Remembering Sandy Beach: A Voice for Buffalo—and a Voice for the Animals
August 21, 2026
By: Chief Communications Officer Gina Lattuca
Buffalo has lost a legend.
Sandy Beach was larger than life. He had a laugh you simply couldn’t resist—a contagious, unmistakable laugh that could fill a room and make you smile whether you wanted to or not. He had fans across the country, but here in Buffalo, his voice was woven into the fabric of our community for decades.
For the SPCA Serving Erie County, Sandy was so much more than a radio personality. He was a friend, an advocate, a champion—and, in countless cases, a voice for our animals.
Since 1990, even before…and long before social media gave organizations an instant way to reach the public…we could count on Sandy. If we needed to get the word out about an animal in desperate need, an important cruelty issue, an urgent community concern, or an animal whose life depended on finding the right person, Sandy made sure people heard about it during his shows on Newsradio 930 WBEN and Star 102.5 radio. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t part of the topic he had planned for his show. If it mattered to the animals, it mattered to Sandy.
Animals were a priority for him. Cats—especially his beloved Bengals and other kitties—held a particularly special place in his heart. But his compassion extended to every animal. Sandy gave the SPCA a regular weekly time slot on his long-running show to feature an animal looking for a home. Over the course of more than three decades, that simple act of kindness helped lead to hundreds, 
if not thousands, of adoptions. Listeners heard an animal’s story, fell in love, and opened their homes. Sandy helped make those miraculous connections happen.
He was also a pioneer of the SPCA Radiothon, helping transform it into an event that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the animals. Sandy was always thinking of ways to make it bigger, better and more meaningful. He introduced off-site locations that brought the Radiothon directly into the community and gave more people an opportunity to learn about the SPCA and become part of its mission.
But Sandy understood that the Radiothon wasn’t simply about raising money. It was about telling stories and shining a light on the work that often didn’t make the news—programs that changed lives and saved animals, including some of the most difficult and sensitive work the SPCA did that couldn’t always be discussed publicly.
And when an animal was abused, Sandy’s outrage was unmistakable.
Whether or not listeners agreed with his political views or his opinions about society, it was impossible not to appreciate his absolute, uncompromising position when it came to animal cruelty. His zero tolerance for anyone who mistreated an animal was genuine and fierce. His monologues—and sometimes entire shows—could become a passionate condemnation of anyone who failed to treat an animal with the respect and compassion it deserved. (Even rodents, despite the fact that Sandy was not particularly fond of them, and made sure we knew that!)
With the arrival of social media, the way we communicated changed, but Sandy’s commitment didn’t. He and his loving partner, Bernadette, continued to make sure animals from the SPCA Serving Erie County were front and center whenever they needed to be. When we had no media or marketing budget and needed a radio spot voiced, a program promoted, or an important message shared, Sandy didn’t ask what was in it for him. He simply helped.
No questions asked.
On a personal level, my connection to Sandy goes back to my first job out of college in 1988, when I had the incredible opportunity to work alongside him and his then-producer, Rob Lucas, at the radio station formerly known as Rock 102, in addition to Newsradio 930 WBEN.
Sandy taught me so much—how to communicate a message quickly, effectively and passionately for radio and other mediums, sometimes in only 10 or 20 seconds. He taught me what worked, and perhaps just as importantly, he taught me what didn’t.
When the Public Relations Director position at the SPCA was about to open in 1990, Sandy was one of the media representatives who confidentially let me know about the opportunity. He served as a reference for me and helped me get the job that would ultimately become such a meaningful part of my life. He kept me under his professional wing for the past 36 years, giving me advice on handling sensitive situations in the media, even when it meant scrapping plans that took me hours or days to put together. His favorite reminder to which he kept bringing me back: “Stop sidetracking. KEEP IT ABOUT THE ANIMALS.” Those lessons and hundreds of others stayed with me.
I will always be grateful for that.
Life in Buffalo will be different without Sandy Beach. The airwaves will be quieter without that unmistakable voice and that unforgettable laugh.
But his legacy is anything but quiet.
It lives in the animals who found homes because Sandy told their stories. It lives in the lives saved because he made sure people knew an animal needed help. It lives in the programs he helped make possible, the generosity he inspired, the people he educated, and the countless listeners who came to understand that animals deserved our protection, our compassion and our respect.
There are thousands of people—and thousands of pets—whose lives are different because Sandy Beach cared enough to use his extraordinary platform to make a difference.
We will miss his laugh.
We will miss his passion.
We will miss his voice.
But most of all, we will miss his friendship.
Thank you, Sandy, for more than 36 years of standing beside the animals—and beside all of us who loved them.
