Saving Pets » volunteers

Why the community taking back shelters is the future

savingpets — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:47:16 +0000

In the often under-resourced area of community services, having a select few industry ‘professionals’ exclusively hoarding power, resources and knowledge is outdated and inefficient. Across many different areas, these kinds of paternal approaches are widely being replaced with projects which teach the community how to manage their own issues; harnessing the capabilities and expertise of citizens, resulting in increased effectiveness, better results and a reduced demand on public services.

Equipping citizens with the skills and knowledge to help themselves and each other is clearly a good investment. But running through many of these innovations is a more radical idea that challenges the nature of professionalism and expertise.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t a vital role for professionals in the public services of the future; of course there is. What we’re seeing is the huge potential for professionals and citizens to join forces in new ways that enable them to create much more value by working together.

Read the full article from the UK Guardian here Why public services can only benefit from working with citizens.

Hat tip Jayne Cravens.

Saving lives

savingpets — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 06:02:06 +0000

Saving Victoria’s pets

savingpets — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 01:21:07 +0000

We all know community foster care and rescue groups make a vital contribution to animal welfare across the country. Thousands of pets every year owe their lives to volunteer pet-lovers who give up their time to save the lives of needy animals. Rescue and foster groups involve the whole community to bring about life saving outcomes for pets, caring for them as if they were their own in healing family environments. Community rescue and foster groups are the life blood of the animal sheltering process.

Victoria however, has legislation which is hindering animal rescue and foster groups from operating. This week the internet has been awash with outrage that Victoria’s Department of Primary Industries (DPI) sent an notice to pounds across the state, advising them that to release pets to community rescue groups was in breach of the ‘Code of Practice for the management of dogs and cats in shelters’. The problem they claim, is that anyone taking pets from pounds should be registered as a domestic animal business (including individual foster carers) and that would mean complying with several group housing standards designed for shelters and pounds;

Dog Rescue Association of Victoria president Trisha Taylor said volunteers take unwanted dogs and cats into their own homes and spend time and money rehabilitating them so they can be rehomed. They did not want to have to turn their homes into animal shelters and report to the bureau.

”The rules for shelters are onerous and intended for multiple dog situations,” Ms Taylor said. ”This is no different than you taking an extra dog into your home and having to declare yourself an animal shelter, with the bureau coming to check you meet the code’s standards.”

She said volunteers did not put the rescued cats or dogs in cages, but treated them as pets until they were adopted out.

She said the bureau wanted to either gain control over rescue groups or shut them down – a move that would force up the kill rate of abandoned animals.
The Age

The situation has always been difficult for community rescue and foster groups in Victoria and this is why it hasn’t really thrived as it has in other states. The code of practice that they are referencing, has been in existence for years and if you were to interpret it in its most strict sense, rescue and foster would have always been illegal in Victoria. Some pounds have been interpreting the laws in a relaxed fashion to ‘get pets out the door’. Others have chosen not to work with rescue and use the laws as an excuse to kill animals. Depended entirely on who was in charge.

At most Victorian pounds, more animals are killed than are rehomed. Each and every day, thousands of dogs and cats are shot with firearms or given fatal overdoses of anesthetic, and their bodies discarded. All the while rescue groups stand by with safe foster homes at the ready, but are refused access to these animals. Often it is because pounds are afraid that by letting rescue groups in, they will be no longer able to hide poor performance, inhumane conditions or simply because ‘working with rescue is too much trouble’.

The groups in Victoria are doing an excellent job driving an ongoing effort to get recognition for community rescue. Taking advantage of the momentum of adoption and No Kill initiatives here and overseas, there is no doubt there is enormous community support for the awesome work that they do. The result is a clash between legislation from the nineties and the new belief system of the community about the valuable role of rescue, which is, almost unappreciatedly, only a few years old.

Politicians are promising to review the code of practice to make provision for rescue groups should they be elected. But they are doing so with a double-speak of ‘not wanting to have an unregulated rescue industry’. Even with evidence that the rescue industry is thriving in other states and that the animal outcomes are excellent, they still don’t trust the public to know how to care for pets. However, despite these unneccesary hurdles, this could be the very opportunity Victorian rescue groups have been waiting for.

If the behaviour of rescue groups in Victoria is outlined in a new Code of Practice, so should the rights of those same rescue groups be.

Community rescue and foster groups should be supported through proactive efforts to remove artibitrary rules that make it more difficult for them to operate. But if rescue groups do have to apply for a pre-determined financial status, provide certain reporting criteria and offer particular treatments and services to pets, in order to be an ‘authorised’ rescue group – pounds and shelters across the state should no longer be able to block or restrict access to death row pets. All groups should be granted a legal right to take any pet that a pound is unable to save. No pound should be able to choose to kill a pet if a rescue group is willing to take it, rehabilitate it and find it a new family.

In the case of somewhere like the Lost Dogs Home, who last year adopted 3,101 dogs, but killed 3,242 – each one these dogs should have been made available for further treatment by a rescue group. A pound management’s descretion to pick and choose whether they will work with rescue groups, when groups are willing to save and treat animals with money from their own pockets must be removed in the new legislation. Pounds must work with rescue groups and this must be made law if pets are to survive the shelter system.

If Victoria insist on standardising rescue and continuing down the restrictive path that has cost so many lives in the past, we must use it as an opportunity to gain recognition for the valuable role we play in the community.

