Shelter releases animal data; achieves no-kill status
Post-Tribune
November 06, 2015 - 5:47PM
The Porter County Animal Shelter on Friday released animal intake and outcome data for the first three quarters of this year, numbers that show a little more than 7 percent of the animals were euthanized, a low enough figure for the shelter to be considered a no-kill facility.
The standard for achieving no-kill status is that the shelter maintains a euthanasia rate below 10 percent, said Toni Bianchi, the shelter's interim director.
The shelter provided the following statistics on what happened to the rest of the animals brought to the shelter through Sept. 30:
• 41.05 percent were adopted.
•24.36 percent were reclaimed by their owners.
•26.14 percent were placed with approved rescue organizations.
• 0.33 percent were deceased animals brought to the shelter by Porter County Animal Control for disposal of remains.
•1 percent were animals that died while in the care of the shelter.
The numbers are crucial as the county moves forward with plans for a new shelter. The Board of Commissioners took action last month to start the design-build process for a new shelter, to be located on Indiana 49 just south of the Porter County sheriff's department, and construction could begin in the spring.
"It gives us an idea of how many animals we've taken in and how many we're housing," Bianchi said. "It gives us an idea of what we're going to need and what's going to be needed in the future."
Bianchi said she looks at the numbers each quarter to gauge what's going on at the shelter and decided to release them for greater transparency of the shelter's operations.
"We didn't want people to not know what's going on here," she said. "We've got nothing to hide."
Given the challenges faced by the shelter, at 2056 Heavilin Road, Bianchi said she is pleased it has been able to maintain its no-kill status, adding that euthanasia is an absolute last resort when no other avenue is open to prevent a danger to the public and other animals, or pain and suffering of the animal. The decision to euthanize an animal is made by a consensus of shelter officials.
The shelter changed its intake procedure a few months ago to reduce the number of animals who get sick while at the shelter, Bianchi said, and that includes a quarantine and isolation if necessary.
So far this year, the shelter has taken in 928 animals, including 462 dogs, 455 cats and 11 other animals, including rabbits, goats, guinea pigs, chickens and roosters.
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