Stu Bykofsky: Philadelphia is murder on cats

PHILADELPHIA is a death camp for cats.

Since the Pennsylvania

SPCA took over the animal-control contract in January, the number of cats put to death in the shelter has exploded. The shelter, at 111 W. Hunting Park Ave., is operated as an arm of the PSPCA known as the Animal Care and Control Team.

Live-release rates - which reflect the number of animals leaving the shelter through adoption, transfer to rescue groups or return to owner - this year are down for both dogs and cats, but the number of felines saved from death is tragically low.

In July, the last month for which ACCT figures are available, the combined dog/cat live-release rate was 29.6 percent, down from 58 percent when ACCT got the city contract in January, and fully halved from a peak of 62 percent in March.

For contrast, in 2008, when the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association still had the contract, it reported a 58 percent dog/cat save rate, according to Tara Derby, who was PACCA's president.

As bad as the combined dog/cat live-release figure is, it's far worse for cats.

In January, 61 percent of cats exited live. The live-release rate peaked at 62 percent in March, but collapsed to 23 percent in July, a drop of two-thirds. The stats for dogs are not as deadly. Live-release for dogs was 55 percent in January, it peaked at 63 percent in May, but now has fallen to 52 percent.

In its request for the contract, PSPCA promised increased lifesaving of Philadelphia's sick and homeless animals. The opposite is happening. In the background I am hearing "Party Like It's 1999." We are running in reverse.

The original contract promised 68 full-time staffers. It now has 62, and six are shared with the PSPCA. It also promised transparency, and that it has provided. Instead of me relying on anonymous volunteers and staffers who put their jobs in jeopardy by talking with me, the PSPCA has posted the numbers I have reported on its Web site. That is a step forward.

But the climbing level of death is not. Instead of moving Philadelphia toward being a "no-kill" city, in which every adoptable homeless animal gets a home, we are rolling back down the hill.

"Last year at this time, animal control took in more dogs and cats, but saved more," said Garrett Elwood, founder and president of Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia.

"People don't realize that behind those numbers, there's a real animal being killed that doesn't have to be killed."

Sue Cosby, who became chief executive of the PSPCA in June, blamed the poor numbers on the breaks in lifesaving that happened in the transition from PACCA to ACCT.

But the live-release numbers actually remained stable through April before skidding.

One explanation, Cosby says, was that the spay-neuter operating room at ACCT was closed after the transfer of the contract. No animal is to exit the shelter for adoption without being fixed, and having all the surgery done at PSPCA headquarters, at 350 W. Erie Ave., slowed everything down.

Cosby wasn't there when the decision was made to close the spay-neuter clinic, and was reluctant to criticize her predecessors, but clearly it was a mistake she will fix. ACCT plans to reopen the spay/neuter clinic, she told me, and also plans to again allow adoptions from the ACCT facility, which it does not now permit. A few years back, Cosby was the chief operating officer at PACCA, and she is intimately familiar with the operation.

"I am thrilled" that adoptions will restart at ACCT, said Melissa Levy, CEO of the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society. "I just wish that it was happening a lot sooner." Levy noted "a long eight months of declining save rates, and I think the plans to improve things is good and needed and long overdue."

The animal-control contract is overseen by the Health Department.

John Martini, the board president of PACCA, which exists only to finish up paperwork, said he was "disappointed" in the numbers ACCT posted and also "disappointed that the city would let this continue for three consecutive months without addressing the root causes."

During a brief interview around noon yesterday, Health Department Chief of Staff Nan Feyler told me she had not seen the numbers posted the night before. But the PSPCA's Cosby told me the numbers are always sent to the Health Department days before they are posted.

"The city never gave [PACCA] a hard time about the release rate," Martini said. "They gave us a hard time when the phones weren't answered. They care about animal control; they don't care about animal welfare."

Sadly, the city does not seem to place a high priority on the lives of the helpless, homeless animals trapped in the shelter funded by tax dollars.

They deserve better.

So do we.

E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. His columns usually appear Monday and Thursday. For recent columns: http://go.philly.com/byko.