The rights of rescue groups to save lives must be enshrined in law.

Conflicting notions

savingpets — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 06:14:37 +0000

A recent puppy farm awareness effort estimates that over a hundred thousand puppies and kittens are sold from pet stores each year.

And yet we often hear there aren’t enough people who want to bring a pet into their families.

Australian’s are spending more than ever on gourmet foods, treats, toys, bedding and grooming, pampering and veterinary treatment. Not to mention enrichment, day care and walking services, treating their pet like a member of the family.

And yet we often hear that Australians are irresponsible, neglectful and uncompassionate.

According to the Petcare Information and Advisory Service, rescue pet adoptions are surging; doubling in the last ten years.

And yet we often hear that there aren’t enough people willing to adopt a pet.

PetRescue has helped rehome 73,000 pets, with 75% of those being through community rescue and foster care groups. The Pedigree Adoption Drive was a huge boost to these groups, raising awareness and inspiring compassion, with over 30,000 pets finding new homes in 2010 alone.

And yet we often hear that the community doesn’t know how to care for pets, that the community has no business in animal welfare and that pets are better of dead than in the hands of the public.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

We have been duped into believing that we are the problem, not the solution to companion animal issues. We have been blamed for shelter killing. We have been lied to, as the number of animals being killed is kept hidden from us. We have been told that there are no solutions and that we must donate money and resources in ignorance, trust our animal welfare leaders and never question.

We must take back our animal welfare industry and demand it reflect our own progressive values towards companion animals.

We must take action in our own communities and fight for the right of pets to be given every chance to live and to be treated humanely whilst in care.

We all have a part to play, even if we’re not working in animal welfare, even if we’re not encouraged to do so, even if we’re told we’re wrong in wanting these things from our animal shelters.

We are the animal lovers of Australia. And we are the answer.

The big, fun guide to saving cats this summer

savingpets — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 08:44:47 +0000

Image: Labhlakshmi.com

Each spring and summer across the country, thousands of cats and kittens enter a shelter system that is already overloaded. To avoid having to kill the majority of these animals, there are things shelters can be doing in the months leading up to this busy season.

Here’s a plan that any shelter could use leading up to cat season to manage their shelter’s summer rush;

Right now (2 months out)

Recognise that it doesn’t help to blame your community

Condemning the public for a kitten rush that happens every year is both futile and largely inaccurate. Owned cats are largely desexed and free-roaming cats will breed whether you put hateful pieces of media out or not. Calling it ‘dumping season’ and your public ‘irresponsible’ builds barriers between you and your community (think ‘Barbara’ from the ANZ ads!).

From now on your organisation will demonstrate its commitment to helping save cats and all media and communications should focus, not on attributing blame, but attracting people to interact with your organisation through positive and heartwarming stories.

Get your Facebook group dusted off

Do you have a Facebook group up and running? Now’s the time to start a conversation with your public; you need them to help you through this time.

Your first article is to call for Foster Carers (there’s a sample article here). You’re going to need lots to care for all the mums and bubs you’re expecting. From now on you need to share a story daily with your Facebook fans; something funny that happened in the office. A cat with a particularly cute name. A photo of an adopter just as they leave you smiling happily. Brainstorm potential topics at your next staff meeting and write them down for inspiration.

Get a photographer

Photos like this:

… will not get your cats adopted. You have to get a professional or a good amateur photographer to visit your shelter most days and get photos of your cats that are like this;

Images Best Friends Animal Society

See how they’re focused on the face? You’ll want to get the images of cats eyes and faces to engage potential adopters.

If your photographers are willing, give them access to upload your cats directly to the web, via your own website, Facebook or PetRescue. Give them the basic details for each cat, then have a staff member go in to add any extra information. This removes the double handling of the photographer sending you the images and you having to work it all out.

The more pets you can adopt now through cute pictures and positive profile on the web, the more capacity will be available when the rush starts in earnest.

Have a PetRescue account

While having your own website is important for raising awareness of the work of your organisation, having your individual cats on PetRescue (www.petrescue.com.au) is vital if you need to adopt large numbers of animals.

PetRescue recieves 3.16 million page views from over 200,000 visitors each month. Because of this enormous audience of people actively looking to adopt, your cats are probably more likely to find the right home for them here than your own organisation’s website.

Also, if you use the PetRescue feed to drive your own website, you only have to do one upload and both sites will be up to date.

Call all of your media contacts

Let them know that you’re coming up to your busy season and need their help to save lives. Find out if their interested in doing a pre-rush spread of available cats and let them know that you can provide high-res professional photos.

Avoid doing ‘kitten dumping’ stories, stray cat floods or anything negative. You need to make the story about adoption, the benefits of cat ownership and any promotions you might be doing on adoptions.

Develop a colour pet-of-the-week advert in your local media

Speak to your usual sponsors about a fantastic opportunity to be seen to be helping animals; a colour pet-of-the-week advert in your local paper. Let them have a big brand opportunity in return for you coordinating with the paper a cute pet each week. Always profile your most cute and adoptable pet, even if its likely that pet will already be adopted. You want people to know that your shelter is a great source of healthy, loving animals.

Be sure to have your phones manned by professional, enthusiastic staff who have a list of your available cats on hand when the story runs. Chances are there will be a lapse between when you send through the profile and when the story features, so those cat included may very well already be adopted. And that’s ok! Explain that the featured cat has been incredibly popular and has already found a new family, but that there are several others that can be emailed or discussed over the phone. Easy!

