The New York leg of the national Tour de Dog publicity tour, which had its kickoff at Bideawee on Monday morning, is trying to draw attention to the city’s animal shelters.

While New York’s shelters have significantly reduced the number of animals killed annually, the city has had a long and brutal history when it comes to ridding the streets of unwanted animals.

In the late 19th century, the unwanted dogs of New York were drowned in the East River. One spot at East 26th Street was referred to as the “canine bath tub.” Just one drowning episode in 1877 dumped 738 full-grown dogs and about 20 puppies from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“They would put them into big cages and dump them into the river,” said Nancy Taylor, the president and chief executive for Bideawee, one of the oldest animal humane societies in the United States, whose offices and one of its adoption centers, on East 38th Street, is not that far from where the drownings took place.

As one 1877 article described:

A large crate, seven feet long, four high and five broad, made of iron bars set three inches apart, was rolled up the aisles, and the dogs, about 48 at a time, were dropped into it through a sliding top door. The crate was then wheeled out to the water’s edge, where it was attached to a crane, elevated, swung out and dropped into the river, where it was kept submerged 10 minutes, then it was lifted up, emptied and returned for another load. The carcasses were disposed of to the rendering establishment at the foot of twenty-eighth-street, where it is said, their hides have an average value of $1 apiece.

Humane societies took over the care of unwanted dogs, saying they would have a less brutal way of killing the animals. But in fact the earliest humane societies, such as Bideawee and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, were originally focused on animal cruelty to horses, in New York City and elsewhere.

From horses, they branched into dogs, then cats, which together have become the main constituency, as the number of horses declined with the rise of the automobile. (Though to this day vigorous advocacy for carriage horse welfare lives on.)

In 1894, a state law abolished the dog pound and brutal dog catchers in New York City. As a New York Times headline declared: “The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Will Take Care of Homeless Dogs and Cats — Animals Without Collars Will Be Seized and Held for Redemption — They Will Not Be Chased Over Fences.” It essentially required the licensing and collaring of dogs. (The rules on cats were less strict.)

Today, New York animal advocates are trying to take it a step further to transform the city into one of the first no-kill cities, following the lead of San Francisco (though there are debates on whether that city’s animal shelters may be wavering on the philosophy).

A no-kill community would mean “the day when we do not kill any cats or dogs of reasonable health or temperament because we do not have a home for them,” said Jane Hoffman, president of Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, a public-private partnership with more than 140 animal-rescue groups and shelters around the city.

The alliance won a $25.4 million grant from Maddie’s Fund, the largest dog-and-cat-focused foundation in the country, which was created in 1999 by the founder of PeopleSoft software in honor of their Miniature Schnauzer, Maddie. The program has a number of strategies, including encouraging spay and neutering and aggressive policies for adoption.

So far the euthanasia rate in New York animal shelters has dropped to 43 percent at end of last year from 74 percent in 2002. The Mayor’s Alliance hopes it will drop another 5 percentage points this year. (Some had originally hoped to accomplish this by now; the aim is to get to no-kill by 2015.)

Now animal advocates are holding their breath to see what will happen with Leona Helmsley’s fortune. Ms. Helmsley’s will [pdf] left some $5 billion or more for the care and welfare of dogs as well as a catch-all for charitable purposes. The hope, Ms. Hoffman said, is that some of those funds will be used to expand no-kill shelters around the country.

“We’re all sort of waiting to see what the trustees are going to do,” she said.

Trouble, Ms. Helmsley’s 9-year-old Maltese, drew death threats and news coverage for her $12 million inheritance in the will (though it was later reduced to $2 million by a judge).

“You need to separate her dog from creating the foundation,” Ms. Hoffman said. “Animal control issues, especially in these economic times, is a quality of life issue.” She hopes to buy more spay-and-neuter trucks, build a veterinary hospital that will ease the financial burden on owners with ill pets, and create more showcases for adoptable four-legged creatures.

She added: “It’s not bling for dogs. This can really make a big impact.”