Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign has been built on making New York an affordable city for New Yorkers. Now that he is in office, we trust that he will be able to implement the changes he has promised to New Yorkers to make our great city affordable again. A major issue that has arisen as a direct consequence of the lack of affordability in New York City is the rise in owners surrendering their pets to shelters, and the rise of people throwing their pets onto the street. It is our (the people signing this petitions) hope to bring these issues to the attention of the Mayor in hopes that he will work with us to implement changes to protect those without a voice. (At the end of this essay will be links to the websites and social media accounts of some of my personal favorite reputable rescue shelters in NYC. If you are ever looking to donate, please donate to a small shelter instead of any large organization; much of the money they acquire is pocketed. I will also share a link to a video that explains this issue further.) Many people love the idea of having a pet in their home; however, recently, as prices have continued to go up, people have been surrendering their animals to animal shelters. However, many animal shelters have been forced to turn these animals away due to the highest levels of capacity seen before. This is an issue of numbers. As Will Zweigart, Founder of Flatbush Cats, a wonderful non-profit, has said on the brian lehrer show, “even if we fund spay/neuter and veterinary care, which we need to do, the city also needs to fund education and outreach. This is the same for any type of resources that the city makes available. Then they need to spend money to make sure that people are aware of those resources and how to take advantage of them. She's also right that behavior is a big concern. I totally agree that more funding and support are needed there, but you also need time to work with an animal. You need resources and you need space. When we're dealing with the volume that we're dealing with, like a thousand animals hitting a shelter in a few weeks, you're never going to have the ability to give those animals the attention and the enrichment, frankly, that they need in order to be a candidate for a good home. This is a numbers issue.” He also criticizes the city council for ignoring the people's concerns, “I'm glad that she brought up the hearing. Let's talk about that for a second. What is the point of a city council hearing if the city council doesn't hear it? Our elected representatives did not listen to the rescuers who took off work, came down from the Bronx, waited for seven hours, imploring them to take action. They didn't hear the DoH intentionally mislead their own health committee chair about the severity of this issue while declining additional funding, which is top-tier gaslighting. They are not hearing the millions of New Yorkers who are struggling to keep their pets right now for a variety of reasons. Behavior, housing, costs. Great leaders are accountable. Right now, New Yorkers need our leaders to step up, take ownership of this issue, and allocate meaningful resources towards upstream solutions, which includes spay/neuter.” Issues of cost make it really hard for people to provide animals with the proper food, toys, and especially proper veterinary care, the #1 main cost of pet ownership. We ask that the Mayor consider possible increases in donations/grants from the city to veterinary clinics so that they can provide services to families at lower costs. Many New Yorkers have run into the issue of not being able to find an emergency vet near them that they can also afford. Many New Yorkers find themselves crossing into different boroughs to get medical care for their pets or strays that they find on the street when they are sick or hurt, which can also be extremely hard when most New Yorkers rely on our unreliable public transportation system to get to these places. There are no ambulances for animals; this is our only way to save them. We must have clinics that are affordable and available in case of emergencies and for regular yearly veterinary care in every borough, and that we can easily reach with public transportation.  