Check your donation procedures

With all this extra exposure, you’re sure to have people wanting to make donations to help cats find new homes. This is an excellent chance to capture their interest in your work.

For people coming on site with product donations have a ‘thank you’ brochure printed up (a black and white photocopy is fine) thanking the person for their support and wishing them a happy holidays. Outline a little about what your organisation brings to the community and local homeless pets.

Make sure everyone visiting on site or making donations gets acknowledged by staff, even if it’s just a smile and a wave. Don’t have people drop anything into ‘bins’ – especially actual rubbish bins – what you’re actually saying ‘your donation is rubbish’. Have a rack or box for donations that gets regularly cleared and if you must, have the bins located out of sight of the public.

Anyone who makes a donation should be invited to leave their details, especially their email address for future mailing. These are your organisations most loyal supporters so you want to know who they are!

Develop a ‘free’ cat adoption program

Free cat adoption has had enormous success overseas in dramatically increased adoptions.

Johnson County, Kansas adoption fees were waived for cats, and adoptions doubled. The summer promotion was such a hit, they decided to extend the deadline as it successfully gave adopters an extra incentive to take in adult cats — often the last to be adopted at shelters.

In August in the US The Humane Society of Boulder Valley enjoyed its largest adoption day ever, which was also the first day they ever offered free adoptions for cats and kittens. In a single day, they placed 117 animals.

By co-oincidence, on the same weekend, New Zealand SPCA, offered a free-feline Friday. The Wellington, Wairarapa, Newtown, Waikanae, Levin and Masterton branches offered cats to the public with a waived fee over the weekend. Their offices were flooded with prospective owners on Friday morning and by Friday afternoon and 150 animals were adopted.

In June, in the US, 41 shelters and rescue groups got together for the Maddies Matchmaker Adoptathon, offering free pet adoption. They did so with the aim of emptying their shelters. The result? 1,500 pets were rehomed in a single weekend.

And finally, we have Nevada Humane Society US, who have been using ‘free’ in their adoption mix since 2007 and now rehome more than 1,000 pets a month.

If ‘free’ still makes you feel a bit funny, check out the report ‘Comparison of Attachment Levels of Adopters of Cats: Fee-Based Adoptions Versus Free Adoption’ published the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, that found

Attachment to cats adopted did not decreased when adoption fees were eliminated,
That eliminating adoption fees does not devalue the animal, or the rescue group in the eyes of the adopters,
And that there was no increase in the percentages of animals returned.

The ASPCA are now officially recommending ‘fee waived’ programs as a valid technique for increasing cat adoption (http://www.aspcapro.org/free-adult-cat-adoptions.php). Visit their website to see how other shelters have implemented it, how they’ve recouped costs and got management on side.

Get your in-store program up and running

During kitten season you’re going to want to get as many pet stores as you can on board to help you showcase your animals. Start phoning pet-free stores in your area to find out who would be interested in having kittens in-store over the summer.

A quick and easy program that you could start today would look something like this;

Purchase a number of ‘caboodle’ enclosures from Cat Max (http://catmax.com.au/caboodles.php). We found the ‘Mini Caboodle’ with cat walk, staircase and pet house provided an attractive, safe, multi-level enclosure. These would be big enough for a few kittens or up to two cohabiting cats.

Source a team of volunteers (how many depends on how many stores you will be working from).

You’ll want a morning volunteer and an afternoon volunteer. They will be responsible for;
- visiting each store to check on animal health at an agreed time each day
- changing litter trays, checking water and food
- collecting any adoption applications to be returned to your shelter (alternatively store staff can fax or email them through)

Store staff should also be responsible for monitoring animal health and cleaning up any spills or poop.

Adoption applications can be made for the animals, but the shelter can request that they are first approved. The more streamlined this process the better, but initially volunteers can bring back any applications after their visit.

More information on creating an effective in-store adoption program can be provided by PetRescue (info@petrescue.org.au).

Tell people about it! This is another good story for your media contacts; be sure to let them know there are cute kittens in store should they like to visit and get some great pics!

Don’t forget to also have a donation box or ‘wishing tree’ in their store. As people buy gifts for their own pets, they are generally very supportive of buying something for a homeless animal.

A ‘wishing tree’ (a Christmas tree covered in gift tags featuring a pet’s story and suggestions of the kinds of donations you need) can be located at the front of the store. Or a box placed at the checkout where donations can be left.

Again everyone who donated should be invited to leave their details (have a sign in sheet next to the donation box) and be given a ‘thank you’ sheet from your organisation.

Desexing

Obviously, desexing is vital to reducing the number of cats entering your shelter in the coming months. Speak to your local vets about a three month discount promotion for anyone who wants to desex a cat; get them to agree to a voucher that can be collected from your organisation.

For people who are low income earners, or wanting to desex a feral or semi-owned cat desexing should be free. Ask your sponsors if they would be interested in sponsoring a number of desexing operations (say 20 at 100 each) in return for a logo on your website for six months. Have a page of ’supporters’ logos thanking them for their donation.

Now, if people have contacted you wanting to know what to do about a feral, offer them free cat desexing in return for them caring for the cat.

December

Arrange to extend your opening hours

People are more likely to visit your shelter if you are open at times when they’re not at work. You need to be open full days on weekends, and arrange at least once weekly ‘twilight’ adoption opportunities, where your shelter stays open until 8pm or later.

