The Five Elements

By Peter Marsh

Across the country, shelters and rescue groups are putting together a new generation of "no more homeless pets" programs. Often these homegrown initiatives take fresh and innovative approaches, uniquely designed to address local problems and take advantage of local resources. The most successful initiatives, however, include five related parts, each of which reinforces and increases the effectiveness of the others:

1. Up-To-Date Information

The most effective programs are developed through a community needs assessment that gives advocates a composite snapshot of the animals who enter shelters in their area and tells how they have become homeless in the first place. Then advocates identify and mobilize resources to develop programs that address these needs, taking into account the lessons of history and effective programs that have been developed by colleagues in other parts of the country. These data-driven programs accomplish their goals at a minimum cost, making it easier to secure public and private funding.

2. Targeted Programs

Thirty years ago, when one household cat and dog in five was put to death in a shelter every year, almost anything advocates could do would help. And it did. The death rate has dropped to one in twenty. Now programs need to effectively target the remaining sources of shelter overpopulation to make more progress. With pet sterilization programs, for instance, programs need to increase the sterilization rates of the three major remaining populations of intact animals: cats and dogs living in low-income households, those who enter shelters and free-roaming cats. Targeting sterilization programs to these groups makes them cost-effective and helps secure broad support from the veterinary community.

3. Community Coalitions

It's been said that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. We've learned from a century of work that no single group can end the killing of homeless animals by itself. It takes a village. That's because prevention is the key to ending companion animal homelessness and preventive programs have to be deeply rooted in the community to succeed. Broad coalitions like No More Homeless Pets in Utah allow advocates to develop proactive programs in their own hometowns, where the battle to end the killing is won or lost.

4. A Strategic Alliance With Veterinarians

Veterinarians are ideally situated to deliver the preventive services needed to end shelter overpopulation, from spay/neuter services and education, to pet behavioral counseling and microchipping. Also advocates are breaking new ground in several parts of the country with formal "Adopt a Pet from a Vet" programs. All of this has been made possible by the collaborative approach initiated by Maddies' Fund in forming strategic alliances with veterinary groups. These alliances are not only critical to winning today's fight against overpopulation, they are the key to our lifelong mission of improving the lives of companion animals.

5. Public Funding

Only ten years ago, public funding for animal programs was usually spent just on reactive "impound and kill" animal control programs left over from the past century. Now more than two dozen cities and states also earmark funds for neutering assistance programs. These programs can dramatically reduce the shelter death toll. State-funded neutering programs in New Hampshire have reduced the number of cats and dogs killed in shelters by 75% in seven years to the lowest statewide rate in the country. It all works together: Public funding allows programs to pay vets fairly, which encourages their broad participation. This makes them much more effective. And as a result they become a good investment of public funds. It's the best of both worlds: they save lives and money.

Peter Marsh
Solutions to Overpopulation of Pets
24 Montgomery Street
Concord, N.H. 03301
January 4, 2003
pmarshlaw@hotmail.com