Animal lovers hope to stop Wantagh shelter closing

Some accompanied by dogs they had taken in from the Bideawee adoption center in Wantagh, dozens of animal lovers rallied outside the shelter Saturday in a last-ditch effort to stop its imminent closure.

About 50 staged an hourlong rally on Beltagh and Wantagh avenues, calling on Bideawee administrators to postpone the March 8 closing and seeking answers about why the 94-year-old shelter must now shut its doors.

"They just came by and hit people with a two-by-four and said, 'We're closing,' " said longtime volunteer Barbara Petito of Seaford. "What's going to happen to those animals?"

A Bideawee official said after the rally that the nonprofit has no plans to postpone the closing because its financial situation has not changed.

"I'm not sure if there's anything the volunteers could have done," said Ray Cushmore, Bideawee's vice president of finance and administration. "We're talking about a $2 million problem."

The center survived two world wars and the Great Depression, rally participants said. "What's one little recession?" said volunteer Eileen Giannetti, 59, of Albertson.

Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick), who visited the rally, said, "It would be nice to have some disclosure as to where the money went before we lose one of the few no-kill shelters."

Donations are down 34 percent from this time last year, Cushmore said, and Bideawee hopes to save $2 million by closing the center, laying off 36 employees and making cuts at its Manhattan and Westhampton locations. "We're cutting back everywhere," he said.

Founded in Manhattan in 1903, Bideawee adopts out about 1,700 cats and dogs each year. When it closes, the animals at the Wantagh center -- Saturday there were 53 cats and 17 dogs -- will be sent to the other locations.

As rally participants traded stories about pets adopted from Bideawee -- a dog saved from a puppy mill, another with teeth pulled by an abusive family - they lamented the loss of a shelter where animals are not euthanized unless they are incurably ill or suffering.

"People aren't going to have a no-kill shelter to turn their animals in and feel safe about it," said volunteer Myra Kennett, 58, of Baldwin, accompanied by Molly, her adopted poodle mix.

Volunteers, who said they were notified of the closing about a week ago by an e-mail from Bideawee, had hoped they could save the shelter if given time to fundraise.

Debbie Olson of Massapequa said, "There is no lack of resources when it comes to our volunteer effort."