Then you need to tell people about it! Opening late doesn’t help if people don’t know that you’re open. Announce your summer opening hours on your Facebook page, in your email signatures, in the local media and ask your supporters to put up posters in your local area (vets, shopping centers, community notice boards).

Invite a local radio station to do a late night broadcast from your cattery. Hold a sausage sizzle. Get a local celebrity cat lover to come on site. Offer adoption promotions. Anything that can encourage people to come visit you.

Hold a ‘free’ adoption event

Now’s the time to run your first adoption event. Use ‘free’ as a point of difference; a hook to get the media interested. Let people know you will still be using your normal screening procedures and that all cats are being adopted desexed and vaccinated.

Pick a day when the shelter can offer extended trading hours and invite families to come in as a group after work to choose a new family member.

When you come to sign off on the adoption, give them all the information they need plus an invoice for all the charges you’ve incurred in getting their cat ready for adoption. Often when people are presented with how much the cat has cost you and asked for a donation they will pay what they can. But don’t worry if they don’t! By showing them you’ve provided them value, they’re also more likely to become donors in the future (so make sure their contact details get into your fundraising systems!)

Holiday adoptions

Image: No Kill Nation

While it wasn’t too long ago that holiday adoptions were considered a sin, but nowadays shelters that shut down adoptions for the holiday are few and far between. The overblown fear that holiday adoptions equal impulse gifts that will be given up soon after the holiday, has been replaced with news stories of holiday adoption promotions, reduced fees to encourage lifesaving, happy pets and support for new adopters.

If people are going to buy a pet we’d should encourage them to come, speak to us and get good advice; instead of walking into a pet store. Our rescue groups have policies and procedures that help people make good decisions. We need to yell from the rooftops; shelters are a great place to get a pet these holidays!

Ask your media contact to help you do a Christmas themed promotion (think cats in reindeer antlers and playing with tinsel) and feature a little holiday cheer in all of your cat adoption photos.

January

Keep your extended hours

While school is out, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible for families to visit. Put out regular calls to your media contacts to ask that they include adoption stories, available pets and cute kitten photos in their publications.

Hold a ‘kitten shower’

Summer is a great time to hold a ‘kitten shower’ featuring some of your newborns (think baby shower but for kittens!). Ask the public to donate things your kittens need or just come on site to hold a baby. A great media release is here:

“Breaking Mews. Animal Friends Hosts a Kitten Shower”

“It’s a boy! It’s a girl! It’s a kitten! Animal Friends is hosting a baby shower with a whole new twist by bringing 30 kittens in from foster homes to help them find forever families.”

The Kitten Shower is your chance to attend a unique “baby shower” where you can meet our adorable new feline arrivals and drop off a shower gift that will help us to provide the litte ones with all that they need for a strong start in life.

The event will be held Sunday, August 5 from noon-3 p.m. at the Ohio Township shelter, officially known as the Caryl Gates Gluck Resource Center. The address is 562 Camp Horne Road.

Animal Friends will be decked out in pinks and blues and there will be shower games. Guests can make treat-filled baby bottles for the kittens to bat around. The homeless kitties even have a gift registry in the Animal Friends retail shop.

Gorgeous! More info on hosting kitten showers here.

Try things. Then try other things

Make adoption promotions the focus of your organisation. Be topical, building around events in your community like movie releases, holidays and sporting events. Some things will work, other things wont; but what’s important is that your focused on getting people in the door and maintaining an air of positivity during this difficult time.

With a bit of creativity now, you can put in place systems and promotions that will help you save the lives of cats and kittens entering your shelter or rescue. Involve everyone in making this time some of your most innovative, successful and fun. Really, what have you got to lose?

What have I forgotten? I just know you have a fantastic adoption/cat promotion idea that I’ve missed off this list. Comment with your ideas :)

How to save 6 dogs in three hours

savingpets — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 03:40:39 +0000

You have some dogs that need homes.

Do you
a) kill them
or
b) host an adoption event on a Sunday and tell people about it?

RSPCA adoption day a hit

Gladstone folk opened their hearts and their homes yesterday by adopting six orphaned dogs at the RSPCA monthly dog adoption day.

The fourth adoption day was held by the Friends of RSPCA Gladstone, following on from the success of last Sunday’s cat adoption day, from which 14 cats and kittens found new homes.

“Six of our lovely animals were adopted and another three look like going by the end of the week,” Friends of RSPCA Gladstone publicity officer Judy Whicker said.

“We had a great day with a lot of interest, so I’m sure we will get a couple of adoptions from the showings.

9am to 12pm is 3 hrs, which means 6 adoptions was a great result! Not counting those who came forward after such a positive article was printed in the local paper, or the 14 cats adopted the week before.

Just by hosting a Sunday event and telling people about it!

“This is the smile that goes with the cat in the box !!! Adopted at Cat Adoption day”

According to their Facebook page, the Friends of RSPCA Gladstone’s next adoption day is Sunday, October 3. If you’re in the area get down there and show your support, buy something they’re selling or just say thanks to them on behalf of the animals.

Regional pounds across the country kill and claim its because no one wants the pets they have. Could weekend adoption events be the key to saving lives?

Want your local rescue group to feature here on Saving Pets for doing a fantastic job? Send me details of their promotion and their results and I’ll give them props.

