North Shore Animal League America
Reviews and Complaints

I first want to state that this business is and has always been more interested in making money than their non-profit title leads everyone to believe! I adopted a dog form NSAL league several years ago and can no longer care for her due to health issues. My contract stated that she could be returned anytime. That is total B.S.! After several phone calls and unanswered messages, I was finally able to speak to an operator who connected me to Lauren who was extremely condescending, rude and of no help whatsoever. They purposely train their employees to be aggressive bullies. So much for the best interest of the animals. Save a pet elsewhere and also yourself the aggravation of this joke of an operation!

I provided all of my reference information and the information on where we live. They made some calls had me wait for three hours. They said based on my information I needed something that is not a puppy because I travel. I got upset but went to pick out another dog. So I go and pick out another dog. I get attached yet again. Five hours go by. I had brought my dog with me and constantly reminded them that she was waiting with my friend outside in 80degree weather. I wanted the dog to meet my current one. When the paper work was all said and done they said that none of my references could verify where I live. My mother, my girlfriend, and my coworker were contacted. I spoke to them individually and they all verified my address. I said I wanted a dog for emotional support and they used that against me as well. They said they do not adopt dogs for that reason. They had me wait for five hours and lied to me about why I could not help save a dogs life and why the dog couldnt help save me. This place is ### and kicked me out for asking questions about why they lied to me and said I was being inappropriate.

This facility is repugnant! We adopted a puppy 3 days ago, who quickly started suffering from diarrhea and vomiting. After bringing her to our own vet, she was diagnosed with parvovirus -- a deadly, contagious disease. Now our poor 8-week old puppy, who we all already grew attached to, is suffering and will most likely pass on, meanwhile North Shore gave her a "clean bill of health." On top of all that, they scam you with fraud insurance which doesn't cover "deadly diseases." So we may very well lose our puppy, as well as over $1000.

As a former Volunteer I can say that NSAL is a lousy place to volunteer. The Kennel staff and the Volunteer Office are very anti-social and ungrateful. Most of the dogs just sit in filthy cages all day long and are not taken out for enough walks or exercise. The kennel staff is very critical of Volunteers who try to walk these dogs and they keep finding minor faults with them. NSAL does not realize that Volunteers do not work for personal gain, have a high level of motivation and do not need to be micromanaged.

I wanted to adopt a black and white male cat, 9 years old -- they wouldn't let me for some bogus reason? I don't know? I saw Max in a Petland store located in New York City, on West 23rd Street, he had been there for a month and he was old and looked so scared and miserable. After seeing him there for a month I decided I would adopt him and I filled out an application and then another application, two of them? Spoke to a woman named Cindy on the phone, an employee of North Shore and gave her all kinds of personal information about me, including two friends names and addresses for references. She, Cindy of North Shore Animal League called them and they gave me glowing references, like I love animals and have always had animals and I treat them like my children, etc. etc. That was not good enough for Cindy at North Shore Animal League, she said my references didn't know my pet history? What? what a lie! They did so know my history. And she also said I couldn't adopt old Max because I had a Chihuahua. I had told this Cindy woman I had a Chihuahua from the outset, so why did she make me fill out 2 applications and give her all personal stuff about me, she knew I had a Chihuahua from the beginning? AND THEN REJECT ME BECAUSE OF THE CHIHUAHUA, SHE IS FULL OF YOU KNOW WHAT OR SHE'S JUST INCOMPETENT, I THINK BOTH. North Shore Animal League has hurt me and above all, she hurt Max who could have had a home
with me with soft beds, toys, food but no, they want him to stay in the cage all day and night because I have a Chihuahua, a Chihuahua who loves cats because I always had a cat and the cat and dog would have gotten used to each other. Isn't that better than being in a wire cage all your life in a drafty store and how could they do that to an old cat? These people, there are no words to describe how crazy and stupid they are and what they are doing to this poor cat who only has a few years left? Why, where is God?

Noth Shore Animal League is a horrible glorified puppy mill! We adopted our puppy in January 2012. According to their adoption agreement they are looking for forever homes for their animals and although they don't encourage it they will take the animal back (no refunds). We have been in constant contact with NSAL regarding this not being the proper dog for our family. We have worked with our puppy for months on end and he is just not working out for our family. We were told to hire a trainer for his aggression issues with toys and food (we have a 3 yr old and an 11yr old). Now anybody that has small children knows that they usually have some sort of food at one time or another, and of course whenever our children have food he is forcibly taking it which is not safe. We hired the trainer ($136 per week) and had the dog nuetered and also took away any rawhides and treats as suggested. In turn he has now eaten every piece of molding in his caged off room, the wood blinds and a windowsill. Nothing is working other than to keep him muzzled and or crated at most times. He is a very energetic dog and not mean (other than food aggression & toys) but too powerful around the children. He constantly wants to play which is normally good but just barrels down the children to the point that most children are frightened by him. He doesn't mean to hurt them but tends to hurt them more so than not. We have expressed our concerns for months with NSAL and they finally agreed that perhaps our home was not the proper environment. They had us set up a return appt. for our dog. They explained that we would go in to surrender him and as long as he was healthy (he is) and not mean (which he is not) they would take him back, along with a necessary donation of $75. What a waste of time! They take the dog away from us for five minutes and bring him back and say, "sorry he is too aggressive, we can't possibly take back all of the aggressive dogs that come from shelters". Now the only time he has been aggressive to anyone stranger or not was around food. They said they could not even walk him or get close to him because he was too mean and putting him in a shelter would just make him angrier. Their suggestion is to find him a new family! They are nothing more than a glorified puppy mill. They pump out the dogs as fast as they get them and have no concern about their well being what so ever. We are highly upset because we don't know what to do. He can be a great dog for the right home, striclty without children as we have expressed. They claim to work with people but they do not. They make you go thru an intensive adoption process (which I agree with) and check references. We have had to dogs prior to this one where I had to explain one was 13 and one 14 before passing away and everything we had done for them. We are two of the most compassionate animal owners I honestly know and do everything possible for our animals because they are family to us. So now we have a dog that is not getting any better with training and is not working with our family and no solutions since no local shelters are taking in dogs at the moment. I do not want to bring him to a kill shelter because he does not need to be euthanized for not fitting into our household. This shelter just lies we have tried working with them for months and setting up return appointments and they have just completely emotionally drained our family. So the only choice we have is to let the dog stay for now muzzled and crated, what a horrible life for him. I will never have anything positive ever to say about this place!

