Clifton Park working to keep pets safe with new laws

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SARATOGA COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — As state leaders made a push for more animal protection laws in the future, one local town moved forward with regulations for animal boarding businesses.

“We can’t wait. You know, it’s time to act.” Clifton Park Town Supervisor Phil Barrett went on to explain, “If Albany moves forward with a statewide animal abuser registry, if they move forward with new regulations, inspections for boarding houses and kennels that would be a fantastic solution. Until that happens, it’s up to municipalities.”

Katie Levy’s dog lost his life after checking in at the A Time Four Paws boarding facility in Clifton Park while the family needed to make an unexpected trip. “Gus passed away in July. This is September. Like, it’s two months and we’re already getting things passed and meetings and legislation. I think it’s phenomenal.”

In Clifton Park, leaders will hold a public hearing on October 6th to present the new laws for kennel oversight that are proposed to help keep people’s pets safe. “It’s nice to see, you know, even Clifton Park, Little Clifton Park is still, you know, they’re chugging forward with it and making sure that they are making those changes as fast as they can so that we turn this around,” said Levy.

Barrett said the new laws are aimed at preventative measures to keep pets safe and not to overburden local businesses that aren’t yet regulated, “They do inspect and heavily regulate facilities like the Saratoga County Animal Shelter. So, there are some regulations in place for facilities like that, but not for boarding houses and kennels that you might see in your local municipality.”

He went on to explain that the new laws are in accordance with New York’s Agriculture and Markets law and oversight of boarding kennels. He said town officials are here to help. “We don’t want to put any onerous regulations or costs on them. I think it’ll be good for the businesses. People might have more confidence to drop their loved one off.”

Barrett said the county is creating an Animal Abuse Task Force to provide another level of protection, “We did have an initial meeting of the Animal Abuse Task Force for Saratoga County, included representation from the sheriff’s office, Department of Social Services, the DA’s office. So, a lot of people involved. I think this task force, working across departments, sharing information, sharing ideas, will go a long way in helping us prevent more of these extreme cases of abuse. A lot of great ideas came out of that meeting.”

“It needs to go in the direction its going where people are being held accountable.” Katie said it will take time to get over the death of Gus, “It’s going to take a while for me to be comfortable boarding anywhere. But this is why we talk. This is why we bring it up. This is why the media has questions and lawmakers are making the right moves and getting feedback and having the public get involved. It’s all in the right direction. I just really don’t want this to happen to anybody else.”

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James De La Fuente

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