Empty Cages Collective

The Empty Cages Collective (ECC) is a New York-based animal rescue and advocacy organization. ECC aims to cultivate a culture where animals are recognized as fellow sentient beings worthy of respectful and compassionate treatment. Through advocacy, education, hands-on rescue and assistance, the ECC envisions a world free of animal exploitation, abuse, and ecologically destructive behavior. ECC consistently rescues companion animals from being killed at the municipal shelters, from hard lives as strays on the street, and from situations of neglect. These animals at a minimum need basic veterinary care, foster homes and food and supplies, but often also require extended hospital stays and intense socialization or training. Once ready for adoption, we place the animals into loving, permanent homes who can provide them with the care they need and deserve. Apart from companion animals including cats, dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs, we also assist with species that few other groups save. We take in mice and rats who would otherwise be killed when animal experimentation in laboratories has ceased. ECC rescues, rehabilitates, and releases the city's neglected and under-appreciated urban wildlife, including pigeons and also rescues and rehabilitates abandoned or escaped “farmed” animals and finds them lifelong placement in sanctuaries.

New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island)