milestone Ii, august 2010: work in progress
between august 2010 and august 2011:
We will now guarantee the adoption of all healthy dogs and dogs whose condition can be rehabilitated or successfully managed.
We will now guarantee the adoption of all healthy cats.
We will put programs in place to guarantee the adoption of at least half of the cats whose condition can be rehabilitated or successfully managed, by August 2011.
key programming elements for august 2010-august 2011:
Implementation of the ASPCA’s Meet Your Match™ program will help our adoption center staff and clients effectively identify great feline matches, improving the efficiency of our adoption process.
Our behavior department will utilize volunteers and staff to provide stress reduction, environmental enrichment, and adoptability training for 50% of all animals in the adoption centers.
Many of the people most in need of access to affordable sterilization for their pets have no access to transportation. Our spay/neuter clinic will begin transporting animals from outlying areas to the clinic in Springfield.
With the addition of another veterinarian and support staff to the spay/neuter clinic, we will be sterilizing 12,000 animals each year.
Few stray cats wear identification. Not only will we continue to provide free collars and i.d. tags, but we will also begin providing microchip identification to any companion animal for a modest fee.
We will expand our foster program by 25% over the previous year, saving more treatable felines and other animals at risk.
Help for behavior problems will be just a phone call away when we launch our behavior helpline to give people the tools they need to keep animals in their homes.
Pitbulls are the dogs most at risk of homelessness in our communities. They are misunderstood, frequently mistreated, and often languish in adoption programs. We will begin work to reduce incidences of pitbull homelessness and mistreatment by:
- Providing free sterilization of pitbulls and pitbull mixes through our spay/neuter clinic;
- Creative marketing to increase pitbull adoptions;
- Providing special training classes for pitbulls and their people; and
- Enlisting our education & outreach staff to work with kids to change their attitudes and expectations of pitbulls.
Our safety net program will continue to expand by:
- Developing Meals on Wheels partnerships with Franklin County communities;
- Establishing a Pet Food Bank serving Hampden County residents;
- Launching a program to help seniors and people with disabilities care for their companion animals in their homes;
- Providing online and print information and referrals for pet-friendly housing, responsibly renting with animals, and tips for landlords to successfully rent to families with pets; and
- Expanding Community Cat Days to targeted neighborhoods in Hampshire and Hampden counties.