Responsible Pet Ownership and Shelter Reform

Part 2

Shelters

• Roughly 50% of all pets entering shelters are killed

• Why?

The Myth of Pet Overpopulation

• Reasons given for why shelters kill:– there are too many for too few homes available– shelters are doing all they can– the American public is uncaring and irresponsible

• These reasons have been proven wrong with irrefutable evidence: – Data, experience, and communities that are achieving

No kill level save rates not by changing the habits of the people within a community, but by changing the culture, policies, and procedures of the shelter itself

(Nathan Winograd)

The Myth of Pet Overpopulation

• Actual number (~8M) of animals needing homes is much less

• WHY?– some animals entering shelters need adoption, but

others do not• community cats who are not socialized to people, need

neuter and release (TNR, TTNR, SNR) • some will be reclaimed • many can be kept out of a shelter with a comprehensive

retention effort• Some are suffering and not treatable

The Myth of Pet Overpopulation

• “Using the most successful adoption communities as a benchmark and adjusting for population, U.S. shelters combined have the potential to adopt almost nine million animals a year”

• “According to one national study, there are about 23.5M people who get an animal every year. While some of those are already committed to adopting from a shelter and others from a breeder or other commercial source, some 17 million have not decided where that animal will come from and research shows they can be influenced to adopt from a shelter… if 80% of those people acquired their animal from somewhere other than a shelter, we could still zero out the killing”

(Nathan Winograd)

(Nathan Winograd)

Nathan Winograd

• Lawyer• Author• Activist

– No Kill Advocacy Center

Nathan Winograd

San Francisco SPCA

Tompkins County SPCA, 2001

No Kill Leader

No Kill • Saving all animals who are

not: hopelessly ill, irremediably suffering, or truly viscous (dogs)

• 90% or better* save rate

• Mainstream Revolution

• Achieved in private, public, open admission, limited admission shelters; poor and affluent areas of the country

• It makes dollars and sense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gslyqw6le8I

Nathan Winograd Is Profiled by Tom McPhee for the WA2S.org

No Kill

More everyday…

Shelters Reform – No Kill Equation

No Kill Legislation

• Hayden’s Law – CA (1998)

• CAPA – DE (2010)

• CAPA – Saint Paul, MN (2014)

Just One Day – June 11th

Million Cat Challenge• Each year, millions of cats lose their lives in animal shelters. An

enormous amount is invested in the capture, holding, and euthanasia of these animals, and the emotional toll exacted by their death is incalculable.

• Finally, the opportunity for a “cat revolution” is at hand. We now know that euthanasia of healthy cats in shelters can be replaced with programs that are dramatically more humane and effective for cats and communities alike. Shelters are hungry for this change.

• The Million Cat Challenge is a shelter-based campaign to save the lives of 1 million cats in North America over the next five years. The core strategy of the campaign will be five key initiatives that will offer every shelter, in every community, practical choices to reduce euthanasia and increase live outcomes for shelter cats.

MCC: Five Key Initiatives

Alternatives to Intake:• Provide positive alternatives to

keep cats in the home or community when admission to a shelter is not the best choice.

Managed Admission:• Schedule intake of cats to

match the shelter’s ability to assure humane care and safe movement through the shelter system to an appropriate outcome for every cat.

MCC: Five Key InitiativesCapacity for care:• Match the number of cats cared

for at any one time with the capacity required to assure the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare (Freedom from: hunger & thirst, discomfort; pain, injury or disease; fear and distress; and freedom to express normal behavior) for all cats in the shelter.

Removing barriers to adoption:• Expand the pool of adopters by

removing barriers to adoption such as cost, process, or location.

MCC: Five Key Initiatives

Return to field:• Sterilize, vaccinate,

and return healthy un-owned shelter cats to the location of origin as an alternative to euthanasia (TNR, TTNR, SNR).

Donations?

• Research before you donate– Donate to volunteer based

non-profits– Donate to local, “grass root”

efforts– Donate time instead of money

• HSUS, ASPCA, AHA – Have never created No kill

communities– Have actively spoken against

and helped to defeat CAPA legislation

– Threatened by the No Kill movement and its advocates

Oreo and what could have been “Oreo’s

Law” in NY

Donations?

• If you care about animals never donate to PETA– “Since 1998, PETA has

killed over 30,000 animals, roughly 2,000 animals a year including kittens and puppies”.

– They have stolen peoples pets and killed them; they have killed animals they promised to rehome

– More…

Assignment

• Marketing animals up for adoption can be tough! One of the most relinquished breeds in shelters is the American Pit Bull Terrier. How do you market a breed that is misunderstood by most people?

• Task: You are the newly appointed head/chief ACO at the Bridgeport pound. Between 80-90% of the dogs that come through their doors are APBT or APBT mixes. Their save rate is ~50%. You are expected to make Bridgeport a No Kill shelter, meaning no healthy or treatable animals get killed due to lack of space. Create and submit a detailed plan.

• Hint: Use the No Kill Equation