BY: Keith S. Shikowitz , Investigative Reporter
Part one of this story of the transition of leadership in the Hi Tor Animal Shelter, Pomona NY – explained the basics of how the decision was made to terminate the contract that Rockland Green had with Hi Tor Animal Shelter Inc. and certain aspects of both sides of this controversy.
This second part of the story will go further into depth on some of the main reasons for the change, and the aftermath of the situation – which came to a head on September 21, 2023.
As of the writing of this part of the story, there is still over $165,000 of taxpayer money still owed to Rockland Green by Hi Tor Animal Shelter Inc. According to Howard Phillips, Chairman of Rockland Green and Haverstraw Town Supervisor. As far as recouping this money, Phillips said, “Our lawyers are talking with their lawyers.”
2023 saw Rockland County’s stray and unwanted animals get a major transition in the care they received at what was the Hi Tor Animal Shelter and is now the R.G. Cares Animal Shelter being run by new leadership – called Four Legs Good.
After a feline panleukopenia virus spread through the shelter in the summer of 2023, killing approximately 35 cats, Rockland Green pulled the contract from Hi Tor Animal Shelter Inc. Rockland Green had other issues with the shelter and the conditions and care the animals were receiving although according to Gary Kogut, President of Hi Tor Animal Shelter Inc, the shelter was not what Rockland Green claimed it was.
“We have video of that shelter. Anyone can look at it at any time to take a look to see that that shelter was as neat and orderly as it possibly could be.” Kogut stated emphatically.
In a subsequent text conversation on September 25 – 26, Gary Kogut declined to send the video for people to see or the contract to support his assertions:
Good morning, Gary. I want to thank you again for speaking with me yesterday. It was enlightening. I learned a lot of things I was unaware of. Please send me the video you have so I can add it to the story.
Sincerely,
Keith S. Shikowitz
Reporter Rockland News
Subsequent:
“Gary, can you send me a copy of the contract?”
“Sorry. I can’t provide the video or the contract. Legal issues involved.” Kogut replied.
An email disagreement transpired.
“I understand. That makes my job more difficult without the proof of your statements.”
“You took their input at face value. You can also ask them for the contract.”
“I did not take their input at face value. That’s why I contacted you in the first place. If I had taken their input at face value I eoukd (typo) have done what the Journal news did and publish ONLY what they said. I told you this was the information I had received and NEVER said I believed it or took it as the truth. I told you this is what I had and asked for YOUR answer to their charges.
I added, “YOU told me that you had a video showing the condition that you left the place in, in defense of your position. I never asked if you did.”
Kogut’s answer was “Understood. Our attorney has advised against releasing any information at this time. I know that doesn’t help you, or us, but I need to heed their advice.” Since November 2023, Kogut has not responded to a request for another interview to answer new questions.
The next videos are from the former Hi Tor facility taken during the week of September 21, 2023, that seems to contradict claims made by Gary Kogut.
One source with Hi Tor stated that the videos taken by Rockland Green and Four Legs Good showing poor conditions were taken in areas that were not being used by Hi Tor for animals.
When questioned about this allegation Jeremy Apotheker, Executive Director at Rockland Green said that was not the case, and that there were animals in every area of the shelter.
Mike Sarducci, who worked at the shelter under Hi Tor and is Director of the shelter, spoke of the changes at the shelter from the time of Hi Tor to the current administration of the shelter.
“I think a lot has changed as far as oversight, funding, budget and just the overall care of the animals.”
He did state that the working there under Hi Tor was in a different age. “It was a different management. We were under the County at the time. It was just a different day and age. Different standards. Different oversight. Different budget.”
He would not respond to the allegations made by former employees and the public about the lack of professionalism of the people and administration of the shelter under Hi Tor management, but had heard the same reports. “Obviously when we came in here it was kind of a mess. Definitely hard to identify animals. Identify paperwork, medical records, basic medical care, vaccinations, they were definitely lacking in some departments there.”
There have been major changes in the way things are handled at the shelter with regards to record keeping. “We’ve been pretty up to par. Everything is up to date. We have totally different oversight here. Different management, different administration. We do have three veterinarians that volunteer their time and come here on a weekly basis.”
