LIBERTY – Commissioner of Sullivan County Department of Social Services (DSS), John Liddle, sent a letter in late November regarding those in the community seeking emergency housing, informing them that they have 10 days from the receipt of the letter to find alternate housing for any animal in their care that is not certified as a service animal. 

In the letter, Liddle stated that while the Sullivan DSS has an obligation to provide temporary emergency housing based on eligibility under 18 NYCRR Section 352, they “do not have an obligation to provide housing for animals that are not designated as service animals, including those identified as emotional support animals or pets.” 

Liddle also said in that letter that the DSS will continue to help provide temporary emergency housing to those in need and eligible, once they can relocate and/or find alternate housing for their animal. 

In the letter, Liddle referenced two resources for those seeking housing for assistance in surrendering the animal: Catskill Animal Rescue (C.A.R.E.) and the Sullivan County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). According to sources close to the situation, those two resources were unaware that they were being named as resources in the letter. 

The Democrat spoke to Liddle about the letter and he remained adamant about his stance. 

On the issue with the two resources mentioned in the letter not being aware, Liddle said he has had extensive conversations with Joanne Gerow, the Director of C.A.R.E. 

“I’ll take a little bit of ownership that the rollout wasn’t as smooth as it could of been,” he noted. “But Joanne Gerow and I have talked extensively and we are continuing to work with people. We’re not tearing people away from their animals. I think it’s important for people to know that. We have said, that this is what we expect, but we’re working with people. When we know somebody is going to be here for 12 days instead of 10 days, we’re not going to make you part with your cat over two days.”

“There’s a couple of things going on there, and what we are concerned about is the safety of the people and the children and also the animals,” Liddle continued. “There are folks that really have not taken care of their animals and I don’t think that was fair for them to do that. Also, it’s in state regulation that folks aren’t supposed to have pets in shelters in the first place, so we are really only upholding state regulations on the matter.”

The Department of Homeless Services - Department of Social Services website states:

“While DSS-DHS does not allow pets of any type to reside in shelter with clients, DSS-DHS does seek to accommodate requests for Emotional Service Animals (ESAs), on an individual basis based on a client’s unique needs. Service animals and approved emotional support animals are not considered pets. Emotional support animals must have an approved Reasonable Accommodation Request (RAR) to reside in shelter with their owners.”

Editor's note: The following  four paragraphs were added for context after publication. 

Liddle added that this is the New York City policy and cited the policy for the rest of the state. 

"18 New York State Code of Rules and Regulations Section 491.12 (shelters for adults) and Section 900.12 (shelters for families with children) do no afford the right to keep any animals in a shelter environment," Liddle said. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that public accommodations allow for the presence of service animals, but this is a completely different designation from pets and emotional support animals."

Liddle also stated that hotel operators in New York City and across the state often prohibit pets and emotional support animals from being brought into their properties because of the risks "poorly cared-for animals can present to the safety of guests and to the maintenance and upkeep of the hotel."

"Again, this is entirely permissible under the Americans with Disabilies Act," he said.

Continued original story

Liddle repeated what he stated in the letter and was clear that they are “absolutely allowing” service animals and emotional support animals as required. 

“It’s really just so we put a mark in the ground to make sure that we are keeping people safe, keeping children safe that are in these hotels and keeping the animals safe as well,” Liddle concluded.

Animal lovers speak out

Mechel’s Haven is a cat rescue started by Mechel Donato, who has helped take in stray cats out of the cold temperatures in Monticello. Donato began her solo rescue operation in 2016 based in Rock Hill. She began to find homes for the cats that she rescued and learned that she couldn’t keep paying out of pocket for the vaccines, so she applied for a license and got her 501c3 to be a nonprofit. 

Donato said she was working with Tamara DePaolo of All Paws Matter, a cat rescue located in Liberty that began in September of 2022 because she was “just trying to help the cats.” 

“This started turning into more and more,” Donato said. “Tamara started putting a lot of stipulations on how many cats they could bring, who could buy the certificates, and so on and so forth. So then I weaned off to my own vet. I work with both now and any cat I could help, I help. In the meantime, I became affiliated with Rocky’s Refuge.”

Patricia “Pat” Bennett is on the Board of Directors of Rocky’s Refuge, established “to facilitate the rescue of domestic and/or farm animals who were abused, neglected or abandoned” per there website.

Bennett also spoke to the Democrat about the situation with the letter and the cat population in Sullivan County. Richard Chiger, an advocate for the cat population as well as other animals, was also willing to speak about the ongoing situation. 

Donato noted that there is a crisis with especially the smaller rescues and her main concern is raising awareness to the public about how important it is to take care of the large population of cats being stranded outside, especially in the winter months. 

Donato, Chiger and Bennett all noted the importance of making people who care aware and how to handle the situation. 

“If you have a cat outside and you are feeding that cat, call me,” Donato said. “I’ll do the transport, I’ll make the appointments. I can help you. I’ll even do the recovery as I do with hundreds and hundreds of cats.”

Donato can be reached at (845) 545-0339. 

While she said that she wants to keep helping and wants to keep saying yes, Donato also said she owns a home and right now she has 41 cats and kittens - seven out in one foster and 19 out in two other fosters that she is responsible for. 

“I work solely on donations, I have exceeded my credit card limits,” she said. 

Donations can be called directly into her vet, Quality Pet Care at 845-794-0780 or sent to her spay/neuter GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/f0debedf. She is also on Zelle, PayPal, Cashapp and Venmo. 

Donato also said that she did receive one $5,000 grant, but it is the only grant she has received in eight years of operation as a 501c3. She also said that she hasn’t had time to apply for another one, but is eligible to. 

“If I am going to continue going at the pace I am going, I just need time,” she said. 

Donato said that 14 of her cats were turned away from the SPCA, which led to her taking them in.

“They do a lot, the people down there are wonderful people,” she stated. “There’s so much protocol that they have to go through when people walk in with a cat and say they found the cat. My name was always on the void because I know all of them, but now my name is off because I can’t take [any] more.”

Donato also said that there aren’t any appointments available at the SPCA until April.

“So there’s no place for these people to go and people are getting frustrated,” she said. “People are dumping cats because they’re saying ‘these weren’t mine anyway, I was going to help but there’s nobody to help me.’ This is what’s leading to a lot of the stray and street-packed populations.”

Liddle noted that a right way to go about the overrun population of cats on the streets, would be to contact local dog control officers as the towns each have their own.

Next steps 

The three animal advocates that the Democrat spoke to also talked about plans for moving forward with the cat population issues. One of the first steps is holding “cat meetings” in 2025 to help educate the community in how to handle and take care of the cats, including where and how to place them in shelters. 

They referenced holding the meetings in various places throughout the  county. Donato said one place she would like to target for a meeting place is in Wurtsboro, where the cat population is “swarming.”

They also talked about working on getting more low-cost spay and neuter clinics in the area as well as possibly building a new facility for just stray cats. 

AK - Liddle animal letter -- A recent letter sent by Sullivan  County Commissioner of Social Services John Liddle sparked cat advocates to speak out.