Animals' News Room
#3. Animal Shelters
Posted By: AAS
Date: Sunday, 19 December 2004, at 1:01 p.m.
In Response To: Community Consultation Report Index (AAS)
Animal Shelters
The Issue
BC SPCA animal shelters are facilities where animals are housed and cared for when surrendered by owners, found homeless or seized because they were abused or neglected. Shelters are also adoption centres and some serve as municipal pounds. Municipalities own some BC SPCA shelters, while the BC SPCA owns others. The BC SPCA recognizes that some of the facilities that it operates in are very old and run down, while others are newer and provide a higher degree of comfort to the animals while being more inviting to the public.
In seeking public feedback the BC SPCA asked the public for comments and suggestions regarding what shelters should look like, what services they should offer and where they should be located? The public was also invited to comment on other issues including the quality of life of shelter animals, and how to deal with animals who have behavioural problems or who spend long periods in shelters.
Public Feedback
The public expects the BC SPCA to provide the highest level of care and comfort for animals in shelters, and states that the BC SPCA should be "at the forefront of how to humanely house and treat animals". Ideally the public would like to see centrally located shelters (or at least easily accessible by transit) that are spacious, bright and inviting, with friendly well-trained staff and volunteers. Higher standards in customer service are strongly recommended; many cited poor customer service standards where staff is rude to the public and volunteers.
In addition to serving as prime adoption centres, submissions suggest the BC SPCA shelters should offer an array of services: off-leash areas, communal cat areas instead of solitary cages, heated floors and beds for dogs, grooming services, get acquainted rooms, training classes and humane education materials. Many submissions recommend that BC SPCA shelters should have more flexible hours including evening hours to allow people who work during the day to visit and adopt animal companions. It is noted that in smaller centres, shelters are closed on Saturday and/or Sunday, which are the only days some people are able to visit the shelters.
There is concern, particularly on the part of volunteers, for the health of the animals brought into the shelter and whether adequate medical intervention and treatment is provided. Some cite animals lying sick and unattended for days or even weeks. Several volunteers point out that they are more than willing to participate in the care and comfort of the animals but they are given very limited opportunity and encouragement to get involved.
Many submissions are highly critical regarding the state of the BC SPCA's current shelters, particularly in the Lower Mainland. Several comment on substandard conditions and questionable practices at Langley, Coquitlam and Maple Ridge. Methods of euthanasia and the appropriateness of the attitude of some staff who carry it out are questioned.
There is also a great deal of criticism leveled at the Victoria Branch. Many submissions highlight the poor attitude of staff and their seemingly uncaring attitude toward animals. Victoria is also noted as a branch that has employed questionable euthanasia practices (use of the gas box), as well as being inattentive to the health of animals in their care. Several submissions point out that the Victoria branch does not utilize the Spay Neuter Action Plan (SNAP) program and that the hospital is underutilized.
Some submissions suggest that the BC SPCA animal hospitals should return to their original purpose - to provide low-cost spay and neuter and other services to animal guardians with low income.
In terms of adoption, volunteers recommend that profiles of animals be developed and posted with the animal, and that this information should travel with the animal when it is transferred between shelters. Other submissions suggest that primary care givers be designated to work on a consistent basis with shelter animals to more accurately assess behaviour, behavioural changes and improvements. To ensure successful adoptions and fewer returns, many strongly recommend better adoption screening procedures and adoption follow-up and support services. A 1-800 number is mentioned as a possible means of providing support and information to animal guardians.
The majority of submissions suggest that measures be taken to rehabilitate problem shelter animals. Recommendations include using behavioural specialists to help in the assessment and retraining of these animals. Submissions continue to say that problem animals are the result of bad owners and every effort should be made to give these animals another chance, citing that is a rare animal that must be euthanized due to behaviour issues. Some submissions recommend it would be better to euthanize animals that are assessed to have untreatable behavioural problems. However, it is noted that the term untreatable needs to be defined.
To provide consistent, stable training and care, the public supports fostering shelter animals with behavioural problems or animals who have been in the shelter for several months. Fostering is also recommended for animals that are ill or injured, for abandoned kittens and puppies and when shelters are full. In general, the public believes the BC SPCA should not turn away any animal since people will often opt for abandonment or inhumane disposal as the alternative.
No-kill shelters were mentioned in submissions. Some suggested that striving for no-kill should be the ultimate goal of the BC SPCA. Others noted that having no animals ever euthanized at a shelter is unrealistic.
Recommendations
The operation of the BC SPCA's animal shelters is a hot topic, with the public expecting much higher standards and more services than those currently in place. After reviewing over 170 submissions addressing animal shelters, the independent panel is clear that a number of changes are needed to ensure that BC SPCA shelters are seen to be at the forefront of how to humanely house and treat animals.
Overall, we believe the BC SPCA needs to improve standards of care of shelter animals, improve animal assessment and adoption procedures, and radically improve the way in which it welcomes and serves the public. To save and re-home more animals, fostering programs should be implemented at all shelters. We recommend that improvements to customer service be implemented in the near term. As Mike Woodworth, local panel member in Prince George, states - "staffing, volunteer and training objectives must be established for all shelters with a commitment to applying best practices in the care of shelter animals". Volunteers are one of the BC SPCA's greatest resources and it is imperative that a cooperative relationship between staff and volunteers be actively pursued.
A number of our recommendations focus on staff and operational procedures, as well as the role of volunteers. In the Lower Mainland and Victoria, where staff is unionized, it is apparent that there is often a strained relationship between staff and volunteers. In many submissions, both written and oral, volunteers voice their willingness and desire to work in closer partnership with shelter staff - in providing assistance with adoption counseling, animal assessment, fostering programs, dog walking and grooming, cat care programs and in the development of new programs focused on improving animal welfare. The genuine concern on the part of volunteers for the humane treatment of shelter animals simply cannot be ignored. We strongly recommend that the BC SPCA do a better job of integrating volunteers into its branches.
We highly recommend that the BC SPCA re-visit its plan to build a state-of-the-art shelter in the Lower Mainland with an eye to closing some of its older facilities. This shelter would then serve as the model for future BC SPCA regional shelters. In the interim, the BC SPCA should upgrade the facilities it owns and encourage municipalities to bring their facilities up to BC SPCA recommended standards. We believe that measurable improvements could be made to the housing and care of animals in all BC SPCA shelters in the very near term.
We do not believe that it is realistic for the BC SPCA to strive to be no-kill. The panel believes the term "no-kill" often means "not killed here". The panel believes that no-kill shelters can lead to overcrowding and illness - the result could well be inhumane. The BC SPCA's goal should be that no adoptable animal will be euthanized.
Our specific recommendations call on the BC SPCA to:
Operational Policies and Procedures
Urgent
• Commit resources to upgrading older, sub-standard facilities owned by the BC SPCA, and actively encourage municipalities to bring their facilities up to BC SPCA recommended standards.
• Establish a centralized Human Resources function to develop standard recruitment policies and programs.
• Establish appropriate recruitment screening, interview and evaluation procedures to ensure potential employees and volunteers are well suited to work for an animal welfare society.
• Make ongoing training programs that encompass all aspects of shelter operations, including special training in customer service, mandatory.
• Improve delivery of euthanasia training to staff using BC SPCA standard methods.
• Make shelter superintendents/shelter managers responsible and accountable for integrating volunteers into shelter operations in a meaningful, non-threatening way.
Short-term
• Evaluate customer service levels through a secret shopper system.
• Establish specific care guidelines for shelter animals to maintain consistently high standards of cleanliness, consistent healthy diet, blankets and/or beds for dogs, enriched and/or communal cage environments for cats and areas for both dogs and cats to exercise.
• Re-evaluate the role of the BC SPCA animal hospitals.
Long-term
• Re-visit its plan to build a state-of-the-art shelter in the Lower Mainland that would serve as model for new BC SPCA regional shelters.
• Make superintendents/shelter managers non-union positions wherever and whenever possible, and where not possible, establish a TIPS line for staff and volunteers so that they can lodge complaints with BC SPCA management without fear of retaliation.
Adoption Policies and Procedures
Urgent
• Establish a centralized database that can easily profile all adoption animals and keep track of where animals are physically located to ensure when an animal is transported it can be found quickly.
Short-term
• Promote BC SPCA shelters as community adoption centers; seriously consider expanding adoption viewing hours.
• Ensure comprehensive animal profiles are posted on cages/kennels of all shelter animals and that all information (history, behavioural and medical) goes with the animal when it is transferred.
• Implement adoption counseling programs at all BC SPCA shelters to help successfully match people to suitable animal companions and to provide information on all aspects of responsible pet care.
• Provide adoption follow-up and support services to those who have adopted shelter animals; consider a 1-800 support line.
• Establish fostering programs at all BC SPCA shelters for: abandoned and surrendered kittens and puppies; sick, injured and emotionally stressed animals that are not quite ready for adoption; and, any potentially adoptable animals when shelters are full.
• Provide humane educational materials and resources to the public, including a comprehensive adoption kit to all new animal guardians: incorporate animal care guidelines and an adoption agreement/covenant.
Long-term
• Establish standard animal behavioural assessment procedures utilizing the services of qualified animal behaviourists.