He added that in a Hi Tor executive meeting they stated that they had a 40% to 60% vaccination rate and that is now at 100%. “They get vaccinated as soon as they get on the property before they even enter a cage.”
The lack of vaccinations for 40% to 60% of the animals is also in violation of Section 469, Chapter 69, Article 26 – C subsection 8 of the NYS Agricultural Law which governs how animal shelters are to operate.
The subsection states, each animal shelter shall vaccinate each animal in its custody or possession with core vaccines as recommended by national standards and guidelines specific to animal shelters as established, endorsed or approved by the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP), American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), or the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV).
Kogut gave an alternate reason for the ability of the viral outbreak at the shelter. “There is no full-time veterinarian there. Never has been ever. We do have relationships with veterinarians who take care of animals when they are ill. There’s a vet tech often but not always because we couldn’t keep them in employment because of the wages we had to pay them and the static they got for how they did their jobs. From outside looking in.”
That said, Hi Tor may also be in violation of subsection 5 of the aforementioned agricultural law which says, Pursuant to the written protocol for emergency veterinary care required by section four hundred twenty-three of this article, each animal shelter shall provide appropriate and timely veterinary care for any animal that is in distress, experiencing pain, or showing signs of significant illness or injury.
The question one resident asked was, if Rockland Green can get veterinarians to volunteer their time, why couldn’t Hi Tor?
Gerard Damiani Jr. coordinator of a special project for Rockland Green and Apotheker talked about the transition from the former Hi Tor Animal Shelter, to the Rockland Green RG Cares Animal Shelter.
Apotheker said that there was no reporting of the outbreak of the virus as a part of the reason for the actions of Rockland Green.
If they reported, we got an outbreak and took care of it, would things have been different, or would you still have canceled the contract?
“It’s a major breach. It’s not curable. No, I understand that, but if you get a cat that comes in and it’s got a virus, okay? It, you know, even the vet detected it, by the time the vet comes in to detect it or to test the cat, it’s already spread.”
What was the breach that caused Rockland Green to void the contract? Was it the fact that there was no reporting of it, or the fact that the animal got in with it?
According to Apotheker it was an open intake. “They did not have consistent intake policies and procedures in place. They didn’t have the support, meaning the staff, nor did they have sufficient quantities of medication to combat the outbreak.” He added that they clearly, and you’ll see it in the videos and pictures that will attest to it, they clearly did not provide any sanitizing of the facility to control the outbreak.
In a letter dated July 15, 2023, to Gerard Damiani from Doctor Joseph D. Abbraccio, Veterinarian at Catskill Veterinary Services PLLC, “It also became apparent that the facility did not have all of the necessary medications to address the patient’s needs until last night. The facility was out of broad-spectrum antibiotics which is vital to treat this condition.”
In table 2 of the contract labeled BUDGETED ANNUAL PASS-THROUGH COSTS FOR 2023, there was $45,000 allocated for medical supplies.
“I mean, from my understanding, what we’ve learned is, uh, a feline panleukopenia could live on surfaces for up to a year. Could live up at the shelter for up to a year,” Apotheker stated.
Examples of the unsanitary conditions at the shelter could be found in the trailers, at least where the cats were, Sarducci explained that there were bug zappers and fly strips all over the place in them and there was a smell to them. He added that if you moved the cages, you would find larvae growing under them. He also pointed out that they also had to replace ceiling and floor tiles as well as lights and the old air conditioner united were infested with mold adding to the unsanitary conditions.
“All I can go by is the facts that were presented at the time. We were informed by a Good Samaritan on July 13th that cats were dying at the shelter. Jeremy immediately went, responded. He went up there. Jeremy’s up there almost every day, but at the time, he went up and he spoke to the executive director, Rick Tannenbaum.”
Apotheker stated that Rick wasn’t let go until September and that Rick, even as capacity executive director, was also fulfilling the position of shelter manager and at times he was not there. “So, I don’t know how a shelter truly operates without a shelter manager in place.”
