Community Corner

Brooklyn Animal Foster Network on Verge of Closure

Rescue network hamstrung by low donations, turns to IndieGoGo for crowdsource funding.

The Brooklyn Animal Foster Network, a coalition of families and residents who foster dogs and cats rescued throughout the borough, is facing its darkest hour.

The network has been vexed by dwindling donations since a high in 2007, and despite the participation of more than 900 Brooklyn homes, it could be forced to shut down as early as June.

"This is a very bad time for these animals. Donations are down, abandonments are way up and the grants we depend on are just gone," Bleier said. 

At its height, the network was rescuing and fostering about 1,000 animals per year from the city's euthanasia lists, but because of the expense of medical care, feeding and transporting animals, the network can no longer take on new cases except in extreme circumstances. 

Faced with closure, founder Laurie Bleier turned to an avenue that up to now has largely been the purview of start-up entrepreneurs and artists: crowd-funding. 

Bleier started an Indiegogo campaign, hoping to cast a wider net than just the Brooklyn families who are familiar with her work. 

So far, sadly, the campaign has yielded disappointing results, with less than a week to go. Out of a stated $30,000 goal, the campaign has only brought in around $800. 

"We've been struggling the last five years going almost strictly on donations from people, but at this point most people are just immune to the e-mails we send out," Bleier said. "I can't blame them, between calls from places like the ASPCA, the Heart Foundation, cancer research. People are worried and out of work and can't support every charity."

Bleier said that if the crowd-funding campaign falls short and other donations don't come through, June 30 could be the end of the road for the network, which has spent more than five years rescuing abandoned cats and dogs in and around the park and beyond.

Faced with the prospect of taking in animals without being sure how to pay for their care, Bleier says she'd rather close up shop and let the network rise again when the economy improves.

"Taking in animals that you don't have the money to vet is not responsible rescue — you're going to end up with a ton of extremely sick animals dying on you," she said. "We're getting 50 calls a week but we can't take any in. We don't have the money."


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