| New push to get full service animal shelters in Queens and the BronxPaul Vallone

Maybe the third time’s a charm.

City Councilman Paul Vallone is pushing for full-service animal shelters in Queens and the Bronx — a cause his dad and brother have fought unsuccessfully for since 2000.

With the support of 23 Council colleagues, the councilman is once again appealing to a sitting mayor — this time Bill DeBlasio — to help fund the badly needed city shelters.

“They do not provide shelter or medical care for homeless animals, do not provide a place to recover lost pets before they’re euthanized and, most importantly, they do nothing to relieve the overcrowding in our city’s full-service shelters,” Vallone wrote in a letter to DeBlasio.

In 2000, former Speaker Peter Vallone championed a bill that mandated these shelters for all five boroughs. But the law was never enforced and repealed during the Bloomberg Administration. In return, the city pledged to pump money into the cash-poor NYC Animal Care and Control system.

Former Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. fought that repeal and then in 2013 tried to get support for a new bill to require animal shelters. But it failed to get Council support.

Animal rescuer Phyllis Taiano of Four Paws Sake believes more than one-third of the strays that end up at AC&C are from Queens. “These shelters are filled to capacity and animals end up getting very sick,” said Taiano.

It would cost the city about $40 million to build full-service shelters in the Bronx and Queens and another $7.5 million each for annual operating costs, according to NYCLASS, which is working with Vallone on the issue.

The other three boroughs already have shelters with veterinary and adoption services, while Queens and the Bronx have smaller “receiving centers.”

City Health Department officials said they are reviewing Vallone’s letter.

See complete article at the Daily News.