12122016 - News Article - Shelter improves on no-kill rate for '16

Shelter improves on no-kill rate for '16
Amy Lavalley
Post-Tribune
December 12, 2016
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-animal-shelter-st-1213-20161212-story.html
The Porter County Animal Shelter's euthanization rate dropped this year, as did its number of intakes because of revised procedures meant to keep animals healthier and better match families with prospective pets.

That's according to statistics released Monday by shelter director Toni Bianchi that showed the shelter's euthanization rate dropped from about 7 percent to just over 4 percent between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of this year.

Shelters must maintain a euthanization rate below 10 percent to be considered no-kill facilities.

"Medically, we have better protocols in place," Bianchi said, including immediately vaccinating dogs on intake and placing them in quarantine for up to a week, then keeping them in isolation if they're sick.

The shelter staff also is working more with the animals, particularly dogs, because working breeds, such as German shepherds and Doberman pinschers don't do as well in kennels, and offering dogs play groups so they can socialize with other dogs, which reduces aggression, officials said.

"We're getting the animals more enriched so it keeps them from getting kennel frustration," she said. "It does make them more adoptable because we're working with them more."

Handling medical and behavioral issues proactively is helping keep the euthanization rate down, she added.

The shelter took in 650 animals between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, an almost 30 percent reduction for the same period last number. That included a drop in the number of strays coming to the shelter, but also decreases in owner surrenders, adoption returns and seized animals.

The shelter tightened its adoption procedures so prospective pets and owners are a better match, which reduces the number of animals returned to the shelter, Bianchi said.

"We're trying to make sure the animal is going to the right home," she said.

Shelter staff also talks to pet owners before they relinquish an animal to talk about strategies for keeping the pet at home, she said.

The number of strays has dropped with the establishment of a "Lost and Found Pets in Porter County" Facebook page, which matches animals found by the public with their owners. The shelter also maintains a lost and found log that can be accessed by animal control officers, who can match a reported stray animal with an owner, according to a news release.

The shelter also has improved its volunteer recruitment and training, and changed its spay/neuter police so animals are spayed or neutered before they can be taken home. Previously, new owners had 90 days to get their new pet altered.

This also was the first time in many years that there were no significant disease outbreaks in the shelter, Bianchi said, and veterinary bills also have dropped by 47 percent. A total of $142,000 was spent on veterinary care in 2015; that figure will be about $75,000 this year.

Bianchi said that the achievements by the shelter staff have been incredible and the shelter has been able to move from constantly being over-capacity to staying within capacity limits.

"We have already begun planning additional program enhancements that can only be implemented when we move to the new shelter building," she said of the June 1 planned move to a new, larger shelter on Indiana 49 between the sheriff's department and the Expo Center.

County officials have long said the existing shelter, at 2056 Heavilin Road, was too small and outdated to handle the number of animals there.

"The Board of Commissioners couldn't be more proud of the turnaround that Toni and the entire shelter staff have accomplished so far this year in what we all know to be very challenging conditions at the current shelter building," said Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, in the news release.