In 2015, ACCT Philly was granted one million dollars from the Petco Foundation to expand their adoption program. Word is that the actual work on this will begin in February 2019 (4 years after the grant was received). This post will explain why adding an adoption center to a broken building won’t fix anything.

If you aren’t aware, ACCT Philly is the only open intake shelter in the city of Philadelphia, meaning, when there is a stray animal found or an owner wanting to surrender their pet, in this city of 1.5 million people, they come to ACCT Philly. Per Dr. Hillary Herendeen, ACCT’s veterinarian, the current building can only house 120 dogs and up to 200 cats. 120 dog kennels to cover 1.5 million people doesn’t seem up to par. Per city property records, the current size of Acct Philly’s building is 32,000 square feet, of which ACCT Philly has only 19,000 square foot . The 32k feet includes both the spaces for ACCT Philly and its building partner, Vector Control Services. The building is also only zoned for an industrial use (warehouse), not a shelter to house live animals.

Recently, the shelter had an Executive Director by the name of Vincent Medley. He has since been fired, but while here, he did not have the best interest of the animals in mind. (He has since went on to become a Life Coach, but that’s a whole other topic.) At a 2017 City Council meeting, when asked if he would like a new building, or, move Vector control out so ACCT Philly would have more space, he stated that he didn’t want to displace anyone. He did not explain to the City how badly we need a building that is meant to house animals (not just use a warehouse), how we need a building with enough sections to quarantine sick animals from healthy, adopted from strays etc., how the shelter needs more than 4 million dollars to run, so we can have enough staff to take care of the animals. At the end of 2016/beginning of 2017, a little over $10,000 was raised in a GoFundMe campaign to purchase new kennels (not the temp kennels) to better the shelter. No kennels were ever purchased, so where did that money go? This is why it is now up to us, the volunteers and the public, to fight for what he should have fought for.

During this 2017 meeting, Councilman Bobby Henon stated that they (the City) “recognize that the facility isn’t adequate for the amount of intake and the care, not just for the animals but for staff and the volunteers.” (full transcript here: http://legislation.phila.gov/transcripts/Public%20Hearings/property/2017/pp0424a7.pdf ) The building is not meant to house animals, and having Vector move will only add 13,000 square feet of usage, to a building that is inept, inadequate and falling apart. Currently, ACCT Philly is set to start an adoption center expansion on the current building in February, but if this takes place, it will only be putting a band-aid on the ongoing problem of a faulty facility and low adoption rates. If you look at the statistics, most animals are going to rescue partners rather than being adopted. We feel that the building and the location of the building, has a lot to do with this – only an average of 40 dogs are adopted out in a month, when over 450 dogs are entering the shelter. If this project is allowed to start, ACCT Philly will never get a new building and so we need to work on a new building as soon as possible.

Some of the reasons why ACCT Philly needs a new building have been compiled by veteran shelter volunteers and are listed below:

Current building lacks structural capacity to maintain and/or expand utility service which affects the functioning of the HVAC system , laundry facilities, ventilation system to prevent spread of disease.

HVAC system isn’t strong enough to combat the heat. The week of 7/3/18 the inside temperature of the dog kennels was at 81 degrees.

Laundry facilities are not industrial size and break monthly, no proper ventilation plus the lack of staff to do the laundry of feces & urine soaked sheets leads to mold growing

The lack of proper full building ventilation makes the spread of disease a constant fight

There is no separate quarantine area to stop cross contamination. Currently, sick dogs are housed in the middle 2 rows of kennels, between all of the other non-sick dogs

There is no separate entrance/exit for animals coming in as strays/surrenders versus adopted/rescued animals leaving leading to wide spread contamination

there is no separate space for cats coming in or recovering from spay/neuter/release

The sound level inside the kennels is deafening to both humans and animals. The humans can escape the loudness but the animals can not, which leads to a decline in their mental health

Inadequate space for housing the numbers of animals presented to the shelter by the city residents.

as stated above, shelter can only house 120 dogs and 200 cats

there are no rooms to take a dog to get them out of their kennel , only outside in trash strewn, weed filled yards.

there is no storage space for anything so it goes in the hallways or offices, dog/cat treats are left in the back of the shelter, usually being eaten by mice so they get discarded

Location in a low socioeconomic community prevents adopters from outside of the immediate area from coming to acct, therefore significantly limiting the pool of qualified and desired adopters.

statistics show the majority of the animals coming into the shelter are from the same general area of the shelter location and the return numbers are high.