Behind bars, death row pets get a second chance

savingpets — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:38:45 +0000

This is just fantastic;

More than 100 dogs per year will be given a second lease at life thanks to inmates at the John Morony Correctional Complex.

NSW Minister for Corrective Services, Phillip Costa, joined Londonderry MP, Allan Shearan, to launch the initiative last week, which will see selected John Morony inmates assist in the rehabilitation of shelter dogs with social and behavioural problems.

The initiative follows the ‘Pups in Prison’ program that started in 2002, is the third canine program organised between the RSPCA and Corrective Services NSW.

The prisoners, who will study a certificate II in animal companion services, will be responsible for the care of the dogs and their training.

Each dog will go through a three-month training course, which will be supervised by RSPCA and prison staff, before being fostered out to a home.

Inmates also helped build the training centre, which includes 30 kennels, a vet room, a training room and an adoption centre.

Offering innovative behavioural rehabilitation for pets is a vital step to modern sheltering. The fact that the development of this program mean both the dogs win and the prison inmates win, shows that with the right leadership, shelters can go from a place where pets are summarily killed to a vital community service offering compassion and second chances.

How the New Zealanders zoomed past us in the race to No Kill

savingpets — Sun, 23 May 2010 11:00:55 +0000

The New Zealanders might have just overtaken Australia in the race to modernised animal sheltering industry.

Over 125 years ago, New Zealand opened its first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or SPCA. Today, proving that even an ‘old’ organisation can lead the way in modern thinking, they have pledged their dedication to a No Kill future for New Zealand.

The Saving Lives philosophy is that every life is precious, and with that philosophy comes the need to help every animal into the fulfilment of life, so long as its quality of life is preserved.

Calling their program ‘Saving Lives’ rather than ‘No Kill’, they reaffirm that they are in the “business of saving lives” and call on their staff to “becomes passionately committed to supporting its philosophy” and “accept the philosophy that Saving Lives is totally achievable”.

But this isn’t just feel-good piffle. To move towards their No Kill goals, they first had to take a long hard look at their policies, identifying the common causes of shelter killing, and take audit of each one’s validity.

One of the major breakthoughs from this audit, was the identification of a cultural problem with exisiting euthanasia protocols. Rather than use the protocols to make compassionate decisions, the documentation and policies had become a way to defend killing and absolve individuals of the responsibility.

The new model asked people to step up and be more than just a ‘rule follower’;

Accountability allows, and indeed requires, flexibility. Too many SPCA centres lose sight of this principle, staying rigid with their protocols, believing they are engraved in stone. They are not.

Where protocols are important because they ensure accountability, protocols without flexibility can have the opposite effect by stifling innovation, causing lives to be needlessly lost, and allowing those who fail to save lives an excuse as to why they failed.”

The organisation’s pledge to maintain protocols and procedures orientated towards preserving life, means they must find solutions to the common reasons for shelter killing.

Beyond killing

Health

“Cat flu is not a reason to kill cats”.

By referring to cat flu as ’snuffles’, a normal and preventable part of caring for shelter cats, the group was able to take a scientific, rather than defensive, approach to managing illness;

In an eight-year study conducted in Auckland, approximately 40% of incoming cats developed ’snuffles’ (in the first year of the survey). Various methods, including efforts to reduce the stressful environment, in addition to cleaning regimes, have reduced this figure to 25%. With the development of isolation areas providing the opportunity to treat those affected, the success rate for treatment has increased from 34% (annual average) to 61%, while euthanasia of snuffles sufferers has dropped from 24% to 3% in the treatment area.

These figures clearly indicate that a combination of stress-free environments, cleaning regimes, strict isolation areas and the correct medical treatment can have a direct effect on saving lives from “snuffles”.

“Ringworm is not a reason to kill animals”. Describing ringworm as a ‘nuisance’ rather than a deadly disease, but recognising ringworm passed to the public is a publicity nightmare, the group recommends the following;

The use of foster homes is ideal in isolating ringworm from an SPCA centre. However, such fosterers need to be dedicated to the task and, due to the length of treatment, are “put out of action” for the fostering of other animals for a lengthy period of time. The use of off-site adoption events to rehome these animals will ensure that they do not return ringworm to the centre.

The use of a team of ’special needs’ foster carers, coupled with a healthy, stress-free environment, strict isolation and treatment regimes mean a commitment that pets with ringworm will be saved.

The group also treat skin conditions (flea allergies and mange) either on site, or in foster. By offering full disclosure and treatment plans to new adopters, pets with skin conditions are able to finish their recovery in their new homes.

Temperament

Pets entering shelters, by definition, have varying backgrounds and requirements for care. The organisation pledge to help all animals, regardless of their condition;

If we are to save lives we need to cater to these special problems by providing facilities that can attend to their needs and, of equal importance, that involve rehabilitation methods requiring the expertise of those qualified to provide the help needed to restore them to normality.

When referring to cats, ‘feral’ is not in the group’s vocabulary.

By definition, “feral” cats do not have contact with or dependency on humans. Accordingly, centres are very unlikely to receive genuine “feral” cats.

Incoming stray cats will normally be abandoned previously owned companion cats or possibly cats from colonies. Either way, they will not appreciate being trapped and will show their displeasure in no uncertain terms. For this reason they are described (incorrectly) as “feral”, when in fact they are “wild” (unused to handling, resenting capture, possibly never domesticated), “scared” (frightened by their captivity and uncertain of their future), or “timid” (naturally mistrusting and unsure).

