By Staff Reporter
NIAGARA FALLS — Three Niagara County legislators have steered $5,000 to the Niagara SPCA to help it upgrade its kennels under New York’s new animal-shelter standards. The money arrives with about two months left in what the state calls an “educational year” for shelters, a grace period that ends in mid-December.
The money, announced this past week, was secured by Legislators David Godfrey, Christopher McKimmie and Michael Casale as community partnership funding, according to a Niagara County release. It goes to the shelter’s kennel-improvement fundraising goal. The county’s release did not mince words about where the pressure comes from: it said “unfunded state mandates can place a significant financial burden on nonprofit organizations.”
“Providing safe, humane and comfortable housing for every animal in our care has always been a priority for the Niagara SPCA,” said Jennifer Pitarresi, longtime president of the shelter’s board. “These new state requirements come with real costs, and we are extremely grateful to legislators McKimmie, Casale and Godfrey for recognizing that challenge and stepping forward to help.”
“Unfunded state mandates are difficult for any nonprofit to absorb, and animal shelters are no exception,” said Jennifer Lewin, the SPCA’s director of development. “This support from Niagara County is meaningful, but we still need the help of our community.”
What the new law requires
The rules come from the Companion Animal Care Standards Act, Article 26-C of the Agriculture and Markets Law. Sponsored by Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. and Assemblymember Amy Paulin and enacted in 2022, it took effect Dec. 15, 2025. It requires municipal and nonprofit shelters and rescues that house dogs and cats to hold a state license and submit to regular inspections, including unannounced ones, under enforceable care standards.
The details can be expensive. In guidance to shelters, the Department of Agriculture and Markets says housing areas should stay between 60 and 80 degrees most of the time. Shelters need an isolation area behind its own door, floors that are “impervious and properly maintained,” weekly noise readings where dogs are housed, and core vaccines within 24 to 48 hours of intake. A shelter’s license is issued after it passes an unannounced inspection.
Shelters got a cushion. When the law took effect, the department said it would treat the first year as “an educational year,” with inspectors visiting to advise shelters on what they needed to fix. That year runs out in mid-December.
“The Department’s Division of Animal Industry understands that this new law may present some initial challenges for our shelters and rescues, and we are committed to assisting them with compliance,” Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said in a December 2025 announcement.
Ms. Paulin, the law’s author, called the rules “long-overdue, commonsense standards for shelter and rescue care.” She said, “Shelter animals deserve to be treated with consistent, high-quality care, which is what this law helps to ensure.”
Where the state money went
Albany does pay for some of the work, but through a competitive grant program rather than a guaranteed share for every shelter. The Companion Animal Capital Projects Fund has put more than $48 million into shelter construction and renovation since 2017. Its eighth round, announced May 22, awarded nearly $10 million to 31 organizations.
Western New York did reasonably well in that round, according to the state’s list of awards. The Chautauqua County Humane Society, Northern Chautauqua Canine Rescue and Orleans County each received $500,000. The Town of Lancaster got $498,845, the City of Buffalo $370,838 and Westfield Stray Cat Rescue $288,000. The Town of West Seneca received $65,700. The only Niagara County recipient on the list was Paws in the Falls, a smaller rescue, which got $103,500 for kennels and electrical, plumbing, drainage, generator and HVAC work.
The Niagara SPCA was not on the 2026 list. It has won before: the shelter received a $500,000 grant from the same fund in 2019 for its surgical suite, the Niagara Falls Reporter reported in 2020.
Libby Post, executive director of the New York State Animal Protection Federation, which proposed the standards law, has tied the capital fund directly to compliance. “These grants are the most consequential funding the state has ever provided and will help shelters across the state improve their facilities and at the same time meet the requirements of the Companion Animal Care Standards Act,” she said in May. The governor’s office says the 2026–27 state budget continues funding for another round.
The open questions
The county’s grant is a gesture, not a solution. Neither the county nor the SPCA has said publicly what the kennel upgrades will cost in total, how much of the goal has been raised, or whether the shelter has had its state educational visit and what inspectors flagged. Those numbers would tell residents whether this is a gap that sponsorships can close or one that needs a state grant.
There are practical fixes. The SPCA and other Niagara County shelters could line up applications for the next capital-fund round, and county lawmakers could decide whether $5,000 matches the scale of the need. State lawmakers who backed the mandate could also consider operating help for shelters that can’t win a competitive grant before inspectors return. The state could publish inspection results so donors and local governments can see where the needs really are.
The SPCA is asking businesses and residents to sponsor kennels through its Sponsor a Kennel program. Information is available at sponsorakennel@niagaraspca.org or 716-731-4368.
The Buffalo Chronicle has asked the Niagara SPCA about the cost of its upgrades and the status of its state inspection, and has asked the Department of Agriculture and Markets how enforcement will change after Dec. 15. Any responses will be added to this story.
Featured photo: A dog at an animal shelter (file photo, Washington, Iowa). Photo by Nhandler via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5. Cropped.
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