The townships that make up the Lincoln County Humane Society's (LCHS) service area have a combined population of 212,543 people. Intake at LCHS in 2011 was 3,604. That is an intake rate of 17 animals for every 1,000 human residents. They killed 2,619, or 73% of all the animals. By contrast, Washoe County, Nevada saves 94% of animals even though they take in over two times as many animals per capit
a, about 39 pets per 1,000 people. In fact, there are No Kill communities with per capita intake rates as high as 73 pets per 1,000 people. If LCHS did the same level of adoptions as they do in Washoe County, our community should be able to adopt out about 4,835 animals per year, more than total impounds. In Charlottesville, Virginia, another No Kill community, volunteers fostered 1,700 animals. Said another way, about one animal was fostered for every 60 residents. If the Lincoln County Humane Society implemented a foster program to the same scale, adjusting for population, 3,542 animals would be fostered, almost equal to total impounds. From the perspective of achievability, therefore, the prognosis for No Kill success in our community is very good. The first step toward lifesaving success, however, is a decision, a commitment to reject kill-oriented ways of doing business. No Kill starts as an act of will. Following a commitment to No Kill is the need for accountability. Accountability requires clear definitions, a lifesaving plan, and protocols and procedures oriented toward preserving life. But accountability also allows, indeed requires, flexibility. Too many shelters lose sight of this principle, staying rigid with shelter protocols, believing these are engraved in stone. They are not. Protocols are important because they ensure accountability from staff. But inflexible protocols can have the opposite effect: stifling innovation, causing lives to be needlessly lost, and allowing shelter employees who fail to save lives to hide behind a paper trail. Each and every animal is an individual, and each deserves individual consideration. And finally, to meet the challenge that No Kill entails, shelter leadership needs to get the community excited, to energize people for the task at hand. The community is at the heart of a successful No Kill effort: they volunteer, they foster animals, they rescue, they socialize animals and they assist with adoptions. After the Nevada Humane Society embraced the No Kill philosophy, the number of volunteers went from a dozen to nearly 8,000; while the number of foster homes increased from a handful to roughly 2,500. By working with people, implementing lifesaving programs, and treating each life as precious, our shelter can transform itself. The mandatory programs and services of the No Kill Equation include:
I. Working with Rescue Groups
An adoption or transfer to a rescue group frees up cage and kennel space, reduces expenses for feeding, cleaning and killing and improves a community’s rate of lifesaving. Foster Care
Volunteer foster care is a low-cost, and often no-cost, way of increasing a shelter’s capacity and caring for sick and injured or behaviorally challenged animals, thus saving more lives. III. Volunteer Program
Volunteers are a dedicated army of compassion and the backbone of a successful No Kill effort: they walk dogs, socialize cats, assist potential adopters and more. Volunteers make the difference between success and failure and, for the animals, life and death. IV. Comprehensive Adoption Programs
By implementing comprehensive adoption programs—including more convenient public access hours, offsite venues and incentives—shelters can replace killing with adoptions. Pet Retention
Some of the reasons people surrender animals to shelters can be prevented if shelters work with people to help them solve their problems. Saving animals requires shelters to embrace innovative strategies for keeping people and their companion animals together. VI. Medical and Behavior Programs
Shelters need to keep animals happy and healthy and moving efficiently through the facility. To do this, shelters must put in place thorough vaccination, handling, cleaning, socialization and care policies to prevent illness and rehabilitative efforts for those who come in sick, injured, unweaned or traumatized. VII. Public Relations/Community Involvement
Increasing a shelter’s public exposure through marketing, public relations and partnering with community groups and businesses increases adoptions, volunteers, donations and other support. VIII. Trap-Neuter-Release
Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) programs provide feral cats who enter shelters a vital and more cost-effective alternative to killing. IX. High-Volume, Low-Cost Spay/Neuter
No-cost and low-cost, high-volume spay/neuter programs increase the number of animals sterilized and reduce the number of animals entering the shelter by removing the primary barrier preventing more people from having their animals altered: cost. X. Progressive Field Services/Proactive Redemptions
One of the most overlooked opportunities for reducing killing in animal control shelters is increasing the number of lost animals returned to their families. This includes matching reports of lost animals with animals in the shelter, rehoming animals in the field and use of technology such as posting lost animals on the internet. XI. A Compassionate Director
The final element of the No Kill Equation is the most important of all, without which all other elements are thwarted—a hard-working, compassionate shelter director who is not content to continue killing while regurgitating tired clichés about “public irresponsibility” or hiding behind the myth of “too many animals, not enough homes.” Such a director implements the programs and services of the No Kill Equation comprehensively and with integrity while holding his or her staff accountable to results and high standards. Comprehensive Implementation
To succeed fully, however, the Lincoln County Humane Society should not implement the programs piecemeal or in a limited manner. If they are sincere in their desire to stop the killing, shelter leadership will implement programs to the point that they replace killing entirely. Combining rigorous, comprehensive implementation of the No Kill Equation with best practices and accountability of staff in cleaning, handling, and care of animals, must be the standard. Shelters must utilize the programs and services of the No Kill Equation not sometimes, not merely when it is convenient or politically expedient to do so, but for every single animal, every single time. It is primarily the shift from a reactive to proactive orientation and from a casual, ad-hoc, limited implementation to a comprehensive one, which will lead to the greatest declines in killing, and fix the Lincoln County Humane Society’s broken animal shelter system.