Such cats deserve the chance to live, and should be given the opportunity to adjust and relax a little over a few days rather than being hastily dispatched.

Dogs get a similar level of respect, with the recognition that the behaviour of dogs is a product of their previous environment and that with time, patience and training – most dogs with perceived temperament problems can be successfully adopted.

Any temperament assessment should be aimed at “getting to know the dog” and whether any behavioural problems might exist that can be treated, rather than being aimed at putting it to the final test to determine its ultimate fate.

Additional to “on-site” facilities, rehabilitation of behavioural problems, particularly with dogs, will include the input of independent and professional individuals.

The variety of temperament problems may call for different advice, from either a veterinarian or a behaviourist.

Correct behaviour adjustment techniques can be taught to staff/volunteers, which can prove a very real asset in the operation of a centre, resulting in the correct and professional handling of animals while in our care.

Age

Recognising the importance of foster care in saving underage animals, this organisation engages the compassion of community;

The inability to save healthy young animals reflects badly on us as a welfare organisation, particularly when there are so many people in the community who would gladly volunteer themselves and their homes to foster the young until ready for adoption.

…………………………….

Getting pets out of shelters

Along with a requirement to overcome killing as a method of managing shelter pets, the organisation also needed to get those pets they have, out of the shelter.

Pet retention strategies

The Saving Lives philosophy calls for a willingness to work with people to help them solve their problems, with the sole aim of keeping people and their companion animals together. In our ethos of “prevention” we need to be seen as a place that people can turn to for advice and assistance, and we need to respond to that. to solve problems

Identifying that the very first call for help is an opportunity for the shelter to lend assistance, the organisation works to develop relationships with local trainers, veterinarians and behaviouralists. These relationships are symbiotic, generating new clients for these businesses, and expanding the knowledge base of the shelter, though simple training for staff.

There is discussion about the development of a general national call number for people with pet problems in the future,

Desexing

High-volume, low cost desexing is at the heart of any successful life-saving programme to substantially reduce the number of unwanted births, and the number of animals surrendered to SPCA centres.

It is fair to say that a proactive high-volume, low/no cost desexing programme is the best investment any centre can make in the fight to save future lives.

Along with community desexing clinic, the organisation desexes all animals before adoption and seeks the support from local council animal management for desexing initiatives. Free, targeted desexing for at-risk pets in low income areas, desexing vouchers for semi-owned cat owners, mobile desexing facilities and proactive education campaigns bring the benefits of desexing to all pets in the community.

An effective desexing programme has been proven in many cities internationally to virtually halve the centre incoming animal population within a decade of its introduction missed.

Improving reclaims

A focus on the importance of microchipping. All adopted pets are chipped and the organisation run ’snip and chip’ promotions.

The requirement that all animals are scanned and that pet owners are contacted promptly. They also list found pets on the internet.

Maximising adoptions

Focusing on promoting the benefits to the adoption of shelter animals:

- unique ‘feel good’ factor
- the use of the term ‘orphan’ rather than ’stray’
- great value (desexed, vaccinated, microchipped)

They also make the following requirement of their shelters:

SPCA facilities should be a great place to visit, with staff/volunteers happy and helpful professional people who are keen to assist as best they can because they want to, not only for the people they are serving but also for the animals they are dedicated to saving.

Adoption areas need to be clean and contain contented, well-presented animals in bright and airy surroundings, rather than the “prison behind bars” that the public envisage we are. Public facilities in cared-for grounds and surroundings must abound, to help add to the enjoyment
of their visit to the SPCA.

Hosting adoption areas with staff/volunteers who are helpful and knowledgeable is essential. Make sure that staff/volunteers are easily recognisable with suitable clothing and name tags.

There is nothing worse than having the public looking for animals when there is no one they can find to help them with their selection.

They ask that shelters name the pet to engage potential adopters (even if the animal is a stray) and that an information sheet is provided on the animal. These sheets are designed to accentuate the positive (“Not good with children” becomes “good with adults”) and all pets must be ready for adoption (behavioural and health problems resolved).

Opening hours must be convenient for potential adopters, including seven-day-a-week adoptions and early evening opening hours. They also endeavour to provide a wide range of animals:

A centre with a wide choice of animals is a successful centre, providing variety for “discerning shoppers”. If low on animals, source them from elsewhere (other SPCAs, pounds, rescue groups, etc).

Dogs being walked, all wear ‘adopt me’ jackets to attract attention and a database of people looking for a particular ‘kind’ of animal is kept. Profiles of adoptable animals are also posted to the web.

Price is presented as a recouping of a set amount of ‘adoption costs’ and special pricing promotions are used to attract adopters. ‘Two for the price of one’ kittens, special pet care giveaways, free food promotions.

A ‘14 day’ guarantee, helps adopted pets stay in their homes:

Inevitably, some animals (particularly cats) may be slow to adapt to their new surroundings, and may even become stressed, bringing on other “ailments”.

New “owners” are generally nervous and may panic at such behaviour, often rushing off to their vet for advice and incurring associated costs which they may endeavour to recover from the SPCA.

Provide a 14-day period where the animal will be covered for any associated costs at a set ceiling price (say, $50) at your expense. You will find that few people will claim this and, by setting a maximum, considerable money will in the end be saved from over-exuberant vets and anxious “owners”!

