Fewer Dog Transfers Between Organizations
Yet Another Troubling Symptom of Post-Pandemic Shelter Crisis

Saturation of Canines in Communities Across U.S. Leaves Dogs Fewer Transfer Options

ATLANTA, GA, 8/17/2023 – Shelter Animals Count (SAC), the most trusted and current source for animal sheltering data, notes a concerning trend in their Q2 data which shows a decrease in transfers of animals between shelters. Transfers between organizations and communities play a vital role in enabling a balanced distribution of animals and alleviating overcrowding. As dog adoptions are down for rescues and private shelters compared to both 2021 and 2022, their total outcomes are down — likely leading to fewer transfers in. 

FAAWO Member organization Humane Society of Tampa Bay and the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center will be spaying/neutering 500 owned bully breed dogs and mixes beginning July 1st and ending August 15th. The initiative is in partnership with Operation Pit Stop and each dog will also receive vaccinations, a county license, a microchip, and a bag of dog food courtesy of Chewy.com, all for free.

Hillsborough County has seen an increase of bully breed dogs coming through shelter doors and spending significantly longer than other dogs before getting adopted. This crisis affects kennel space. HSTB is a managed admission shelter known as “No-Kill for Space,” meaning no animal will be euthanized to make room for another. Spaying and neutering bully breeds will help reduce the population of unwanted dogs that will end up in shelter care.

From Shelter Animals Count, May 25, 2023:

Getting (and keeping) dogs out of overburdened shelters is important right now, as data shows that not only are more dogs entering shelters than are leaving, the non-live outcome rate for dogs has nearly doubled (from 5.6% to 10%) when comparing Q1 2021 to Q1 2023. This means nearly twice as many dogs did not leave shelters alive during the first three months of 2023 compared to the same period in 2021. 

READ THE PRESS RELEASE

Dogs Playing for Life (DPFL) is redefining the meaning and importance of quality of life for sheltered dogs across North America. Their playgroup and training seminars, Mentorships, and Shadow Program provide shelter staff and volunteers with the knowledge and hands-on experience required to better support the behavioral wellbeing of the dogs in their care. At the Canine Center Florida, DPFL is working to provide quality of life that often results in live outcomes for at-risk sheltered dogs in need of our specialized training expertise. Finally, through their ever-expanding virtual offerings, DFPL has continued remote support to shelters across the country and anticipates that these long-distance resources will continue beyond the pandemic as a way to expand access to their programming. 

The 2022 Impact Report details DFPL's yearly efforts and includes analysis of the shelter survey responses and a discussion of this year’s developments as well as updates from the Canine Center Florida. 

FAAWO supports legislation that would expand telehealth access to veterinary care. Whether in-office care is financially out of reach, transporting a beloved pet provides an insurmountable challenge, or there are simply no veterinarians within easy driving distance, the proposed PETS Act, Medical Treatment of Animals, HB 1117(Buchanan)/SB 1600 (Ingoglia) would increase access to veterinary care for people across the state of Florida. 

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Providing opportunities for medical staff, whether certified or on-the-job trained, to grow their knowledge base and continue to develop in their practice is essential. For certified technicians, a certain number of RACE continuing education hours are needed every two years in order to maintain their certificate. For on-the-job trained technicians and assistants, continuing education training provides the opportunity to explore topics that they find interesting but may not run into very often. Finding these opportunities can be challenging, below are five resources to help you get started. 

1. Fear Free Shelter Program

As COVID cases continue to rise in Florida, many organizations are seeking to rethink their workplace safety guidelines and protocols. Leaders are grappling with decisions about mask mandates, vaccination requirements, and how they can best protect employees and the public they serve. Below are some resources that my help as you navigate changes in your organizations policies.

Animal shelters do not often have the opportunity to commit to a major renovation or new building project. So, the decision to start fresh with a new facility or to transform your current space needs to be thoughtfully considered based on a variety of factors, including fundraising capability, site availability, and animal capacity needs now, and at minimum, a decade into the future. 

Understanding your fundraising capacity is a bit of a chicken and egg problem. You cannot properly evaluate fundraising capacity without some analysis of your current and future needs.  However, you won’t be able to fully define the scope of the project until you know how much money you can raise. We recommend a needs assessment to understand how much it would cost to design and build the project if you were to undertake a major renovation or potentially build a whole new shelter. With this information, your fundraising feasibility consultant can do his or her work more effectively. 

The State of the State in 2020: Florida’s Animal Sheltering Trends and the Road Ahead from FAAWO on Vimeo.

With increasing number of natural disasters, there is a need for effective and efficient ways to manage the number of animal transfer to and from your organization. As evidence with California fires or the hurricanes in Louisianna this past year, more and more transfer networks are being created to help get animals quickly out of harms way.

That’s whyPetPoint, in coordination with Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), have built the all-new Transfer Manifest Report — a report designed to make transferring animals, even in emergencies, easier than ever before.  Display the animals ready for transfer, along with their vital medical details and behavior status, in a report that opens in Excel for easy sharing or sorting.

Furry Friends Adoption, Clinic & Ranch (Humane Society of Greater Jupiter/Tequesta) has been nominated for three 2020 Hats Off Nonprofit Awards:

• Nonprofit Executive Of The Year: Pat Deshong (pictured left)
• Nonprofit Of The Year
• Community Collaborator of the Year: for their relationship with the Renewal Coalition through their Shelter to Service Dog Program

The awards ceremony will take place virtually on December 7th. We wish Ms. Deshong and Furry Friends the very best of luck and congratulate them on the hard work and dedication that led to these nominations.

Florida Animal Friend (FAF) awards annual grants to municipal and non-profit agencies in the state of Florida who perform spay and neutering services to cats and dogs.

Grant Applications are available each January 1st and the deadline for submission is May 1st. In August, we announce the grant winners and the grant funds are released on August 15th. Follow-up reports are due September 1st the following year.