Overall state of disrepair and dilapidation of the current building, often times making the space unsafe for employees, volunteers, animals and members of the public.

lack of adequate drainage & bad plumbing leads to standing water throughout the kennels as well as feces, vomit, urine and other bodily secretions stuck in the open drains on the floor where dogs and humans are walking, carrying them from one place to the next

lack of rodent control has mice and mice feces rampant in the building, mice have built nests in staff member’s desks (in the evaluation room)

Evaluation room is directly across from the main kennels, leaving most of the evaluations an inaccurate judgement of a dog’s behavior due to the stress & loud noises of barking etc plus the flooding of the room due to inadequate drainage system

dog kennels are falling apart, walls of kennels peeling, kennel doors fall off the hinges. Urine flows from one dog’s kennel to another dog’s kennel behind it, cross-contamination

ceiling panels are missing which has led to numerous cats being trapped in the ceiling and dying

The play yards, grass and parking lot are covered in trash and dirt

Kennels Rodent feces flooded isles feces clogged where people walk

Photos of all mentioned above are attached – to see online with descriptions , go here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/96149884@N04/8py168

Another main issue is lack of funding. ACCT Philly receives 4 million dollars to run the shelter. Other cities of the same size receive almost double, if not more, than Philadelphia does. This was also outlined during the 2017 City Council meeting in which the shelter’s executive director stated we did not need more money, nor did he ask for more. This is absurd. See chart below for comparison of other large city shelters:

The current shelter environment in Philadelphia is on a rapid decline and no matter how hard we try, the current apathy of the management and the board only breeds more apathy. When each cog in the wheel doesn’t work, no matter how seemingly insignificant, then the whole organization doesn’t work efficiently therefore LRR (Live Release Rate) and quality of living is compromised. ACCT Philly is never ahead of the game, they are always in a reactive scenario, rarely proactive. Something big needs to change and getting the animals a new building meant to shelter them properly, is the most important. After that is achieved, then maybe we can up the funding ACCT Philly receives. Speaking of funding though, according to the latest Board minutes ( http://www.acctphilly.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Minutes-June-18th-2018-1-2.pdf) , the interim Director stated she will be working on getting a line of credit with a bank for ACCT Philly. Does that make sense to anyone? The end result will be having to use the limited funds the shelter gets to pay back that line of credit, with interest!

The Petco grant money ACCT Philly received over 3 years ago is for an expansion of the current adoption center but we believe if asked, they will allow ACCT Philly to use the grant for the same purpose, but at a new shelter location. Everyone has the same goal – to make the lives better for the homeless animals of Philadelphia and if the shelter stays in the defunct and crumbling building it is in, it will only make their lives worse. ACCT Philly, their Board & the Mayor aren’t doing anything to help. Please help us help them.

It is not the animals’ fault they are here, but without community support, mandatory spaying/neutering, the shelter will always be overcrowded. These animals have nothing, and if they don’t make it out alive, do we really want them to have the current state of ACCT Philly as their last memory? No.

No one wants to close the shelter. We only want the animals of Philadelphia to be held in a facility that they deserve, to help them thrive.

Contact all Philadelphia City Council Members (they can be found here, ) The Managing Director’s Office (they oversee the shelter), all news outlets, public figures – anyone and everyone that can spread the word and get us the help we need. Get the word out before it’s too late.