Rescue and Rehome Proper Care requires a Professional Process

The Necessity for a Standard More and more people are becoming involved in Animal Welfare. For the most part, these people are motivated and willing but lack knowledge concerning the factors impacting on the process, including biological, social, economic and logistical factors. Even those who have been operating in Welfare for a long time do not have a formalised, standardised approach, and many of those that do, do not always comply with their own policies and procedures. Standard Policies and Procedures are a form of governance that enable large-scale systems to integrate. They are the glue that enables flow from one entity to another without disruption of the process. Given that the more people there are involved, the more complex the interactions become, it is necessary to implement a formalised, standardised approach; the alternative is chaos.

The Process that follows is a benchmark from the practices of many who have been engaged in Rescue, Rehabilitation and Rehoming of Domestic Animals for some time, and it includes not only the Process and its rationale and benefits but also the risks taken when any part of the process is NOT followed

Deliver Contract Promote Rehabilitate Rescue Find Stray Accept Surrendered Rescue Animal Safe OUTCOMES/ CHECKPOINTS Animal Homeable Animal Visible on Network Adoption Contract Signed Animal Safe in new Home Receive enquiry GLOBAL OVERVIEW Conduct health check Administer inoculations Sterilis e Sterilise if not done yet Deworm Quarantine for suitable period if required Place in foster home, kennels or shelter CRITICAL STOP: Risk of contagious disease CHECKPOINT #1 Apply Behavioural Therapy Perform Therapy or Operation #2 #3 #4 #5 Evaluate Animals Physical Condition Compile Animals Information Photograph Animal Submit to Network Crosspost to alternative media Evaluate Animals Behaviour Conduct Home Check Request Adoption Application Complete and sign adoption contract Evaluate Adoption Applications CRITICAL STOP: Understand the animals needs and nature CRITICAL STOP: More detail enables a better- informed choice and less failures CRITICAL STOP: Evaluating the people is not enough; Evaluate the environment too, people are ignorant! CRITICAL STOP: NOT NEGOTIABLE CONDITION – IF NOT MET, THE PROCESS STOPS HERE! Conduct final health check These are all ACTIVITIES – the things that have to be DONE in order to deliver the OUTCOMES (End Results) to the right These are all Outcomes – the End Results of doing the things on the left These are all Processes – all the boxes on the left fit inside these boxes. Which are the high- level process everything else is a subset of.

Deliver Contract Promote Rehabilitate Rescue Find Stray Accept Surrendered Rescue Animal Safe OUTCOMES/ CHECKPOINTS Animal Homeable Animal Visible on Network Adoption Contract Signed Animal Safe in new Home Receive enquiry GLOBAL OVERVIEW Conduct health check Administer inoculations Sterilis e Sterilise if not done yet Deworm Quarantine for suitable period if required Place in foster home, kennels or shelter CRITICAL STOP: Risk of contagious disease CHECKPOINT #1 Apply Behavioural Therapy Perform Therapy or Operation #2 #3 #4 #5 Evaluate Animals Physical Condition Compile Animals Information Photograph Animal Submit to Network Crosspost to alternative media Evaluate Animals Behaviour Conduct Home Check Request Adoption Application Complete and sign adoption contract Evaluate Adoption Applications CRITICAL STOP: Understand the animals needs and nature CRITICAL STOP: More detail enables a better-informed choice, less time-wasting and less failures CRITICAL STOP: Evaluating the people is not enough; Evaluate the environment too, people are ignorant! Conduct final health check CRITICAL STOP: NOT NEGOTIABLE CONDITION – IF NOT MET, THE PROCESS STOPS HERE! Click red box to see detail USE THE DOWN ARROW on your keyboard to move the animation along; click on RED boxes to go to a detail page

Conduct Health Check Whether a stray, an animal that has been surrendered, or one that has been transferred from another shelter, the health check is a prerequisite, not an option. The risks of transmitting disease to the other animals in the shelter must be minimised. If there is information available, it should be determined whether the animals vaccinations are up to date, and the animal should be checked to determine whether he or she has been sterilised. If there is no information, vaccinations (5 in 1 and rabies) should be administered, and since vaccinations do not take effect immediately, a two week quarantine period should be observed before introducing the animal into the general population. If possible, the animal should be sterilised at this point, particularly if female since a female in season will disrupt the entire shelter and animals in the neighbourhood. Click the back arrow to go back:

Evaluate Animals Behaviour A history of the animal should be documented so that particular traits may be understood. If there are obvious problematic behaviours, these should be referred to an animal behaviourist or the animal should be given behavioural therapy by the rescuer provided they have an understanding of the process. Should the animals behaviour be such that he or she is only suitable for specific home environments and conditions, these should be documented for future reference. If animals have behavioural problems that cannot be corrected and will likely make them extremely difficult to home, plans must be made to ensure security and comfort for the rest of their lives. Click the back arrow to go back:

Compile Animals Information Prospective Adopters should be furnished with as much information as is necessary to enable them to make an informed decision. Providing detailed information also reduces the demands on a welfare workers time since they will have to field less questions. Information should answer all the typical questions people ask. These benchmark information requirements are based not only on FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) but in addition they are answers that any professional Homer should know anyway. Promotion of the animal should NOT take place if certain critical criteria are not met, e.g. inoculation, and if this is not known or the sterilisation status of the animal is not known, the animal should NOT be promoted. Click the back arrow to go back:

Conduct Home Check There are many who seem to believe that all that is necessary is to evaluate the people, who one is meeting probably once and in circumstances in which they are likely to put their best face forward. This is both naïve and ignorant; the personality of the prospect is only one factor, the environment into which the animal will be taken is of major importance. Most people are astonishingly ignorant with regard to the requirements of a domestic animal in respect of security, risk to health and harm on the property, and shelter prerequisites. Puppy Mills, Security Dog brokers and Dogfighting ring operators have front people that dress and speak very well…. Given that there is a network of available home checkers and that it is growing and becoming better organised and integrated, there is little room for excuse. The home check should be non-negotiable. Click the back arrow to go back:

Complete and sign adoption contract An adoption contract should be completed and signed in which the following stipulations are made: –Ownership resides with the welfare organisation –Should the adopter not be able to maintain upkeep, the animal must be returned to the welfare organisation –Agreement that the Welfare Org will be allowed to inspect the animal at any time. In the case of puppies, which cannot be sterilised until they are at least 8 weeks old, a legally-binding contract, separate to the adoption contract, must be completed and signed by the adopter and the Rescuer, binding the adopter to have the animal sterilised if they take delivery before the puppy is old enough. Click the back arrow to go back: