Why Pet Shelters Need Help
The main goal of animal shelters is to care for homeless or rescued animals until they can be placed in permanent, loving homes. Pet shelters are essential for the protection of companion animals, whose overpopulation and vulnerability require the focused and caring attention these institutions provide. The numbers bark for themselves:
- Six to eight million animals enter pet shelters each year, according to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
- Only about 5,000 shelters exist to help these animals.
- Adoption fees run from around $100-$200 per adopted animal, but caring for each shelter animal–from food and housing to vaccinations and spay/neuter procedures--can cost several hundreds of dollars a month.
Reaching out to dog and cat shelters with donations of time or money will always make a difference for animals.
Caring to Capacity: Animal Shelters Feel the Strain
The ongoing economic downturn increases their burden–as many as one million additional dogs and cats are in danger of losing their homes in 2009, according to the ASPCA, with fewer donations coming in. Shelters feel the weight of a sluggish economy compounding the strain on their capacity to help.
In addition to caring for the millions of pets entering U.S. shelters each year, shelters provide many other important community services. In addition to vaccinating and spaying/neutering adopted pets, many shelters offer these services for low cost to the public. Shelters with a local government contract provide field services for the community such as stray animal control and wildlife trap and relocation services. In addition, the primary resource in most communities for cruelty complaint investigation and prosecution is usually a local shelter.
Why Aren't All Shelters "No Kill"?
It is estimated that 4 million shelter animals are euthanized each year in the U.S. While some euthanasia is done to end the suffering of sick or injured animals or because of serious behavioral issues like aggression, many adoptable animals are euthanized because animal shelters do not have the capacity or resources to humanely care for them.
Euthanasia of adoptable pets, those who do not have serious behavioral or physical problems, is a heartbreaking reality. The unfortunate truth is that there are more homeless animals than people adopting them. Some shelters limit the number of animals they accept so that each animal they take in may stay until it finds a home. Other shelters and animal control agencies have an "open admission" policy- all homeless animals, regardless of quantity or likelihood they will be adopted, are accepted into the shelter. Fortunately there are a growing number of shelters across the country that fall into both categories, open admission shelters which do not euthanize healthy, adoptable pets.
In order to prevent the spread of disease and continued overpopulation, each community needs an organization willing to accept all strays. Municipalities may manage their own animal control agency or contract with a local shelter to provide this service. Otherwise, local strays would be forced to fend for themselves in the wild and on the streets, facing starvation and disease, which would be an animal welfare nightmare and a threat to public health.
The elimination of euthanasia of adoptable pets is a common goal in the animal welfare community, but the means to eradicating euthanasia does not lie solely in the hands of animal shelters. What can you do to help eliminate euthanasia?
- First and foremost, be a responsible pet owner. Spay and neuter your pets so they do not contribute to the problem of pet overpopulation. Microchip your pets and register them in a national pet recovery database with your current contact information so they may be returned to you promptly if they end up lost and turned in to a shelter. In addition, your pets should always wear a collar with ID tags.
- Consider adoption when looking for a new pet, and share your positive experience with as many people as you can.
- Consider becoming a foster parent of a shelter pet until it finds its forever home.
- Finally, find a local shelter whose policy on this issue is consistent with your own, and support the organization so that it may help many homeless pets until they find loving new homes.
How Much is That Doggie in the Window?
Animal shelters do their best to keep adoption fees reasonable even when the stress to their operational budgets seems out of control. If adoption fees get too high, fewer pets will get adopted. Unfortunately for most shelters, this means that the adoption fees generated from a single adoption does not cover the cost the shelter incurred to care for that animal. Combine that with the fact that not all animals end up adopted but all cost money to care for, and it's easy to understand the growing financial burden of the average shelter.
Shelters often charge surrender fees to pet owners who want to turn in their own pets. Surrender fees are usually considerably lower than adoption fees, and therefore do even less to offset the cost of the animals' care.
The bottom line is that the income a shelter generates from fees for its services does not cover its operating expenses. Closing that gap requires a significant fundraising efforts–a job that is never done.
Paws & Purse Strings: Dog & Cat Shelters Get Creative
Animal shelters have to rely on the generosity of monetary donations and volunteers to keep animals safe. Local fundraising drives are the most common method of raising money–and if shelters can work with a celebrity, even better.
In November, 2008, Beth Stern, the wife of shock-jock Howard Stern, led a team that raised $300,000 for the North Shore Animal League during the ING New York City Marathon. After Hurricane Katrina, performers like Mariah Carey, U2, Foo Fighters, and Mary J. Blige sang at Shelter from the Storm, a benefit concert to help displaced animals.
Grants from animal-welfare organizations and trusts help–so do pet sponsorships and similar fundraising structures where individuals "sponsor" a specific animal, covering the cost of the animal's needs until it finds a permanent home. Planned giving and estate planning generate some revenue from bequests, life-insurance policies, and other financial instruments, but to raise funds that way usually requires a long-term relationship with the donor first.
Essentially, shelter fundraising can be done in many different ways, but raising enough funds to care for the shelter animals is a never-ending responsibility. Every little bit helps.
How You Can Help Pet Shelters
Tax-Deductible Donations–Support animal shelters with monetary donations that go to food, medical care, behavioral training, and shelter advocacy programs. Many donors can use their donation to improve their tax situation, too–check with an accountant to learn how this applies.
Retail Therapy–Shop online to support animals in shelters. Through BringPetsHome.com, you can leverage affiliate shopping at regular prices from established retailers–Walmart, Amazon, iTunes, and Sephora are just a few–at no additional cost to you. The retailers will donate a predetermined percentage of your purchases for distribution to pet shelters. You may register at BringPetsHome.com and select a specific shelter to earmark the money for, or allow the BringPetsHome Foundation to distribute your earnings to animal shelters across the U.S.
Volunteer Work–Find an animal shelter that needs an accounting whiz or an advertising guru or an extra set of hands on cage duty and volunteer to help.
Family Time–Involve kids in the efforts, too, by getting in touch with a local shelter to see what opportunities they have for families who want to bond while helping care for animals. Shelters need people to play with and walk dogs, as well as stuff envelopes and put up flyers.
Donate Supplies–Drop off supplies that shelters need. Some ideas are food, bowls, leashes, toys, brushes, shampoo, dental rings, crates, kitty litter, scratching posts, or even supplies for the building, like hand sanitizer or cleaning supplies.
Making the Right Pet Connections
Finding the best way to help animal shelters depends on what a certain shelter requires. Taking the time to learn about your local animal shelters and their needs will help you find the right way to make the most of your time and efforts. This will allow you to maximize your impact on caring for homeless animals until they find loving, lifelong homes.