In 2009 New Leash on Life made the significant step of adopting no-kill sheltering practices. This decision was not made lightly, and there were many carefully planned steps involved in making this transition. We’d like to share with our supporters what we believe it means to be a no-kill facility.
Maddie’s Fund, one of the nation’s largest animal welfare foundations, defines no-kill as, “saving both healthy and treatable dogs and cats, with euthanasia reserved only for unhealthy & untreatable animals.”
How do we define “healthy and treatable” and “unhealthy and untreatable”?
In August of 2004, a group of animal welfare industry leaders from across the nation convened at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California, for the purpose of building bridges across varying philosophies, developing relationships and creating goals focused on significantly reducing the euthanasia of healthy and treatable companion animals in the United States. The outcome of this event was the creation of the Asilomar Accords – a set of Guiding Principles, Definitions, Statistics and Formulas, and Glossary of Terms for animal welfare. New Leash on Life uses the Asilomar Accords as our guide for defining “healthy and treatable” and “unhealthy and untreatable”.
Organizational history and strategy to establish and maintain a no-kill practice.
Starting in January of 2009 several measures were implemented to achieve the goal of a no-kill practice.
· A local veterinarian was hired as a consulting staff to; review medical oversight and practice, make recommendations to best shelter medicine practice, to provide in house assessment of animals that are at risk for illness or ill, to train employees on best practices in areas of medication and medical oversight.
· Restructured staff responsibilities to put a focus on health oversight.
· Medication administration and oversight practices were revamped and a 3-point checks and balance system was implemented to insure proper medication administration.
· Implementation of best practice to assess every animal every day.
· If a situation occurs where euthanasia is the best option the Adoption Center Director and consulting veterinarian make the decision as a collaborative team.
· Provided sheltering training to employees with a focus on medical status observation.
· Communicated the value of temporary guardianship to key stakeholders.
Maintenance of no-kill practice:
· Aggressive marketing of “Angel Fund” a restricted fund campaign used only for the medical treatment of dogs and cats.
· Monthly reports sent to the Board of Directors and staff on the adoption (inversely euthanasia) rate.
· Local dog behaviorist employed to provide training to all employees.
· Local dog behaviorist coordinates the dog volunteer program, training volunteers on positive behavior guidance and training.
· Best Practices (referred to as the Heart Committee) created with
staff, board, volunteers and animal behaviorist to review current and best
practices.
What are the costs?
There are significant costs associated with providing medical treatment to sick or injured animals. The Angel Fund is a donor supported fund at New Leash on Life which provides for the cost of medical care. 100% of donations made to the Angel Fund go directly to providing medical care.
Saving Lives
Since implementing these best practices we have seen an increase in our adoption rate (also known as live-release rate) from 72.9% in 2008 to 95.1% in 2009. We can also say with great pride that our adoption center is a healthier place and the animals in our care are receiving improved medical care and we are constantly improving our ability to address behavioral needs.