North Fork Animal Welfare League's First Day At Riverhead Animal Shelter

After months of antipation, Friday marks the day when the North Fork Animal Welfare League commence privatization of the Riverhead animal shelter on Youngs Avenue.

In the days before the move, a new Facebook page, "North Fork Animal Welfare League/Riverhead Animal Shelter" announced that donations for the animals are needed, including blankets, sheets, and towels. Donations can be brought to the facilty at 532 Youngs Avenue beginning Friday, the page said.

In addition, donations of beds and collars are also sought. For information on how and what is needed, click here.

On Thursday, at a Riverhead town board work session, Gillian Wood Pultz, executive director of the NFAWL, said the doors would open with NFAWL members at 8 a.m.

"Today is a very good day for Riverhead," Councilman Jim Wooten said. "The animal shelter being managed and operated by a private organization will provide better quality and a higher level of care, especially with the proven record of the NFAWL."

He added, "Our staff that had been at the shelter did an outstanding job with what they had to work with, but with staffing shortages and offsite management, there lacked consistency."

Wooten said the two employees who had been working at the shelter full-time would be absorbed into the town staff in other departments, one in the water department, and one in the police department.

The Riverhead town board voted unanimously in December to privatize the municipal animal shelter. 

After weeks of concerns raised by residents over lack of staffing and conditions at the shelter, the board entered into a three-year contract with the North Fork Animal Welfare League to manage the facility.

Wooten added that he had spoken with Denise Lucas, whose Riverhead Move the Animal Shelter foundation has been working toward constructing a new facility and relocating the shelter. Lucas, he said, told him that an alliance with the NFAWL would help toward getting her mission accomplished.

On Thursday, the board agreed to move the animal shelter to Enterprise Park at Calverton.

Shelter volunteer and animal advocate Vince Taldone said the privatization news was heartening. 

"I've seen firsthand how the North Fork Animal Welfare League's dedicated staff and volunteers make the Southold shelter an efficient, kind and compassionate place where helpless, abandoned animals find the care they deserve.  Southold residents can be very proud of their shelter and I am confident that soon  Riverhead residents will be proud of ours, too," he said.

The town entered into a three-year contract, for $223,500, per year; the NFAWL will provide full services at the shelter.

The NFAWL will take over all animal control functions. Riverhead Town will provide maintenance to the building, Wooten said.

The contract commences Friday, Walter said, and will extend for three years, "and hopefully, thereafter," he said. "I'm very, very happy. we've been working on this for a long time. I'm just happy to see it come to fruition."

The North Fork Animal Welfare League, which has run the Town of Southold Animal Shelter since 1980, will extend their operations and begin management of the Riverhead facility, according to the new contract.

President of the North Fork Animal Welfare League Richard Radoccia said, "We could not be more excited. We look forward to bringing the same nurturing care to Riverhead that we have extended to the animal community in Southold."

The North Fork Animal Welfare League was formed in 1963 and is a not-for-profit organization committed to the prevention of cruelty to animals and to extend humane education.

"We are ready and raring to go," Radoccia said in December. 

Walter added, "Our shelter has long been the source of controversy and good people have argued for many years about what its future should look like. Our first responsibility has always been to provide animals with the best care we can and I am convinced that this agreement will do that. Today, we turn the page and make a fresh start and this is happy news for animal lovers everywhere," he said.

Wooten, the town board's shelter liaison and an animal activist, said, "We have worked at this long and hard and it feels so good to finally turn the corner and begin a new era in providing the proper care for the animals in our charge." He added, "This is a great day for Riverhead."

In recent months, Wooten had suggested privatizing the shelter could be the solution to staffing and other concerns. 

The shelter was short-staffed after an animal control officer was mauled by a pit bull; the board voted to hire three-part time kennel attendants and Wooten said further options included hiring a director or privatizing.