Brian Lair on WNYC. Now we'll talk about an unfortunate casualty of the cost of living in New York

City, the well-being of people's pets. Last month, the animal care centers of New York City took in

its 1,000th animal. With it, the shelter announced that it's suspending nearly all intake

because of an overcrowding crisis. There are just too many animals in the shelter. A $1 million

cash injection from the city that's coming might help. That was announced a few weeks ago,

but there are larger forces at play here too. It's expensive to own a pet in the city. That's one.

And that's on top of the fact that the city is expensive enough even without a pet. Veterinary care

costs have been skyrocketing. Also, some landlords don't allow pets, limiting choices

when you move, and strays are said to be getting wildly more numerous. All of this together

puts a massive strain on the animal shelter system and leads to more animals on the streets

of New York. Joining us with a view from the inside and with some advice is Willis Weigert,

executive director of Flatbush Cats, a non-profit cat rescue group. Will, welcome back to WNYC.

Hi. Thank you, Brian. Great to be here. And I know Flatbush Cats is in a shelter,

but can you catch everyone up to speed with the overcrowding situation? What does this look like from

your perspective as the leader of a rescue group? Yeah, it's very difficult on everyone involved

trying to help pets and animals in New York City. There are thousands of rescuers who are

trying to pick up every animal they can and trying to do the work that essentially the city

should be

sponsoring. But I want to start with just a concerning issue that I'm seeing when this happens,

when the shelter kind of pauses intake. A lot of media criticism flows essentially towards pet owners themselves.

As you mentioned, introducing this,

this is really an affordability crisis. And we're seeing blame placed on the shelter as if it's

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