While the past administration did send $1 million to ACC in July 2025 to help care for the animals and $500,000 in September 2025 to help with spay and neuter costs to control the cat population, this is unfortunately not enough. A solution that many shelters have agreed upon is the importance of spaying and neutering. TNR is an amazing practice that helps tremendously in the reduction of cats on the street. If you are not familiar, TNR stands for Trap, Neuter/Spay, Release/Rescue. People licensed in TNR trap cats on the streets, spay/neuter them (preferably for low costs!), and once cleared, if feral, they will be ear-tipped and released to the streets; if friendly, they will be taken in by shelters, and they will help them to find their forever home! We ask that the Mayor-elect please consider funding for small shelters so that they can afford to continue this practice of TNR to protect the cats of our city. We would also like Mayor Mamdani to consider publicly endorsing a citywide mandatory spay/neuter policy, encourage and collaborate with the City Council of NYC to introduce and pass legislation to enforce this, and direct city agencies such as the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and NYC Animal Care Centers to provide data and support needed to help advance this legislative effort.  Another issue in New York City leading to the rise of animals in shelters and the lack of adoptions has been the issue of breeders. Especially backyard breeders, who breed animals solely for profit without any training or background in breeding or animal care. Many of these animals are bred inhumanely and are kept in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, and face abuse and are forced to breed with no rest in between. These dogs don't know rest, proper love, or care. While legislation has been made to fight against this, along with the law passed banning the sale of pets in pet stores, it has not been enforced as it should be. While it is more of a systemic issue rather than one that we should blame a few individuals for, we still need to hold these untrained, unregistered breeders accountable, and we want to urge the Mayor to encourage DoH to enforce these laws about breeding, dog licensing, and spaying.  We also want to urge Mayor Mamdani to pay attention to our bodega cats. The Mayor himself has appeared in an episode of Shop Cats. He knows firsthand the love and adoration New Yorkers have for these furry babies. We urge him to care for these animals by pushing for legislation to make sure deli owners are doing all they can to care for these animals. Dan Rimada, founder of Bodega Cats of New York, fights to establish a certification program for bodega owners and create a fund for veterinary care. Unfortunately, a common issue found among bodega cats is that they are often malnourished, neglected, and sometimes abused. When delis are shut down, in some cases, cats are left behind. Indoor domesticated cats cannot survive like this. Dogs are required to be registered and licensed, but this is not the case for cats. Nobody checks to make sure that they are being taken care of; this is the importance of Dan Rimada’s mission. We encourage the Mayor to support this bill being passed in the City Council. While all of these are things we would like you, Mayor Mamdani, to encourage and support to protect our furry friends who cannot speak up for themselves, we urge you to speak to the professionals in these fields. The founders and the workers of these small shelters around the city do the hard work. Please speak to them about the work that they do and the help that they need from the city! Here is a list of amazing shelters and rescuers to check out.  https://www.puppykittynyc.org/ - Queens https://bronxtails.org/ - Bronx https://lwnyc.org/ - Bronx https://www.bronxcommunitycats.org/ - Bronx https://rescuedogsrocknyc.org/ - NYC https://nycsecondchancerescue.org/ - NYC https://brooklynanimalaction.org/ - Brookyln https://northbrooklyncats.org/ - Brooklyn https://catcafebk.com/ - Brooklyn https://www.instagram.com/bronxcolonycats/?hl=en​ https://www.facebook.com/bronxcolonycats/  - Bronx https://www.readyforrescue.org/ - NYC https://www.unwantednycpets.org/ - NYC https://nyccatalliance.com/ - NYC https://www.muddypawsrescue.org/ - NYC https://www.bbawc.org/ - Brooklyn https://bushwickstreetcats.org/ - Brooklyn https://www.flatbushcats.org/ - Brooklyn https://www.greenpointcats.org/ - Brooklyn https://www.meowsquadnyc.org/ - Brooklyn https://bio.site/narn_cb - Brooklyn https://www.citycritters.org/ - Manhattan https://www.neighborhoodcats.org/ - Manhattan https://urbancatleague.org/ - Manhattan https://www.foranimalsinc.com/ - Queens https://givemeshelterproject.org/ - Queens https://licferalfeeders.org/ - Queens https://noahsarkny.com/ - Queens https://www.paulthecatguy.com/ - Queens https://www.rescuenyc.org/ - Queens https://www.tnrutopia.org/ - Queens https://www.statenislandhopeanimalrescue.org/ - Staten Island https://www.victory4thevoiceless.com/ - Staten Island For more: https://www.bideawee.org/programs/feral-cat-initiative/get-involved/nyc-tnr-organizations/  WHY NOT TO DONATE TO LARGE ORGANIZATIONS: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aspca-spending-donor-cbs-news-investigation/