Off-site adoptions

Adoption vehicles in shopping centre car parks and outside pet shops or the use of retail space, display pets for adoption. Partnerships with local businesses can help get pets ’seen’, and off-site adoption attracts people who may not even be considering adopting an animal.

Where this has been practiced, it has been noted that off-site adoptions can account for between 20% and 40% of total adoptions achieved, and accordingly is well worth the effort.

These promotions not only raise awareness, but are a great opportunity to fund raise.

Working with rescue groups

There are a large number of animal welfare groups and individuals who, in their own way, undertake the rescue and rehoming of many animals and to whom we should look to assist us in our mission of saving lives.

These groups and individuals should not be viewed as “the competition” (as is sometimes the case), rather they should be seen as allies undertaking the same work for the same reasons we do. For, as long as unnecessary killing occurs in our own centre, rare would be the case where we would not utilise their assistance in taking custody of and rehoming those animals we have whose life is at risk.

Get to know them all, and work with them to save lives.

Working with foster homes

Proactive recruitment of foster carers, advanced levels of support and training opportunities and a positive regard for the contribution they make is vital to the success of their foster care program;

Training, equipment, food, litter and any medication required are all supplied by the SPCA to its foster homes, and a full support network of helpful staff or volunteer supervisors is also important to the programme. Keeping our fosterers happy is as important as keeping our animals happy!

They also offer innovative foster programs, like ’seniors for seniors’ and the adoption of foster pets by the foster homes.

Working with volunteers

Volunteers have been described as a dedicated “army of compassion” and are the backbone of a successful centre operation.

The organisation engage volunteers for animal care, but also public interaction and adoption support.

…fortunately there are a large number of people who gladly give of their time to help animals – however, we need to ask them, train them, assign duties to them and look after them.

Saving the strays

There are a vast number of people who voluntarily tend to stray cats in the community, normally in a “cat colony” (which can be small or large) or in a controlled situation or on their own property. Such cats were mostly once companion cats who have been abandoned, while some are the offspring of those cats who were not desexed prior to abandonment. They assemble in colonies, requiring the support and assistance of humans for their ongoing sustenance and welfare.

These people are dedicated to their task, spending many hours (and much of their own money) to care for these cats. Their sole objective is to save lives, and accordingly they are an essential part of this programme and deserving of our full support.

Recognising the contribution of community cat carers is vital to reducing intakes and the number of cats dying in shelters. This organisation embraces their work and offers them the support they need to continue in their life-saving work.

They formed the ‘Cat Coalition’, assisting with donated food and desexing vouchers and support to manage problems as they arise. The coalition members, in addition to being supported, also operate under protocols designed with the ongoing welfare of the cats and their care in mind.

They expanded the program to include those people looking to surrender a ’stray’ cat. Rather than accept a fractious cat from a surendee’s own property, the organisation offers the chance to adopt the cat as a ‘barn cat’, have it desexed and save its life.
………………….

No Kill is about what you DO, do

This organisation has taken on every aspect of the No Kill equation, and reclaimed its role as a life-saving resource in the community. What their experience has shown is that No Kill isn’t about what you don’t do (kill), but what you do, do… execute a series of proven, modern animal sheltering techniques that simply run in a contrary manner to convenience killing.

The fact that one of the oldest and largest animal welfare organisations in the country has taken the lead in moving New Zealand towards its No Kill future, is testament to the dynamic leadership of the organisation (see my previous article on Bob Kerridge from the SPCA here).

The ‘Saving Lives’ plan from the SPCA New Zealand could be rolled out in any shelter tomorrow.

It’s time that every Australian demands the same level of performance from our own animal welfare groups and seek out and support those organisations who are already on a No Kill path.

Australian shelter pets also deserve a No Kill future.

Live blogging from ‘Building a 21st Century Volunteer Program’

savingpets — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:23:24 +0000

Good morning!

All going well, I’ll be live blogging from Jayne Cravens’ ‘Building a 21st Century Volunteer Program’ seminar.

I’m quite excited as not only is Jayne visiting from the US, but she is big on using online tools for volunteer engagement. Some more info on Jayne here:

Jayne Cravens is the Online Volunteering Specialist at United Nations Volunteers, working with both NetAid and UNITeS. She directed the Virtual Volunteering Project for four years in Austin, Texas.

A nonprofit professional with more than 15 years experience in the field, she has presented workshops on online communities and culture, public relations, corporate relations, volunteerism, and volunteer management, among other subjects, for numerous organizations and conferences.

She is a regular contributor to various Internet discussion groups, and earlier this year, was selected one of the Top 25 Women of the Web. Jayne’s own nationally-recognized web site, coyotecom.com, offers extensive technology tips for community-serving agencies, and tips for camping (offline, ofcourse) with your dog.

Morning…

Trends in Australia

- volunteers now want to make a difference
- want to be decision makers, leaders
- they want connection
- want an experience they can talk about
- skills for resume
- new roles for specific skills (eg. web design)
- involuntary volunteers (eg. dole workers)
- roles created to benefit the community (skills training)
- requirents for representatives from all demographics
- more corporate volunteers
- aging volunteer population: needing new recruits
- more Internet use/ online communications to volunteers
- tighter budgets: volunteer coordinator needs to prove value in role

Virtual Volunteering

Using the Internet to support your volunteers.

- The majority of your volunteers will be supported online.

- People who volunteers online will usually also volunteer onsite.

