Attorney General Acts to Dissolve Charitable Organization; Financial Records of Animal Shelter Operator to be Reviewed

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

August 01, 2008

NEWARK – The Chancery Court in Hudson County has granted Attorney General Anne Milgram’s motion to intervene in an action against the Hudson County District SPCA, a charitable organization that operated an animal shelter in Hudson County. The Attorney General can now move to dissolve the organization and have a receiver appointed to sell its assets and wind down its affairs.

The Attorney General’s decision to intervene follows actions by local health officials and an animal advocacy organization to have animals removed from the SPCA’s shelter in Jersey City after it failed to maintain the facility and properly care for the animals there.

The dissolution of a non-profit organization such as the Hudson County District SPCA is an extremely rare action. The Attorney General’s grounds for dissolving the Hudson County District SPCA include admissions by its officials that the organization is insolvent and a history of violating the laws pertaining to animal shelters and charities.

In an earlier decision, the Chancery Court appointed an equitable receiver to take over the Hudson County District SPCA’s assets and to examine, among other things, its finances and its animal shelter operations. The Attorney General, through the Division of Consumer Affairs, has agreed to help the equitable receiver examine the Hudson County District SPCA’s finances and animal shelter operations.

“The public trust has been violated because this organization did not work toward its stated mission of caring for and protecting animals,” Consumer Affairs Director David Szuchman said.

Deputy Attorney General Joshua T. Rabinowitz is representing the state in this matter.