US: A $65m ‘animal terminal’ at Kennedy Airport sits empty
On a recent Thursday morning, no million-dollar racehorses or sleek show horses from Europe were standing in the 48 specially designed stalls for their mandatory three-day quarantine. No pigeons or finches bound for pet shops fluttered in the 5,000-square foot aviary. Paradise 4 Paws, a dog and cat resort with 150 suites inside Ark, has yet to open. The $65m animal transit facility opened a year ago to great fanfare, as what “the world’s only animal terminal and the first full-service quarantine facility” for the import and export of horses, pets, zoo animals and livestock. Built just yards from the runways, the idea was that animals could be deplaned and within minutes be enjoying the Ark’s climate-controlled environment and, if needed, the services of its veterinary clinic. Instead, just before the new year, John J. Cuticelli Jr., the Ark’s owner, filed a $426m lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Queens against his landlord, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that oversees the airport and solicited the animal handling center. Cuticelli says the Ark is incurring “massive operational losses” and is in imminent danger of shutting down.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/imagelibrary/news/hot-topics/2018-01-25/general/us-a-65m-2018animal-terminal2019-at-kennedy-airport-sits-empty
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US: A $65m ‘animal terminal’ at Kennedy Airport sits empty
On a recent Thursday morning, no million-dollar racehorses or sleek show horses from Europe were standing in the 48 specially designed stalls for their mandatory three-day quarantine. No pigeons or finches bound for pet shops fluttered in the 5,000-square foot aviary. Paradise 4 Paws, a dog and cat resort with 150 suites inside Ark, has yet to open. The $65m animal transit facility opened a year ago to great fanfare, as what “the world’s only animal terminal and the first full-service quarantine facility” for the import and export of horses, pets, zoo animals and livestock. Built just yards from the runways, the idea was that animals could be deplaned and within minutes be enjoying the Ark’s climate-controlled environment and, if needed, the services of its veterinary clinic. Instead, just before the new year, John J. Cuticelli Jr., the Ark’s owner, filed a $426m lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Queens against his landlord, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that oversees the airport and solicited the animal handling center. Cuticelli says the Ark is incurring “massive operational losses” and is in imminent danger of shutting down.<br/>