We decided to adopt another pet after having to put our last GREAT BEAGLE DOG down. We decided to go to North Shore Animal League after finding out our towns shelter was closed because of an illness in the kennel.
After browsing at NORTH SHORE ANIMAL for awhile we picked out a puppy the fam liked.
It took over 3 hours to adopt this puppy. I have purchased cars in less time than it takes at this place.I figured, its over we got the puppy and where on our way home...NOT SO FAST...We get the dog home and he has "kennal cough", and other illness.We live out in EASTERN SUFFOLK COUNTY We call to tell the vet the problems and the response we get is "THERE IS A FEE TO SEE THE VET PLUS THE COST OF ANY DRUGS THAT ARE NEEDED"! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I just adopted this puppy from you, SICK I MIGHT ADD and you have the balls to want to charge us for this?
Before I say something I regret, I want to warn anyone looking to adopt a pet...
CHECK YOUR TOWNS SHELTER OR ANYWHERE THAT YOU CAN ADOPT BEFORE GOING TO NORTH SHORE ANIMAL..I to thought they were the BEST thing that could happen for these animals, but after this experience, THIS PLACE IS FULL OF SICK ANIMALS AND SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED
Don't make the mistake we made..FIND ANOTHER PLACE THAT CARES ABOUT THE ANIMALS

My family and I went to adopt a dog from this animal shelter and we knew something was wrong from the time we went in because when we asked about the dog we wanted the staff was extremely unhelpful and reluctant to provide information. We were denied because apparently you are never allowed to keep the dog outside unattended EVER. They were never able to produce the policy in written form but nevertheless we were denied because of that policy. Even after explaning that we have an enclosed dog pin with a dog house in the yard and the yard itself is also enclosed we were still denied and never able to speak to the head manager. We were told our only recourse would be to write a letter to the board of directors at which point the dog that my family had fallen in love with could have been adopted. I don't know if they had already promised to hold the dog for someone else or what, but we will NEVER again revisit this animal shelter!

In mid-March, 2011, we made a donation to NSAL in honor of my parents' anniversary. The one request I made of Greg, who took my phone call, was that a card advising my parents of our donation be sent before their anniversary date of March 31. No card was ever sent, only a credit card charge notice sent to me 2 weeks after the donation. When I called to ask why no card had been sent, I was trested very rudely, and their representative hung up on me. I wrote a letter to both the director and CEO of NSAL describing my situation, and have never received any reply. There are MANY worthwhile animal not for profit organization who would gladly receive donations and send desired acknowledgements - don't give your $$ to an agency who can't be bothered to even speak to you politely, never mind send any correspondence.

north shore animal leage is a scam. I have sent them money once & was told i had positively won & would be recieving a prize, well that was a year ago & i just keep getting the same prize notice over & over NO prize they just ask for more money. DO NOT send these people money they are NOT using the money for the animals, they couldnt be they have spent more on postage & more FAKE prize papers than the money i sent them so they couldnt possibly be using it for animals. DONT send money & Dont buy into thier lies.

My family and I drove to the Port Washington Animal League to Adopt a Dog for my son's Birthday. Just like everyone who visits a dog shelter. You should ask many questions about the dog. We asked about the dogs being housebroken, why they were placed in adoption, are there any hyper-allergenic dogs, if the were good with kids, return policy... Wrong, we should have not asked any questions. Once we decided on the dog to adopt. They used our questions against us. The rude Supervisor Adrianne with no last name, stated we could not adopt a dog because my son had allergies.. I tried to explain I was just asking questions because of my preferences and my son has no allergies to dogs. He was so rude, I ask him to bring the associate that I asked the questions to, so I could speak to her in front of him, he refused and told me to get a note from an allergist. I explain why I would pay for an allergist if my son did not have allergies. He ask about my son eyes being red, and I told him my son was crying because he could not get the dog.. And at that point my son was in full tears crying and he just shrugged, offered no apologies or suggestions.. Adrianne than refused to give us the Director's name, a copy of the policy and would not let me see my adoption application. He stated once I filed out the adoption application, it was their property and he did not have to let me see it.. Even though, I gave them my license and credit card info. Adrianne, also stated since I said my daughter has a dog in Albany, if he could not prove her dog was there with her.. We could not adopt. He would have just been better telling me, I not going to let you adopt a dog and I am going to find any reason so you can not.. This was a horrible experience on my son’s Birthday, I thought I was helping them by paying to adopt a dog from a “Not for profit” no kill animal shelter.. What a FRAUD.

Davis Family
Wheatley Heights, NY