Cindy Adams - Animal Activism

Animal Activism

After her husband died in 1999, Adams found a new love – dogs. Jazzy, her Yorkshire Terrier, trailed her in public and became a minor celebrity himself. Adams and Jazzy would often dine together at New York City's finest restaurants, including Le Cirque. Adams dresses her dogs in expensive designer clothes and jewelry. She wrote a memoir about Jazzy, "The Gift of Jazzy" and launched the "Jazzy" line of merchandise.

One weekend, Adams put Jazzy in a kennel in upstate New York when she left the city. By the time she returned Jazzy had died. She had an autopsy performed, which showed E. coli bacteria in the dog's system. In an article published in The New York Times, Adams was quoted as saying: "Now this is a dog that I hand-fed. I would lie on my stomach in the kitchen and hand-feed him kosher chicken. We would go to Le Cirque and eat off of Limoges porcelain. Where would he get E. coli?"

She became a vocal advocate for strengthening regulations of boarding kennels. In 2004, she garnered the support of the television journalist Barbara Walters, the socialite Ivana Trump, the lawyer Barry Slotnick, the writer Tama Janowitz, as well as New York City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, to pass the "Boarding Kennel and Regulation Act", also known as "Jazzy's Law". According to Adams: "To prevent others from suffering my Jazzy pain this local "Boarding Kennel and Regulation Act" will: license kennels, monitor them regularly, fine those in violation, require records and rules, demand boarded pets prove vaccination and immunization against contagious doggy diseases." Despite the increasingly strict New York City health code, which only permits service animals in restaurants, Adams continues to bring her dogs to New York City restaurants. The New York City Health Department, whose inspectors enforce the restaurant regulations, is the same department that enforces "Jazzy's Law".