THE PET DESK · AMITYVILLE

Every week this magazine runs one animal from the Babylon Animal Shelter. This week it is Beau, a senior tomcat who does not want to be held. It is worth knowing what is behind that one photograph.

The Town covers 53 square miles and is served by three Animal Control Officers, who enforce Article 7 of the state Agriculture and Markets Law along with the Town’s own codes. Office staff field resident complaints and dispatch more than 5,000 calls a year to those three officers.

Inside the building at 80 New Highway, kennel attendants care for the roughly 3,600 animals that come through each year — strays, impounds and owner surrenders. The shelter reports an adoption rate of over 80 percent.

Three people in trucks, 3,600 animals, one building. Hold that next to the fact that the shelter still finds time to write a listing describing a frightened cat as preferring “human company from a respectful distance,” and you understand something about how it is run.

What a fee actually buys. Dogs leave heartworm tested, on heartworm prevention for their stay, dewormed, altered, and vaccinated for rabies, DAPPV and Bordetella. Cats leave FeLV/FIV tested, dewormed, altered, and vaccinated for rabies and HCP. Every adoption includes microchipping with registration and a veterinary exam, and Babylon residents adopting a dog get a Town dog license.

The fees. Cash only. Cat or kitten, $65 — $35 if the adopter is 60 or over. Dog or puppy, resident: the Town’s website says $91.50 and the shelter’s own Petfinder page says $90, so bring cash and ask at the desk. Non-resident, $85. Adopters 60 and over pay $50 resident, $45 non-resident. Rabbits are $35.

Set that against what the same services cost privately and the arithmetic is not close.

Two things people do not know. First, every adoption requires an approved application — it is not a same-hour transaction, and that is the shelter protecting the animal. Second, you can bring your own pet to meet a candidate: an on-leash introduction in the shelter’s own BAARC in the Park. For a cat like Beau, who the shelter says would do best with a feline companion, that is the whole ballgame.

Hours. Monday noon to 5:30; Tuesday through Friday 10 to 3:30; Saturday 10 to 2:30; closed Sunday and holidays. Arrive at least thirty minutes before closing. 631-643-9270.

If you cannot adopt. As of this week the shelter says it needs canned cat and dog food, and it keeps Amazon and Chewy wish lists. A case of wet food is a real contribution to a building taking in seventy animals a week.

And one name to remember. We read the shelter’s full roster this morning. Rebel, #23-274, an adult male pit bull terrier, is still on it — a 2023 intake number, still listed in October 2026. So is Shyra, #23-319. Beau’s sixteen months are not the record at 80 New Highway. Not close.

That is next week’s column.

Sources: Town of Babylon Animal Shelter · the shelter's adoptable roster