On warm days, a vehicle acts like an oven. It holds the heat inside, and that heat becomes very intense even on days that don’t seem too warm. On an 85-degree day, 
leave them outside extended periods of time. Ensure appropriate shade and water are always available. Keep close supervision of your pet when outdoors on hot, humid, sunny summer days, and around inground pools. If you see an animal left on a porch or in a yard with no access to shelter or water, or with inadequate shelter or water, the SPCA may be able to intervene in accordance with New York State’s Animal Shelter Law.
Contact the SPCA immediately if the location is within Erie County Monday – Saturday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., at (716) 875-7360, ext. 214.
products purchased from deep discount stores were applied. The SPCA has already received several phone calls this season from people who misapplied flea products to their pets. DO NOT APPLY PRODUCTS MEANT FOR DOGS ON CATS, AND DO NOT APPLY CAT FLEA PRODUCTS TO DOGS, AND FOLLOW DIRECTIONS CONCERNING THE VOLUME AND MANNER OF APPLICATION! Read the directions carefully PRIOR to application, not during application. The application of improper flea products, low-quality flea products, or products applied incorrectly, can cause internal damage or death to your pet. Always consult a veterinarian before purchasing and applying flea products.
BUNNIES NEED TO KEEP COOL TOO! Pet rabbits who live indoors with no air conditioning can benefit from an easy cooling technique. Rabbit owners can freeze a filled water bottle. Once the water bottle is frozen, it can be wrapped in a cloth and placed on the rabbit’s cage floor. If the rabbit becomes too warm, she’ll instinctively know to lie next to the bottle. Fans can also be pointed in the general direction of a rabbit cage, and rabbits will raise their ears (their natural cooling system) to catch the breeze and cool off. On hot days, pet owners with rabbits living in outdoor pens will want to ensure their pets are cool enough in outdoor locations; if not, rabbits and pens should come indoors.
They’re a little too temperamental to be considered perfect, in-home, companion cats. Some are even feral. What’s to be done about these categories of cats when agencies like the SPCA Serving Erie County receive them as surrendered animals, or as part of an animal hoarding situation or other type of animal rescue or cruelty case?
ensure proper placement, since not all of the cats will thrive in all of the settings. They also ensure there are enough people who will take full responsibility for the care and feeding of the cats throughout their lifetime.
become even more social and enjoy being present around people for longer periods of time.
to be one of the organizations with which FCF works in its 
and eternally grateful to the team at FCF for dedicating so many of their resources to these special cats with high work ethics.
Each adoption includes the animals’ general physicals by SPCA Veterinary Services; spay/neuter surgeries; age-appropriate vaccinations; initial deworming; doses of flea control medicine; Feline Leukemia tests; microchips; temporary identification tags; and a certificate for new pets’ physical examinations at the Niagara Frontier Veterinary Society’s veterinarian of choice.*
#GetYourFlirtOn
you’ll notice a thin, thread-like spike (for lack of a better word!) at the tip of the eagle’s wings. Barbara Haney tells us that is indicative of the eagle’s status as a first-year eagle born sometime this calendar year, probably February or March. According to the National Eagle Center website, bald eagles fledge at approximately 10 – 14 weeks, which tells us he has not been out of the nest for long.
After receiving the call from Masiello, SPCA Serving Erie County Animal Rescue Team Officers Jennifer Maleskis and Tyler Robertson arrived at the location, retrieved the young bird, and rushed him to the SPCA’s Wildlife Department hospital, where they were met by Wildlife Director Barbara Haney and, within the hour, SPCA Wildlife Veterinarian Dr. Karen Slote.
Dr. Slote was able to provide an initial examination and determined the bird, a first-year bald eagle, has a fractured femur. Further assessment and radiographs this afternoon confirmed a severe fracture.
the supportive care, fluids, and medications it is receiving at the SPCA, Haney says, “…then it’s our hope that, once he is strong and stable, Cornell will accept the bird for surgery. The surgical team at Cornell is much better-suited for this sort of surgery…they perform it much more frequently…and they have the equipment and the pins and the other necessities large enough and strong enough for this extremely large animal.”
This eagle is not the first cared for by the SPCA Serving Erie County Wildlife Department. “Eagles have made quite a comeback in the last 30 years or so,” Haney said, “and we’re starting to see them in all parts of Western New York, the City of Buffalo included. It’s possible this bird became disoriented for what could be one of several reasons, possibly even due to his reflection in the window of the high building, or he may have been in a territorial scuffle with a peregrine falcon, as hypothesized by our contacts at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.”
The SPCA wishes to thank Buffalo Police Detective Costantino, Buffalo Police Officer O’Brien, and Erie County Crime Analyst Masiello for their cooperation, and for contacting our officers when they found the eagle and saw that it was in distress.