In an interview with Phillips, he stated that They (Hi Tor) had recently fired their director, Rick Tannenbaum and hired a new executive director. He the accused Hi Tor of breaching the contract for the following reasons and as part of the reason for terminating the contract without giving the 30 days’ notice:
Failure to operate the animal shelter in accordance with applicable law and best management practices.
Failure to maintain sufficient resources. That would be employees, staff, records.
Failure to insure proper care of animals. You may not be aware of or you may be aware of that there was an outbreak of a disease that killed 35 cats and Rockland Green was never notified.
Kogut was saying that Rockland Green needed to give Hi Tor 30 days’ notice before terminating the contract. “We actually got no notice. I’ll explain how that happened. There was a 5:00 meeting that they were to have on that Thursday, and it was moved to 11:00 am. We had one volunteer that always went to their meetings who then called Kim or whatever to say that they just voted to terminate you today. That very same day. We got no notice. As a matter of fact, the letter that we were supposed to provide to us, the official notice in writing didn’t come until like 5:30 in the afternoon.”
Hilda Kogut added that the letter was delivered to Kim’s house.
Gary Kogut stated, “And me. I got a copy of it as well. We actually got no notice. Like wow. And we were told all of our employees were terminated the same day. Effective the same day. Get all of your papers and documents out of there before 5:00 today because the sheriff is going to come and lock the gate.”
Phillips stated emphatically, “They’re talking about that we failed to give them 30 days’ notice. They’re talking about when we broke the contract, in fact terminated it. In the law and in the contract, if they have gross negligence, it allows us to step in because we don’t want the animals harmed. They had an outbreak of a disease where at least 35 cats PERISHED. They didn’t inform us of that until three weeks went by and it was a good Samaritan who picked up the phone and called our executive director to let him know what occurred. You can imagine how appalled we were to find out that that many cats had died, perished under their guidance and they never informed us.”
According to Apotheker there was still dead animals there and that the corpses were rotting in this freezer with paperwork there that now is basically contaminated.
The outbreak of the virus and the lack of communication with Rockland Green was only one reason for the termination of the contract. Apotheker stated there were other areas of mismanagement which existed. “So just to give you an idea of the level of mismanagement. Two dogs did not have intake folders. Four dogs had no medical records. Two dogs were overdue on the rabies vaccination. Six dogs had no proof of rabies vaccination. Fifteen dogs had no proof of Bordadella vaccinations. 12 dogs have no proof of distemper vaccinations. 14 dogs had no proof of heartworm testing or status. Bite history. Of the 23 dogs accounted for, 15 dogs currently on site have been reported to have severe bite histories.”
“Rockland Marine requested a report for Hi Tor listing all bite history information for the dogs currently in their care and custody. The list merely provided their names, no information as required by New York State Agricultural Markets Law, Chapter 69, Article 26C. They failed to provide the contractor’s obligations under their agreement.” He added.
That was the escape clause Rockland Green was able to use to cancel the contract with Hi Tor without the required 30 days’ notice. “My pathway to that was to the material breach of the outbreak. The other, or just subsequent failures. All of that combined gave us the escape clause from the contract, saying okay, that’s it, you’re done. I would say the outbreak was the only cause I needed.”
They could have terminated the contract of invoked the 30 days’ notice clause immediately, but they waited until all the T’s were crossed, all the commas were in place, and then they found the aforementioned subsequent mismanagement with the dogs. “Leading up to that, and front, and after that. The outbreak was the icing on the cake. The tip of the iceberg. That was it. Okay. Stop the Titanic.”
Apotheker happily stated that in the past month, things changed at the shelter. His demeanor and facial expression indicated that these changes were for the better. “We’ve had multiple meetings with Four Legs good. Any information you asked for? Transparency. I’ll give you a really good example.”
“When we walked in on September 21st, there were cats, again, with panleukopenia. So, what did they do? They didn’t mess around. They installed their medical protocols foot washes, PPE, everything that you need to combat an outbreak. They moved animals into separate, segregated housing. They administered the correct medicine. They had plenty of medicine to go. When they ran out of medicine, we got it for them the next day. Instead of 40 cats dying, or maybe more, because, let me just say this. We don’t know just how many cats died because they have been very, very careful not to include certain cats in their counts.”