Shelter stats show small gains nationally
Cats ended up in animal shelters in the United States less often and were euthanized less often in 2011, according to a report by PetHealth, Inc., a company that aggregates data from animal welfare organizations.
The report, to be published annually, noted a 6% decline over 2010 in overall cat intakes, including a 5 percent decline in owner surrenders and a 9 percent decline in strays.
Euthanasia of cats declined 11 percent in 2011.
For dogs, the report notes little change in 2010′s intake and surrender numbers. Dog adoptions increased 2 percent, while euthanasia of dogs declined 3 percent over the same period.
The 2011 year-end report aggregates data from 795 animal welfare organizations. Findings were based on 1,537,961 intakes and 1,508,754 outcomes for dogs and cats that entered or left animal welfare organizations in 2011.
“We are very excited to be able to offer the first annualized PetPoint Report to our network and the interested public,” Brad Grucelski, a company vice president, said in a press release. “From this larger pool of aggregate data we can see beyond monthly fluctuations in intake and outcome types and measure the widespread impact of animal welfare efforts in the United States.
“Based on the information disclosed here, 2011 was a good year for animal welfare,” he said, “and all key indicators point to continued success in 2012.”
Posted by jwoestendiek January 20th, 2012 under Muttsblog.
Tags: adoptions, animal shelters, animal welfare, animals, cats, dogs, euthanasia, intakes, organizations, outcomes, pet health, pet point, pethealth, pets, population, report, shelters, strays, surrenders
Comments
Comment from KateH
Time January 21, 2012 at 3:36 pm
I question this ‘data’ because the numbers don’t reflect stats from at least 90 percent of the ‘shelters’ in the country. Did this group even attempt to contact that many, or did they pick the friendly places that wanted to share their improvements (which I’m very glad those places had). We know that many ‘shelters’ don’t release their numbers (some don’t even keep any numbers) and that those are often the ones doing the worst jobs, killing 70, 80, 90% of the animals that go through them.
I do realize that there are more shelters trying harder to adopt more animals, but the numbers from those shelters are not the entire picture.
Comment from Eighteenpaws
Time January 20, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Geez? Is it just me, or in this era, and at my age, are we still as a society killing cats and dogs who are unbelievably dropped at shelters? I didn’t get it 30 years ago. Simply don’t get it today. Pets acquired are forever, like children born. What makes this so hard to cure? What does it take?