The Rescuers: CNY Women Confront the Animal Crisis

Syracuse Woman/November 2024

There is an unprecedented glut of homeless animals across America and Central New York is no exception.

 According to an April 2024 article in the Economic Hardship Reporting Project,

 “After a record low of 5.5 million in 2020, animal intakes are slowly increasing. In 2023, 690,000 dogs and cats were euthanized in shelters across the US. In 2023, 6.5 million animals entered [shelters], and only a little over 6 million left. Animals are lingering for weeks, months and sometimes years in shelters.”

 Indeed, Central New York is saturated with animals. The reasons are many, ranging from evictions by landlords who do not allow pets to poverty to lack of access to spay and neuter services and vaccines to behavior problems caused by lack of socialization during COVID.

 Veteran animal rescuer and Baldwinsville resident Bonnie Watson remembers many of the cats she’s helped across her 45 years saving animals, but Dottie stands out. Dottie was a freckle-faced kitty with a propensity to scratch who couldn’t find an owner. One day, a nurse from Upstate Hospital came along and adopted her. “She accepted Dottie for who she was and fell in love,” Bonnie says.

 Bonnie became involved with the Central New York Cat Coalition (CNYCC) when she moved to Onondaga County.

 “I was overwhelmed trying to help on my own. CNYCC taught me how to trap and sometimes were able to provide a foster home for cats I rescued. Additionally, I recruited foster homes for my own use that were dedicated to taking my rescues that needed a place to go when the Cat Coalition didn't have any available,” she says.

 Bonnie, who has a background in public relations, pitched the idea for this Syracuse Woman article because she wants people to understand the gravity of the problem of homeless animals in Central New York and beyond. She wants the women who run so many of the local shelters to be recognized for their care, compassion, and endless work in the animal rescue field. Finally, she wants more people to get involved, pointing out the myriad ways one person can help: monetary or animal supply donations, shelter volunteerism, fostering animals, etc.

 “Who did people always turn to when they had a need for help? The shelters. Now the shelters are turning to the public. For the animals sake we have to do this together,” Bonnie says.  

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 After years of volunteering in various capacities for local shelters, lifelong animal owner and retired IT professional Maureen Davison found a second act in 2020 as executive director of Liverpool’s HumaneCNY. Maureen remembers the heartbreaking stories of thousands of dogs that have arrived there over the years, like “Max the 13 year old dog tied up with a note at the park or Tito who came with multiple stab wounds.” Maureen works tirelessly to help as many animals as she can, knowing she can’t save them all.  

 Since 2020, 3000 surrendered, abandoned, and abused animals have passed through the door of HumaneCNY, funded almost entirely by donations and grants and kept running through the invaluable time and efforts of an army of volunteers. Prior to COVID, Maureen says they received roughly five to ten surrenders a month. Currently HumaneCNY averages 30 surrenders a week and now has 127 animals in their care. The shelter stands out for its extensive rehabilitation of injured and neglected animals and intensive dog walking and cat socialization programs.

 HumaneCNY’s volunteers and staff are its life blood. “We couldn’t do it without them. They walk dogs 8am-5pm EVERY SINGLE DAY. They socialize cats in shifts EVERY SINGLE DAY. They do laundry, transports, fostering.  Without them we wouldn’t be able to help,” Maureen says.

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 Although she hates to choose, Friends Forever Animal  Rescue (Pennellville) founder, Casey Newton’s, most memorable rescue is Rory, a paralyzed dog in a diaper and a wheelchair. After some failed adoption attempts, Casey adopted Rory herself. Initially, Casey was overwhelmed by Rory’s care, but the dog’s loving spirit always lightened every burden. Recently, when Casey brought Rory along to a children’s program, Rory bypassed every other child and bee-lined to a little boy in a wheelchair, resting her head in his lap to happily receive the boy’s pets.

Casey began rescuing animals at age 20 from a bedroom in her grandmother’s house.

“I’ve been in Rescue for close to 26 years…The amount of animals that we are seeing in need is increasing day by day. We average close to 40 Rescue calls in a week, and with limited space, we are not able to accommodate all and with other shelters and rescues in our area facing the same problem with overcrowding and at full capacity, we have absolutely no other solutions or recommendations to give the people who are calling to help,” she says.

Casey credits Friends Forever’s success to the power of her community of volunteers and donors.

 “Our transparency and our ability to make the community feel a part of the rescue is why we are so recognized and successful. We actually are humbled by the amount of support that we get and do not take any contribution no matter how small or how big for granted because without them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do and that is saving lives one paw @ a time,” Casey says.

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Current Central New York Cat Coalition (CNYCC) President and Vice President Rebekah McGraw and Courtney Armbruster both have day jobs as a kindergarten teacher and a marketing and communications director of Syracuse’s Museum of Science and Technology (the MOST) respectively. In their spare time, they lead a team of selfless volunteers dedicated to rescuing thousands of local homeless cats.

 Rebekah cherishes one special memory of a foster cat named Plum, a sweet six months old with long gray hair whose severe mastitis prevented her from feeding her six kittens. Despite Rebekah’s mother’s bottle feeding, each kitten ultimately passed away in her arms. The day Plum was finally adopted, Rebekah’s entire family cried with happiness.

 Courtney recalls an older homeless cat named Berkeley, a loving, long-matted-haired fellow with an infected paw.

 “I thought there was no chance someone would want to adopt a cat this old and figured I may have him for life. Within weeks a young man contacted us who only wanted a lap cat and didn’t care how old he was. He immediately fell in love once Berkeley climbed right into his lap and snuggled up.” Courtney says.

 Plum and Berkley are just two stories of the 50-100 homeless cats CNYCC encounters every week. The organization has no physical shelter. Each of the CNYCC registered fosters chooses which and how many cats they can help. When those fosters are out of space, they have to stop taking in cats. With so many cats in need this limitation is often heartbreaking.

 “They can survive outside for years, breeding and growing in number. Our leaders wouldn’t stand for thousands of stray dogs running through neighborhoods, but there is absolutely no action by local government to help the thousands of cats living throughout our area,” Courtney says.

 Clearly, rescuing is not possible for every cat, but CNYCC believes spaying and neutering directly addresses the current state of extreme cat overpopulation.

 “Since CNYCC’s founding in 2002, more than 18,000 cats have been spayed/neutered. Since 2010…we have found new homes for more than 9,500 cats,” Courtney says.

 CNYCC exists without a paid staff or government funding and relies entirely on donations, grants, and adoption fees. They partner with vet and spay and neuter clinics who generously offer their services at a discount. Their registered fosters often pay for cats’ needs from their own pockets.

 “What we’d love to see is a better plan that puts money toward helping our neighbors help themselves. Encourage people to rescue cats and get them fixed as a way to improve quality of our neighborhoods. But they can’t do it without funding, and they can’t do it without more spay/neuter providers,” Courtney says.

 In short, many people are working very hard to confront this distressing problem of animal overpopulation and homelessness, but it’s not enough.

 Looking on the bright side, Rebekeh sums it all up.

 “I am so thankful for all the rescues in the area that help control the animal population in the Central New York area. I am proud of the work we do!”