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After resigning in disgrace, Andrew Cuomo seemed unwilling to have anything to do with his old life. When the Governor of New York began to leave the state’s executive mansion, he appeared to do the same with his dog, the Captain.
News began to circulate over the weekend that Cuomo was looking for possibilities for someone to take care of the Shepherd-mix, which remained housed at the Albany mansion after the governor’s departure last week.
According to Union of times, two state police sources said on Saturday that the governor recently asked staff at his former residence if anyone would be interested in looking after the dog, which made its first appearances at the executive mansion in 2018 in as a squirming puppy. A member of the mansion staff recently took the dog home for a few days, the Union of times reported, but decided the dog, who has a history of biting, was too difficult to handle.
Hours after the report, packs of dog lovers on both sides of the aisle began to lash out at Cuomo for abandoning the dog.
Rep Claudia Tenney (D-NY) suggested on Twitter that the alleged abandonment was further evidence that Cuomo was “a narcissistic sociopath”.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) also took the opportunity to slap the incumbent governor.
“Not just America’s worst governor. The worst dog owner in America. Stefanik wrote on Twitter. “You can tell the character of people by the way they treat their animals.”
Photos taken on Friday didn’t help Cuomo’s case. Photos showed U-Haul vans parked outside the governor’s mansion, but the captain was nowhere to be found among the boxes packed for departure. The governor, who announced he was stepping down earlier this month over allegations of sexual misconduct, bid farewell to New Yorkers on Monday.
In a declaration on the same day, the New York State Federation of Animals, which is lobbying the legislature on behalf of branches of the Humane Society, the SPCA, and the nonprofit and municipal animal shelters of the State said she was ready to replace the captain.
“The captain deserves better,” said executive director Libby Post. “He will be welcomed with open arms (and paws) in one of our shelters.
Post, who is also a public radio commentator on WAMC, told the Daily Beast that she was relieved when she then received a call from Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi, who informed her that the dog was temporary because Cuomo had planned a vacation.
“I’m glad the Captain apparently goes with Cuomo wherever he goes in Westchester,” Post told the Daily Beast on Monday. “I hope he’s well groomed and that when Cuomo goes on vacation he either has a pet sitter or he’s boarding somewhere.”
Azzopardi tweeted in response to criticism: “This is getting ridiculous. The governor remained in the upstate to watch the storm (i.e. [sic] his job.) He will be leaving the mansion tonight, as we said. The captain is a member of the family and he will remain so.
Post wondered if the governor would have actually abandoned his dog without the media attention.
“It is clear that we have struck a chord,” she added. “If it hadn’t come out, you must be wondering what would have happened.”
Suboptimal pet care among lawmakers is “unacceptable” but is not uncommon, Post said.
“Some politicians have a dog to soften their image and make them look more like the guy next door,” she added.
This isn’t the first time a politician’s handling of a puppy has sparked a Twitter storm this year.
In February, a new York reporter magazine posted a photo on Twitter which showed a small white dog peeking out of a window at the home of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the middle of a winter storm that plunged Texas into freezing temperatures. In an effort to escape the power outages that left millions of Texans and the dog shivering and without running water, the Cruz family made a little jaunt to Cancun, seemingly abandoning the fluffy white dog.
“The poodle’s name appears to be Snowflake. This is probably how I felt to be left without heat in subzero weather, ”wrote Michael Hardy.
During a run for governor of New York this spring, Andrew Yang was also tormented when he wrote about an experience handing over his pet to a new owner.
On National Pet Day in April, Yang wrote that his family had been caring for a small white dog from puppy age before handing the dog over to a new sitter when his son developed allergies. The post raised the mouths of dog advocates who suggested he had all but abandoned the dog.
In May, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) faced a mixture of reaction and admiration after having posted a video on Twitter which showed her throwing her Golden Retriever a wrapped burrito for her birthday. Politico quoted the incident in Playbook the next morning: “Cute! Yet vaguely disturbing. … Why would someone give their dog a fully wrapped burrito? “
But the dogs have long been the sidekicks of politicians seeking to improve their public profile, said Post, who has lobbied lawmakers for policies to protect animals since she began leading the animal rights group in 2013. .
She cited the now infamous story of Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), who was haunted by dog fans when The Boston Globe reported that the former governor of Massachusetts had not fulfilled his dog duties. Romney strapped his Irish setter, Seamus, in a baby carrier on the roof of a station wagon, and the dog got dirty during a 12-hour drive to Canada in the summer of 1983.
“A brown liquid was flowing through the rear window, the return of an Irish setter who had been rolling on the roof in the wind for hours,” the story reads. According to his son’s account, Romney hosed down the dog and continued on.
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