To-Not-Gas-Pets

[Cerlis]

I've been tasked by my friend who does a online news paper...thing to try to find out what other cities do to help curb the many many animals(pets) put down each year. Valuable information is why there are so many (statistics or percentages are nice), the rate of adoption versus abandonment, and what other cities do to prevent it.

Professional sits and information valued above all else.

Thank you.

[Rolling Thunder]

I am from Germany. Do you also look for statistics / laws outside the USA? It is forbidden to kill animals in Animal Shelters in Germany (except medical reasons - e.g. painful cancer). I could help you gather information from Germany or the EU.

[Cerlis]

yes the main purpose that i was asked to look at was ways other people deal with this problem, i know many other countries tackle problems better than us so any notions or ideas or statistics you have would be good



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one thing i had trouble finding was a place listing the exact numbers or even round numbers of the number of animals housed, treated, picked up, and euthenics in my city.

so i dont know if that is spread out information or if there is any company that keeps track.

[Balain]

I know here in Calgary (and other cities in Canada) people stat No kill shelters. Problem is of course limited money. They only get so much in donations so they can't shelter all animals. I don't have any numbers myself though. I just know they number they save is less than the numbers in kill shelters.

[Savannah]

First of all, I'd suggest changing your title to something along the lines of "Animal shelter euthanasia stats/reduction", as your current title doesn't do a great job explaining what you're after.

Are you talking about euthanasias in animal shelters, not euthanasias in general (i.e. including euthanasias done by vets for their private clients)? Are you primarily interested in open-intake county/city shelters, rather than private rescue organizations?

There are a lot of different factors that play into euthanasia rates, and what works for one shelter in one region may not work for another. This means that there are many, many different ways that shelters can work to reduce their euthanasia numbers.

If you're looking for the stats for your region, you'll need to find the shelter(s) in your area and ask them -- shelters keep track of their own data, and some are more open to sharing that data than others.

The questions you are asking are incredibly broad and cannot be answered neatly or briefly. I suggest that you speak with your friend and determine what sorts of things this article is going to be about and how in depth s/he wants it to be. Then I would start by talking directly with your local shelter(s) to see what the situation is there and what they're doing. Next, I'd start at the top-level animal shelter organizations (HSUSA, humansociety.org, ASPCA, aspca.org and aspcapro.org -- you may have to do some digging through their sites to find exactly what you're looking for, but I'd imagine there's some useful information there for you). From there, you should have a much better idea of what you're interested in and where to find that information (quite frankly, asking on a non-animal shelter message board is very risky research, as you have no idea who's going to be answering).

[Karoht]

My fiancee works in a vet clinic here in Calgary.
People abandon animals at the clinic, in the nearby parking lot, or even at the school across the road.
They do a pretty good job of adopting out the ones they can directly, the ones they can't adopt out quickly typically end up with the daisy foundation (for dogs) or another rescue society (cats). Rarely do they send them to the City shelters.

[thubby]

i know around here some of the humane groups will catch, vaccinate and spay/neuter homeless cats.
not ideal, obviously, but it's better than nothing.

[Aiani]

I know here in Austin our city shelter has been working to stay a no kill shelter. Here's a link to the city animal shelter web site specifically the page about maintaining a no kill status. Sadly it seems light on the statistics but it does talk about strategies for keeping down the euthenasia rate.

http://www.austintexas.gov/department/no-kill-plan

[Karoht]

i know around here some of the humane groups will catch, vaccinate and spay/neuter homeless cats.
not ideal, obviously, but it's better than nothing.
If you turn an animal in to a clinic, chances are they do the same thing. My fiance's clinic typically does the vaccines, and if old enough and in stable condition, they will usually spay/neuter them too.

How is that not an ideal solution exactly? Beats euthanizing them by quite a stretch. Most people who can't afford a pet, usually can't afford the vaccines or the spay/neuter. This removes some of the initial costs of adopting an animal, and it is in the animal's best interests as well as the adoptee.

[thubby]

If you turn an animal in to a clinic, chances are they do the same thing. My fiance's clinic typically does the vaccines, and if old enough and in stable condition, they will usually spay/neuter them too.

How is that not an ideal solution exactly? Beats euthanizing them by quite a stretch. Most people who can't afford a pet, usually can't afford the vaccines or the spay/neuter. This removes some of the initial costs of adopting an animal, and it is in the animal's best interests as well as the adoptee.

because the animal still ends up back on the street. that's the problem, the local place takes in what it can but there are just too many so they see to the basic health and safety they can.

[Karoht]

because the animal still ends up back on the street. that's the problem, the local place takes in what it can but there are just too many so they see to the basic health and safety they can.Ah, yes, that's what you were refering to.

[Trekkin]

You're also looking at several processes at once here, assuming you're looking at all animal euthanasia.

There are, of course, cases where the client specifically wants their pet put down -- usually, if my experience is correct, because the pet is terminally ill and in pain. Depending on the point of the paper, it may be worth finding a number on this so you can subtract it from the total, or at least consider it separately from a policy point of view.

Beyond that, there's the question of feral animals and ownerless pets. Some cities still euthanize them; others alter and release them, or alter and put them in shelters.

There are a few other categories, and they all combine to form the totals that people refer to.

Your other question, adoption vs. abandonment, almost definitely needs to be considered as a function of pet age. Lots of kittens and puppies get adopted; lots of old cats and dogs get abandoned.