Town seeks animal lovers' input on shelter

Hempstead is reaching out to animal lovers for ways to improve its beleaguered animal shelter, town officials said Tuesday.

A proposed committee would include animal-rescue groups, veterinarians and animal lovers, town spokesman Michael Deery said. On Friday, officials met with administrators of the animal-rescue group Last Hope Inc. to enlist their assistance, Deery said.

"We plan on working with the committee to review policies and procedures at the shelter," Deery said.

At a town board meeting Tuesday, shelter critics expressed their discontent that Patricia Horan, former acting shelter director, was reassigned last week to the General Services Department. They continued to push for Horan to be fired after a 17-year-old video surfaced on the Internet that purports to show Horan and other shelter staffers with a kitten apparently about to be euthanized.

"Take the shade off your eyes and realize that the video is just a little piece of what has been going on," said Shelley Galfin, 55, of New Beginnings Cat and Kitten Adoptions Inc., based in Baldwin.

But Town Supervisor Kate Murray said the county branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told Newsday on Monday its investigation of the shelter found nothing that could be brought to the attention of the district attorney.

"We take very seriously the concerns of animal abuse," Murray said.

Animal advocates at the meeting requested that the town accept the offer from the Humane Society of the United States to help improve the shelter.

Murray said a letter in response was sent to the Humane Society but declined to say during the meeting if the town will accept the offer.