San Diego Animal Welfare Organizations Announce No Healthy Animals Euthanized in Animal Shelters Throughout County Since October 2006
San Diego Coalition Formed to Further Decrease County Euthanasia Rates
(San Diego, CA – October 4, 2007) San Diego animal sheltering organizations have joined forces in an unprecedented effort to save more animal lives in San Diego County. Today, on “World Animal Day,” eight organizations with shelters in the county announced the formation of the San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition (SDAWC). The primary purpose of this unique coalition is to work collectively to save the lives of all healthy and treatable companion animals in San Diego.
The eight organizations, including the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility, County of San Diego Department of Animal Services, El Cajon Animal Shelter, Escondido Humane Society, Helen Woodward Animal Center, North County Humane Society and SPCA, Rancho Coastal Humane Society, and the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA, have all committed to working with each other in order to develop a safety net for healthy, homeless companion animals. By collaborating with each other, none of the coalition shelters have had to euthanize a healthy animal since October 2006. The group is also releasing the San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition Statistics, which measure annual animal intake, live release and euthanasia rates countywide. The statistics illustrate San Diego’s excellence in animal sheltering with a 76% live release rate across all shelters as compared to a national average live release rate of 36.4%, according to the most recent data from the National Council on Pet Population Study & Policy Shelter Statistics Survey.
Based on the Asilomar Accords developed in 2006, community coalitions nationwide strive to collect accurate shelter data that can aid in the mission of finding every homeless healthy or treatable animal a new loving home. “San Diego is a true innovator in this regard. For the first time we will have an accurate, county-wide picture on how many animals are entering both our public and private shelters and on how well we are doing in saving the life of every healthy and treatable pet,” said Dr. Mark Goldstein, President of the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA. “And now that we are all measuring ourselves in the same way, these statistics will be a true reflection of our strengths, our weakness and what more we can do together to help the companion animals that we all are so passionate about.”
The eight organizations aim to end the taking of the life of any treatable companion animal brought to any of the eight San Diego area shelters. While some of the organizations in the coalition have been able to achieve the goal of adopting out all healthy and treatable animals in the past, now all of the members of the group are dedicated to work together so that shelters in San Diego County have a safety net when they become overcrowded. “Now that we are utilizing each other as a resource, we are working towards the day when none of the shelters in the county will euthanize for treatable conditions, which is an important goal for the coalition,” said Dawn Danielson, Director of the County of San Diego Department of Animal Services. “When one of us is having resource concerns, we can better utilize each other to transfer animals to another shelter that may have more room or the ability to provide care for that animal.”
While some organizations were already working together in this manner, the formation of the coalition will now provide more resources to all shelter organizations in the San Diego area. The heads of each of the eight shelters first met in August 2006 and have been working over the past year to draw up operational agreements and the coalition’s guiding principles. In addition to agreeing on how shelters would transfer animals to and from each other, for the first time in San Diego, standards for statistics have been developed so that each shelter will measure their disposition of animals in the same manner and then also combine those statistics to measure animal welfare progress throughout the county.
SDWAC Stats October 2007
North County Humane Society Stats July 2006 - June 2007 q1
San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition