“Enough is Enough!” Tedisco Calls for New Safe Pet Boarding Act to Bring Order to “Wild West” of Pet Boarding Facilities

Senator Jim Tedisco today is announcing new legislation he is authoring to help protect the lives of our beloved pets when they are at doggy day care and pet boarding facilities.

Tedisco’s new bill, the “NYS Safe Pet Boarding Act,” is in response to a growing epidemic of animal cruelty cases in our area and addresses failures in state law to properly regulate pet boarding facilities which have recently come to light with the deaths of 21 dogs at a boarder in Argyle and with the murder of the French Bulldog Gus at “A Time for Paws” in Halfmoon.

Senator Tedisco’s NYS Safe Pet Boarding Act would set some minimum standards at the state level for oversight of doggy day care and boarding facilities.  Currently, it’s up to local governments to regulate these facilities and enforce any violations.

The NYS Safe Pet Boarding Act would:

•  Establish state licensing of all commercial boarding facilities. 

•  Require random inspections from NYS Ag & Markets.

•  Ensure facilities have adequate space to house animals to prevent overcrowding and always have proper ventilation and temperature control, including back-up procedures if the air conditioning or heating goes off.

•  Pets are to be left unattended at the facility by staff for no more than a certain period of time and when pets are unattended, designated staff shall have remote video monitoring access.

•  Proper nutrition and ready access to clean water for animals residing at the facilities.

•  Maintain vaccination record of dogs in facility.

•  Require full transparency by having the state produce and post online an annual Report Card of licensed boarding facilities that’s accessible to the public.

•  Require minimum training standards for all staff.

Violations of this new law, which is being drafted, would result in potential loss of license to do business and up to a Class A misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

“The deaths of the 21 dogs in Argyle and Gus the French Bulldog in Halfmoon is absolutely heartbreaking and should never have happened.  Families deserve the peace of mind that when they leave their beloved pets at a doggy day care or boarding facility, they will be cared for like the loving family members they are and not left to suffer and die,” said Senator Jim Tedisco.

“What we have right now in New York State is the ‘Wild West’ of animal care laws and that’s led to one terrible tragedy after another. Enough is enough! I am sponsoring the NYS Safe Pet Boarding Act to bring some order and common sense to our animal care laws by ensuring minimum standards of care and state licensing and oversight of these facilities so we can root out any bad actors and allow the many good ones to flourish,” said Senator Tedisco.

Tedisco also is sponsoring bipartisan legislation to create a statewide registry of animal abusers (S.1563) that contains the names and addresses of persons convicted of animal abuse in New York State, and a bill to ensure abusers receive a psychiatric evaluation and ban those convicted of animal cruelty from owning or possessing a companion animal ever again (S.1044).

He also is sponsoring a bill to increase penalties for violating “Buster’s Law” from the current two years in jail and a $5,000 fine to four years in prison and a $10,000 fine (S.1205), and making it an additional felony with 2 years in jail and a $5,000 fine for harming a companion animal in the commission of another crime such as burglary known as “Kirby & Quiqley’s Law” (S.470).

Senator Tedisco was the driving force behind passage of the landmark Buster’s Law creating the felony category of "aggravated cruelty to animals," punishable by up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The FBI has animal cruelty as a top tier Group A offense in its crime reporting statistics due to it being a bridge crime.

“As I often remind people about, having and working with a companion animal is not a right, it’s a privilege, but our pets and people have a right to be safe from abuse and neglect. We have an obligation as a government to protect all members of our family, including those who have no voice,” said Senator Tedisco.