On Thursday, April 7th 2022, The Trenton City Council voted 4-3 against the RFP response from Trenton Animals Rock to continue to operate the Trenton Animal Shelter as a no-kill shelter. On Friday, April 8, a locksmith showed up to change all the locks and gave us 4 hours to remove our belongings and as many dogs as we could. There are 13 dogs remaining and 6 cats.
We know many of you have questions around what this means for the animals that remain in the shelter, and what happens next. We have tried to detail these answers below with the information we have as of today, April 9th, 2022:
WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO THE DOGS & CATS THAT ARE CURRENTLY IN THE SHELTER? The short answer is, we have no idea. We were verbally told that Animal Control Officers would be in the shelter in the morning and in the evening over the weekend. We were able to move all dogs that require medication to foster homes to ensure they may continue to receive their medications during dedicated times. Our partners with Trenton Cat Rescue are also working diligently to determine next steps. Prior to Trenton Animals Rock, the Trenton Animal Shelter was a kill shelter and we are fearful this may happen again within the coming days.
WHY IS TRENTON ANIMALS ROCK BEING REMOVED FROM THE SHELTER? Trenton Animals Rock was not awarded the contract to perform Animal Welfare Services for The City of Trenton after Councilpersons Kathy McBride, Sonya Wilkins, Santiago Rodriguez, and Robin Vaughn voted not to move forward with our RFP response. Trenton Animals Rock was the sole respondent to the RFP The City of Trenton posted. This means the budget was allocated, The City Council just decided not to award Trenton Animals Rock those funds in order to keep Trenton Animal Shelter no-kill. On Friday afternoon, a locksmith was sent by The City of Trenton and the Trenton Animals Rock staff was asked to vacate the premises at 5pm.
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP? Contact as many people as you can. We encourage you to contact The Trenton City Council, especially those who voted no, to ask them to change their vote kmcbride@trentonnj.org srodriguez@trentonnj.org rvaughn@trentonnj.org swilkins@trentonnj.org
You can also contact the Mayor’s office at mayorsoffice@trentonnj.org
Others you should contact and voice your support for Trenton Animals Rock and concern if it remains under the City of Trenton’s operations include:
the Governor’s Office by filling out the link here nj.gov/governor/contact/all/ and calling 609-292-6000
NJ US Senators Cory Booker booker.senate.gov/contact and Bob Menendez menendez.senate.gov/contact/
District 14 NJ State Senators Linda Greenstein, Daniel Benson, and Wayne DeAngelo njleg.state.nj.us/legislative-roster/329/Greenstein/contact
The ASPCA at grassroots@aspca.org
We are also seeking donations to continue to care for our dogs that we have pulled out of the shelter and placed into foster homes. You can donate at tarnj.org/donate or through Venmo at TrentonAnimalsRock
URGENT! IF YOU CAN FOSTER OR ADOPT, OR HELP IN ANYWAY, PLEASE CONTACT : Trenton Animals Rock