Alachua County Animal Welfare 2014 Progress Report

What happened in 2014? 856 dogs and cats found homes on May 31 and June 1 during Maddie’s Pet Adoption Days …and the adoption partners earned $625,000 to help save even more pets!

What happened in 2014? 1,488 lives were saved at Alachua County Animal Services from June 1 through August 31 during the ASPCA Rachael Ray Challenge – an increase of 415 over last summer! ACAS placed second in their division in the national competition

What happened in 2014? Alachua County maintained an 86% Live Release Rate…just a few percentage points away from achieving “No-Kill” status

What happened in 2014? More than 2,100 community cats were sterilized by Operation Catnip...preventing the birth of thousands and thousands of unwanted stray kittens.

What happened in 2014? More than 4,000 pets and community cats were spayed and neutered by our low cost/high quality nonprofit clinic, Operation Petsnip

What happened in 2014? Hundreds of pets of the needy and homeless, and hundreds of rescue group pets received essential veterinary care from the Veterinary Community Outreach Program and St. Francis Pet Care Clinic.

What happened in 2014? Needy and homeless pet owners received free pet food, supplies, shelter diversion counseling, basic wellness services, pet care education and support from the Home Van Pet Care Project.

Our community partnership GOAL: A No-Kill Community BY 2015 Alachua County Animal Services Only open-intake Shelter Adoptions, Spay/Neuter & Veterinary Care Community Health Enforcement Issues Public agency funded by tax dollars Rescue/ Adoption Partners Spay/ Neuter Partners Spay/ Neuter Partners Funding & Technical Assistance A No-Kill Community By 2015 Transfer pets from ACAS Adoption guarantee NOT open-intake Shelter diversion Private nonprofits funded by donations Free or low-cost, high-quality sterilization Trap-Neuter-Return and Shelter-Neuter-Return programs for stray & feral cats Nonprofits and private veterinarians Grant funders like the Wagmore Foundation, Maddie’s Fund, PetSmart Charities, Petco Foundation Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine ASPCA, HSUS

Nonprofit Project Partners Saving Alachua County Animals Alachua County Humane Society Gainesville Pet Rescue Puppy Hill Farm Helping Hands Haile’s Angels Second Chance Rescue Operation Catnip NMHP Operation PetSnip *Plus other community organizations that are not reporting outcomes such as Animal People, Plenty of Pitbulls and Phoenix Animal Rescue

A Public/Private Partnership that works! Our animal welfare partnership leverages the Animal Services budget of $2,123,432 with the combined budgets of our local nonprofits totaling almost $3 million, for a $5 million dollar impact on the local economy. The nonprofit partners attract millions of dollars of grants and donations, almost all of which is spent locally on wages, supplies and services.

A Public/Private Partnership that works! Volunteer hours at Alachua County Animal Services almost doubled last year, from 1,995 hours in 2013 up to 3,702 hours in Volunteer hours added an additional $55,000 in value to the ACAS budget last year.

Intakes at ACAS Down 2.3% against 2013; Down 50% against baseline Yellow is baseline Year 2000; Red is 2014 Only open-intake shelter in community 5, ytd 5, ytd

Community Adoptions Up 14% against 2014; Up 120% against baseline Yellow is baseline Year 2000; Pink is reporting organizations 5, ,

Euthanasia at ACAS Up 2% against 2013; Down 90% against baseline Year 2000 Black is baseline Year 2000; Pink is

What does “No-Kill” mean? For Alachua County, we have decided it means that no healthy or treatable dog or cat will be euthanized at Alachua County Animal Services for reasons of population control. Euthanasia is reserved for pets that cannot be humanely saved or that have been determined to be dangerous to public safety. Nationally, the benchmark typically recognized for no-kill status is a Live Release Rate of 90% or better

Alachua County’s Live Release Rate for 2014: 86% In order to achieve our goal of becoming a no-kill community in 2015, we must reach a LRR of at least 90%

Assuming intakes remain stable, this means we must keep 2015 euthanasia below 550 How can we do this?

One strategy is to increase the percentage of Alachua County Animal Services transfers each rescue group takes as part of their total monthly intakes. Current ACAS transfers as a percentage of average monthly intake (most recent six months): Total Intakes% from ACAS Alachua County Humane Society: 47558% Gainesville Pet Rescue: 9343% Puppy Hill Farm: 35031% Helping Hands Pet Rescue: 41242% Haile’s Angels Pet Rescue: 23319% 2 nd Chance Rescue & Rehoming: 1080%

Another strategy is to decrease intakes at ACAS through shelter diversion – helping pet owners keep their pets rather than relinquish them, and providing spay/neuter and other support for forever homes using the Humane Society of the United States Pets for Life model.

Recommended Strategies for 2015 New fee schedule for unsterilized pets Scheduled days for pet surrender Shelter diversion counseling to reduce owner surrenders Implementing the Pets for Life approach

What to expect in 2015 from our nonprofit partners An increased commitment to transferring pets out of Animal Services To support increased Animal Services transfers, The Wagmore Foundation will partner with Best Friends Animal Society to offer a new monthly incentive stipend to each rescue group starting in 2015 Rescue groups can earn a monthly stipend check if they maintain their 2014 average monthly intake PLUS ensure that at least 50% of their monthly intakes are from Alachua County Animal Services

What to expect in 2015 from our nonprofit partners An increased focus on shelter diversion To support shelter diversion and pet owner support, The Wagmore Foundation has purchased copies of the HSUS Pets for Life Community Toolkit manual for all Alachua County grantees. Wagmore will be entertaining proposals from Alachua County nonprofits that support the Pets for Life approach in Alachua County for 2015

Thank you from the Wagmore Foundation… For rescuing… for finding lost pets… for providing veterinary care to pets in need… for adopting… for volunteering… for fostering… for donating… for spaying and neutering… for supporting pets of the homeless… for helping pets stay with their families… …for making Alachua County a better place for pets and people.