4/21/2017
Strategic Revolution
About the two communities
 1.2
million people, 400
square miles
 Intake 4,500 to 5,000
 In 2012, saved roughly
75% of animals
 In 2015 and 2016, saved
90% of the animals
1
4/21/2017
• Overturned adoption restrictions for pit
bull dogs
• Community cats/TNR/barn cat program
• Progressive volunteer and foster programs
helping most at-risk animals
• Solutions for medium and large shelter
dogs – play groups, short term foster
• Marketing and media program reaching
500,000+ people per week
• Medical program
1
million people over 900 square miles
a No Kill City in March 2011
 In 2013 and 2014, saved about 93% of 18,000
animals
 96.5% save rate in 2016
 Austin Pets Alive takes 3,000 of the shelter’s
most at-risk animals. Other partners together
take 1,500
 Comprehensive, monthly, public reports
 Became

Implemented in March 2011: The plan mandated the Austin Animal
Center to achieve at least a 90% live release rate of animals and called for
transparency and reporting, comprehensive foster, volunteer and
adoption programs, spay and neuter services for community cats and
owned pets, and the elimination of killing animals for space when empty
kennels were available.

In 2009, Austin still killing about 14,000 animals per year. Now down to
fewer than 1,000.

It’s a worthwhile read!
https://www.austintexas.gov/department/no-kill-plan
2
4/21/2017
APA Lifesaving programs
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pets with ringworm, mange and other skin conditions
FeLV cat sanctuary
Parvo puppy ICU
Barn cat program
Neonatal kitten nursery
Medical triage clinic
PASS program
Medium and large dogs with behavioral challenges
Dogs Playing for Life
FeLV Sanctuary
Barn Cat Program
Increasing Lifesaving in your community
3
4/21/2017
The programs themselves are important, but
you need data to show you what is working
and what could be improved to save more
lives.
• How many fosters and volunteers are there?
• How many community cats sterilized each
year?
• What resources are available to pet owners
to prevent surrender and reduce intake?
Find out what groups of animals are still dying and
focus only on those.
• Neonatal kittens and puppies
• Pets with treatable skin conditions
• Senior/geriatric pets and those with manageable,
lifelong conditions
• Animals with URI, puppies with parvo
• Cats with FIV or FeLV
• Cats not socialized with people
• Medium and large adult dogs
• Small animals, exotics, wildlife and agricultural
animals
• Any animal in times of space crisis
• Dogs with behavioral challenges
• Animals needing medical/behavioral support
Know the euthanasia statistics. How old? How many? What months? Species ?
4
4/21/2017
They were the most at
risk group in our
shelter so we started
there.
By overturning the
restrictions and
changing the
ordinance, we
eliminated the
arbitrary killing of
dogs identified as ‘pit
bulls.’
 Who
supports lifesaving?
• Shelter director?
• Rescue groups?
• Shelter director’s boss?
• City/county leadership?
• Animal control?
Is it a resource issue or a people issue? Or both?
5
4/21/2017
 Each
component has many parts
adoption program”
 Eg.“comprehensive
• Do you have barriers to adoption? (blanket restrictions, requirements, long
application?)
• What hours is your organization open for adoption?
• How long does it take to adopt?
• Do you do same day adoptions?
• Do you offer adoption follow-up support and resources?
• Do you do off site adoptions?
• Are animals sterilized before adoption?
• How many animals are adopted out annually?
• What is the length of stay for animals waiting to be adopted?
• Volunteers do all the jobs in the shelter
and more.
• Volunteers are treated just like staff and
held to the same expectations.
• Volunteers have a place to voice
grievances.
• Volunteers are fosters.
• Volunteers and staff have a special group.
• Volunteers are allowed to organize their
own specialty groups
• Hard Luck Hounds
• Classic Canines
• Friends
• Desperate Housecats
• Ruff Tail Runners
• ResQ Crew walking club
6
4/21/2017
In 2015, placed 40 dogs
through their program.
Most dogs waited more
than a year for an
adopter.
Group made up of 25
volunteer ‘champions’
• We trust our fosters with our pets.
• We are honest and up front about every
animal.
• Fosters sign a legal agreement.
• With few exceptions, fosters can take any
animal for any length of time.
• We don’t select pets for certain fosters.
• We give fosters the opportunity to take
sick, injured and even terminally ill
animals home.
• We provide ongoing training and support.
• We never make fosters feel bad when they
