green repeatedly expressed their interpretation of Schedule 2c of their contract with Hi-Tor to mean that Hi-Tor must accept all animals immediately from the public upon request; this mandate is in addition to the standard municipal requirement to provide for stray dog control (AGM Article 7). Hi-Tor expressed a commitment to housing all animals at the shelter for as long as it takes to find a live outcome, including dogs and cats with bite histories, animals with chronic conditions not currently receiving treatment, and even dogs legally deemed dangerous. These two positions are simply irreconcilable with providing positive animal welfare and safe working conditions, especially given the condition of the facility and size of the staff working there. Adding additional temporary trailers or other piecemeal attempts to expand housing available to accommodate an increasing number of animals is an unacceptable and ineffective solution to this problem and should be stopped.

Patch reached out to Rockland Green for comment.

Meanwhile, Hi Tor has been operating as a foster-based rescue. "Please note that we continue our mission to rescue and care for those in hospice, working with sanctuaries and surrenders. Hi Tor is a not for profit organization and relies heavily on donations and want to take a moment to thank all of you for your continued support. Without your help, we could not succeed in rescue. It has not been easy but we promise to continue to be the voices for our homeless animals. Hi Tor is actively looking for a new location and will continue to update the public."