Pet licensing data for New York City

Dear Mr. Pascal:

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene acknowledges receipt of your Freedom of Information Law request and has assigned it the control number noted above. Data responsive to your request will be processed and you should receive a response within 20 business days.

Thank you,
Chari Anhouse
Associate General Counsel/Records Access Officer
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
General Counsel’s Office
42-09 28th Street, CN-31
Long Island City, NY 11101
347-396-6419

P

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Dear Mr. Pascal:

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has processed your request for a list of dog names and addresses under the Freedom of Information Law (NYS Public Officers Law Article 6, "FOIL") and has granted the request in part and denied it in part. The request is granted as to the attached Excel spreadsheet that shows dogs with current active licenses as of this month.

You request is denied with regard to the address of the dogs' owners. To release this information would be a violation of the dog owners' personal privacy under FOIL §§ 87(2)(b) and 89(2)(b). It would also have a chilling effect on the strong public policy of encouraging pet adoption. As noted by the New York State Second Department Appellate Division, "as a matter of public policy the names of adoptive pet owners should be kept confidential in order to foster the adoption process. . . . The protection of the identities of the adoptive pet owners involved in the animal adoption process promotes the placement of animals in homes and prevents the needless euthanizing of otherwise healthy animals." Ferger v. Warwick Animal Shelter, 59 A.D.3d 68 (Second Dept., 2008), citations omitted. The Department does not segregate information about adopted dogs from that of dogs acquired via other means, so it is not possible to redact information related only to adopted animals to protect this important public policy.

Moreover, the Department has received inquiries of concern from advocates and victims of domestic violence living in safe and/or otherwise undisclosed locations who wish to license their pets but are concerned about privacy of their contact information. The contact information of dog owners is also therefore denied pursuant to FOIL § 87(2)(f), as release could endanger the life and safety of domestic violence victims as well as FOIL § 87(2)(a) because NYS Social Services Law § 459-h prohibits disclosure of the street addresses of residential programs for victims of domestic violence. Victims of domestic violence are not so identified in the Department's records, so it would not be possible to redact this information from the dataset.

You may file a written appeal of this denial within 30 days of the date of this message. The appeal should be addressed to:
Thomas Merrill, Esquire
Appeals Officer & General Counsel
42-09 28th Street, CN-30
Long Island City, NY 11101
The notice of appeal should include the request control number, the date of this denial message, a description of the records that were the subject of the request, the specific legal grounds for your appeal, and the full name and address of the original requester.

Thank you,
Chari Anhouse
Associate General Counsel/Records Access Officer
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
General Counsel's Office
42-09 28th Street, CN-31
Long Island City, NY 11101
347-396-6419

P

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Sent from the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. This email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential information and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.

Dear Mr. Pascal:

We provided the specific items noted in your request insofar as we are able under the law, believing those were the ones you wanted. We will process a new list of dogs with the additional data points noted below with the control number noted above. You should receive a response within 20 business days and we apologize for the misunderstanding.

Thank you,
Chari Anhouse
Associate General Counsel/Records Access Officer
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
General Counsel’s Office
42-09 28th Street, CN-31
Long Island City, NY 11101
347-396-6419

P

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Mr. Pascal:

As we informed you last month, we are processing this as a new FOIL request under the control number noted above and it should be completed within the 20 business days of our notification to you.

Thank you,
Chari Anhouse

Dear Mr. Pascal:

Please be advised that a glitch in the way the dog license data was run out of the database occurred and is in the process of being addressed. We anticipate having the issue resolved and a response to you by May 20, 2016, and we apologize for the delay.

Thank you,
Chari Anhouse
Associate General Counsel/Records Access Officer
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
General Counsel's Office
42-09 28th Street, CN-31
Long Island City, NY 11101
347-396-6419

P

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Sent from the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. This email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential information and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.

The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has processed your request for a list of dog names and addresses under the Freedom of Information Law (NYS Public Officers Law Article 6, "FOIL") and has granted the request in part and denied it in part. The request is granted as to the attached Excel spreadsheet that shows dogs with current active licenses as of April 28, 2016. Please note this data may be different than what was sent to you previously due to the difference in dates run as well the fact that this spreadsheet includes all current licenses regardless of status of dog. This means it includes dogs who may have passed away, whose owners may have moved out of the city, or have experienced other changes in status.

You request is denied with regard to the address of the dogs' owners. To release this information would be a violation of the dog owners' personal privacy under FOIL §§ 87(2)(b) and 89(2)(b). It would also have a chilling effect on the strong public policy of encouraging pet adoption. As noted by the New York State Second Department Appellate Division, "as a matter of public policy the names of adoptive pet owners should be kept confidential in order to foster the adoption process. . . . The protection of the identities of the adoptive pet owners involved in the animal adoption process promotes the placement of animals in homes and prevents the needless euthanizing of otherwise healthy animals." Ferger v. Warwick Animal Shelter, 59 A.D.3d 68 (Second Dept., 2008), citations omitted. The Department does not segregate information about adopted dogs from that of dogs acquired via other means, so it is not possible to redact information related only to adopted animals to protect this important public policy.

Moreover, the Department has received inquiries of concern from advocates and victims of domestic violence living in safe and/or otherwise undisclosed locations who wish to license their pets but are concerned about privacy of their contact information. The contact information of dog owners is also therefore denied pursuant to FOIL § 87(2)(f), as release could endanger the life and safety of domestic violence victims as well as FOIL § 87(2)(a) because NYS Social Services Law § 459-h prohibits disclosure of the street addresses of residential programs for victims of domestic violence. Victims of domestic violence are not so identified in the Department's records, so it would not be possible to redact this information from the dataset.

You may file a written appeal of this denial within 30 days of the date of this message. The appeal should be addressed to:
Thomas Merrill, Esquire
Appeals Officer & General Counsel
42-09 28th Street, CN-30
Long Island City, NY 11101
The notice of appeal should include the request control number, the date of this denial message, a description of the records that were the subject of the request, the specific legal grounds for your appeal, and the full name and address of the original requester.

Thank you,
Chari Anhouse
Associate General Counsel/Records Access Officer
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
General Counsel's Office
42-09 28th Street, CN-31
Long Island City, NY 11101
347-396-6419

P

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Sent from the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene. This email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential information and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.