bring pets back.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Shelter breaks save lives
Play groups and play dates
Walks/runs and play dates
Behavior assessments and other incidents
considered in context
Partners who take pets with behavioral challenges
In kennel enrichment (It’s free!)
All animals are individuals
Enrichment ideas:
• Egg cartons
• Amazon boxes
• Wish list
• Stuffed Kongs
• Fun ways to feed
7
4/21/2017
“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For,
indeed, that’s all who ever have.” –Margaret Mead
Cats and Kittens
Shelter Basics
•Feral and healthy stray cats – stop taking them in!
•Conduct TNR and SNR
•Ability to medically isolate cats
•Treat URI, ringworm and repair fractures and conduct other surgeries
Cat Programs (APA!)
•Barn cat program
•FeLV and FIV
•Bottle baby programs in shelter and foster
•Disease outbreak management
Dogs and puppies
Shelter Basics
•
•
•
•
•
Breed neutral policies
Enrichment, exercise, shelter breaks
Formal assessment, if used, not to make life/death decisions
Proactive, supportive animal control
Bites and aggression considered for extent of injury and context
Dog Programs (APA! And some AAC and Fairfax)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Parvo ICU
Dog behavior programs: canine good citizen, play groups, shelter breaks
Progressive matchmaker program for more challenging dogs
Special adoption process for challenging dogs (see Center for Shelter Dogs!)
Rescue groups who pull dogs regardless of perceived breed
Post adoption training and behavior helpline
8
4/21/2017
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Foster and volunteer programs
Found foster program
Rescue partners – 100+
Animal protection focused on resources and
support, not punitive measures
Euthanasia decision process and protocol
• Call before kill
• 24 hour kill list hold
• Collaborative decision making process
Adopter follow up and support
Social media and marketing
Managed intake
SOPs for staff and volunteers
Communication – internal and external
Easy adoption process
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Off site adoptions
Online adoption marketing
Fundraising
Focus on most at risk animals
Overflow in space crises
Accepts extreme medical cases
Takes high volume of animals
Collaborative, communicative
partners
9
4/21/2017
In October 2015, we had a major flood…
Some of our kennels flooded, so we had more than 50 dogs who
would have to live in crates….
We asked our community for help, reaching out to request temporary,
emergency fosters.Within 24 hours, all 50 dogs were in foster homes.
JD with the foster who saved
his life during the space crisis
caused by the floods…
JD back at the shelter
waiting for a home.
10
4/21/2017
APA! Stopped the killing of ringworm
kittens and cats in Austin…
But there were still kittens at AAC
with ringworm, hidden in the back of
our shelter…we weren’t killing them,
but they were sitting far too long…
We used their model and created our own
public ringworm ward. Now our ringworm
kittens GO HOME to foster and adopters to
finish their care!
11
4/21/2017
With help from our rescue partners and our foster
families, our mange dogs and puppies go home
immediately to receive TLC from volunteers and
fosters. They get better in just a couple of weeks and
there is always a line to adopt them!
 Embrace
volunteers and fosters
data for everything. What you think may
not match the numbers
 Say please or thank you to your community
every single day
 Be honest about your struggles
 Try five things before you euthanize an animal
 Create measurable goals and timelines
 Use
12
4/21/2017
• Found members and
trusted advisors
• Finalized Goals
• Created online presence
and began marketing
• Strength in numbers
• Started our research
Euthanasia- All Animals
2009 - 2016
1400
1246
1200
1239
1136
Number of Animals
1000
850
749
800
607
600
478
397
400
200
0
2009


2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Advocating for pets at the
Fairfax County Animal Shelter
Advocating for shelter pets in
Virginia
• Boosting the signal for VA
shelters in crisis
• Supply drives for needy
shelters
• DATA

Animal welfare news and calls
to action
13
4/21/2017





Rescuing & rehabilitating pets
from local euthanasia lists and
high-kill VA shelters
Sending Them Home advocacy
page for shelter pets
ResQ Crew pack walks
Providing resources to needy
VA shelters
Programs to keep pets and
their owners together
14
4/21/2017
• Return Euthanasia to its
dictionary definition
• An end to the killing of nonirremediably suffering animals
• Why 90% isn’t the end game
• Calculating data and sharing
statistics
• Visit
www.nokilladvocacycenter.org
15