“why could you not covert the animal shelter into a no-kill shelter ? that way you dont use money for the putting down supplys and the animals would live longer, having more of a chance to find a home. cuz you did say swift is getting bigger, hence more loving homes ! cuz it would i think make the shelter more popular ! “
This email was just sent to us and it made me realize that people from our community don’t understand how the Shelter is now being operated. We have heard many negative comments from various people that they could not visit the Shelter because it was such a sad place. We have heard about how the animals were sick and how it seemed that there was a lot of euthanization occuring. We hope to change that perception in the community. The Shelter came under new management as of August 2009 and new practice and procedures came into effect immediately regarding the care of the animals. Our staff believes that as SPCA employees it is our responsibility to care for the animals in the way that reflects the animals’ best interest. To date (starting in August 2009) with our new practices our euthanization numbers are as follows:
5 cats ( all with such severe disease that had been left untreated prior to their admission with the Shelter that it would have been cruel to prolong their suffering)
2 dogs (one with severe aggression issues towards people and dogs; the other dog arrived here with a severely traumatized nature and had severe medical issues).
Although we are not a complete no-kill Shelter we are a low-kill shelter, using euthanization only in cases of extreme disease or illness or cases of severe aggression. We do not euthanize for space.
In contrast, our adoption rates from August 2009 to date are as follows:
Cats: 104
Dogs: 89
As our numbers show we have chosen to find other ways to reduce the numbers of animals that we house. Prior to animals being surrendered to us we now require people to advertise their pets that they wish to re-home prior to leaving them with us. We check the ads twice daily to ensure that people are following through on this. We believe that as responsible pet owners, if the circumstances change which makes it difficult or impossible to keep their pet, the intial onus is on them to find a new home for their pets. We also take people’s contact information to put on our pet surrender list to follow up if the owners’ weren’t able to find their pet a home. Although some people find this a frustrating situation, we will not euthanize animals housed at the Shelter to only make room for another animal to be admitted. We believe euthanizing for space for other animals is in complete contradiction of what the SPCA stands for.
Please feel free to visit us any time to see for yourselves what the Swift Current SPCA is really all about. Only through community involvement and discussion can we bring to light the new SPCA here in Swift Current.
April 7, 2010 at 11:12 am
My husband and I have out to the shelter to visit many times in the past several months. We have found the staff very friendly and informative, when we have had questions. Our experience has been that the staff and volunteers at the shelter are very caring towards all the animals and go out of their way to make sure the dogs or cats are well taken care of. They even try to give the dogs a chance to learn some basic obedience. Keep up the Great Work you do for our community. You have our thanks.
May 12, 2010 at 4:20 pm
I am so glad that you wrote this! You are right, the previous impression of our SPCA is that the animals would be euthanized if they had been there too long or that there just simply wasn’t enough space. I would agree that the only reason to euathize an animal would be if the quality of life was this issue due to trauma or illness! Great job to all of you, you are doing a wonderful thing for our poor friends!!!!