- Number one complaint for online volunteer recruitment is: “I signed up and no one ever got back to me”
— get an automated response

- Use photos on your website of your volunteers to show how important they are to your organisation

- Write about you volunteer team: case studies, successes, positive stories. Give volunteers a chance to have a say (blog)

- Look at what other organisations are doing, then steal their ideas :)

- Recruit a volunteer to splice up videos of your volunteers/roles & upload to YouTube.

Learning about online tools

- If you don’t start the conversation, your volunteers will start one for you. Start the (blog? Facebook page) yourself, set the tone and encourage people to participate.

- Use Google alerts. Set one up so that when someone posts about you, you know about it.

- You need to be communicating via one-on-one email, but you need to be having a group discussion also.

- Dealing with negative volunteers online: when mean volunteers dominate the conversation, handle it as you would in person; call them & tell them it’s not cool. Moderate their effect be being positive. Deal with it so people can see how well you handled it.

- Join this group for volunteer managers: OZVPN

- Become a participant of least two online groups (any topic) to see how different people communicate online.

- Watch the youtube/ online videos of other groups in your industry to see things you like.

- Find a way to include offline volunteers, rather than not doing something online because it excludes them.

- Keep you ex-volunteers in your online groups. They might come back if they see something that interests them.

- getting your organisation ready
— introduce the idea informally/softly
— partner with people comfortable working online
— look at your existing volunteers policies and map your processes for online volunteers
> develop role description
> recruit based on assignment
> assess and screen

- Make regular contact online with volunteers

- Invite them to events

- Recognise, recognise, recognise! Google recognition programs.

- When a volunteer complains about something you’re not doing, invite them to be the one to take responsibility for the task.

Afternoon

Recruiting for diversity among your volunteers

- representation from different genders, age groups, economic levels, ethnicities, abilities/disabilities etc.

- work out which groups are under represented (seniors, skilled professionals, uni students) and target the places they visit. Contact their representative groups if you don’t know.

- why do the groups volunteer? Appeal to them.

- express the kinds of roles you have available (show they’re not all long term, time intensive).

- Recruit: neighbourhood newspapers, targeted radio stations & programs, communities of faith/ not of faith. Send messages regularily.

Identify: civic groups, professional groups, online groups, facebook groups, neighbourhood associations, ethinic groups.

Using online groups to recruit

- Don’t just stroll in to an online group & start talking. Treat it as though you’ve walked into a physical meeting.

- Ask advice. Recruit a volunteer from the group, or contact the group manager for advice.

- Be polite and sincere.

- Ask what words, phrases and topics should be avoided.

- Apologise if you’ve offended someone. Ask ‘tell me more about that’ to find out where you went wrong.

- Groups are rarely unified. Ask a range of people for their opinions and be aware of ‘unoffical’ leadership.

- Coordinate your efforts with other departments in your organisation.

What does it take to raise my stock value at my org?

- The fund raising manager make sure all the staff know exactly how much money they make.

Everyone should know:
— what impact the volunteers have on the organisation.
— how many volunteers have been involved and engaged this month.

- YOU have to become the marketing director for your program.

- Submit a short pithy report on volunteering for each staff meeting.

- Submit a similar report or data for each board meeting.

- Prepare one page for the annual report.

- Send a short volunteer update email occasionally to all staff. Remind people you exist.

- Involve marketing staff in your programs outreach; often the marketing department are looking for things to market.

- Make your volunteering section on your website comprehensive.

- Celebrate staff members who involve online volunteers.

- Do presentations to each department on your volunteering program (keep it short, 10 mins).

- Be persistent. Don’t try to change everything overnight.

- Volunteer Managers are outreach managers; they work with the community.

- Don’t measure the value of volunteers in $$ per hour, but the value they provide in community engagement, participation and spreading the word. “people like what we’re doing, they keep showing up to help”.

- Changing community perception of our organisations; what do volunteers say about us?

Bringing about change

- You have the power to debate for the changes you need.

- Use research, blogs and other peoples words to make you case.

- Ideas that were once common in non-profits (’the Internet is dangerous’) have changed over time.

- Use powerful language: ‘community assests’ rather than volunteer, ’supporting, engaging volunteers’ rather than ‘using’. Other words for volunteer; pro-bono consultant, team coach.

- selling volunteering internally is as important as selling externally.

My AHA! moment

That the value of volunteers is beyond money. Volunteer Management is actually a community engagement role.

How clever: The EZ Food Drive!

savingpets — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:26:27 +0000

Give some volunteers posters and shopping lists and get them out their doing the food shopping for you!

EZ Food Drive Success
400 pounds of pet food collected in three hours

Focus on Felines Campaign specialist Shelly Kotter, along with Shannon Riddle, Four Directions community cat program coordinator, and a handful of volunteers spent half a day collecting pet food—and it was oh so easy.

In fact, their process of collecting food is so easy, they’ve dubbed the program the EZ Food Drive.

Armed with a few chairs, a table, and some preprinted shopping lists, the volunteers were able to collect more than four hundred pounds of pet food in under three hours.

“The response was overwhelming!” says Kotter. “We handed shoppers a list of needed pet food and supplies. When those shoppers left the store, they gave us the items they bought from the list.”

It’s that easy.

Kotter is hoping that rescue groups across the country will follow suit and get permission from local retailers to set up EZ Food Drives in their communities.

Adds Kotter, “With a minimal amount of effort, we were able to collect enough pet food to supply local groups for a few weeks.”

Don’t forget the pre-printed thank you notes!