What do you mean by life-saving?
Life-saving means
we
will strive to save all adoptable and treatable companion animals that
we accept into our facility and resort to euthanasia only if an animal
cannot be rehabilitated medically and/or behaviorally. Statistically,
such organizations have saved greater than
85% of animals that come through their doors.
Why become a
life-saving organization?
Killing of adoptable animals is not euthanasia in its true
sense, which is defined as "the act or practice of killing or allowing
the death of hopelessly sick or injured animals in a relatively
painless way for reasons of mercy" (Source: Merriam-Webster
Dictionary). We believe that euthanasia in its true form is moral and
necessary, but we do not want to be in the business of killing animals
for any other reason. Those in our community who support animal welfare
agree. This is especially true of the generous donors who make our work
possible. We intend to dedicate ourselves and our resources to
solutions that prevent animal overpopulation and abuse, as well as
those that support responsible ownership of companion animals.
What's going to
happen to the stray animals?
Delaware County municipalities have always had the legal
responsibility of handling stray animal pick up and boarding. After
providing a 6-month extension, when the contracts we held with Delaware
County's municipalities ended on December 31, 2011, the county
transitioned their contracts to Chester County SPCA as of January 1,
2012. If you find a stray animal in Delaware County, contact 911
and ask them to dispatch you to animal control.
Why wait until July of 2012 to
become a
life-saving organization?
We need time to expand our veterinary facilities, adjust
our operations, build new preventative programs, expand our current
pilot preventative programs and train our team to be successful
in this mission.
Why stop animal control?
Animal control is defined as the impoundment and disposal
of stray animals. Animal control's goal is to manage strays; it does not solve
the problem. The Delaware County SPCA's mission is to improve and
protect the health and welfare of companion animals and to support the
people who care for them. Animal control is incompatible with that
mission because:
- It diverts resources that should be used
for programs to
address the real causes of stray animal proliferation--failure to
spay/neuter, misinformation and lack of access to affordable animal
care.
- It requires us to take in more stray
animals than we can
treat and find homes for given our limited facilities and resources.
Therefore, we sometimes have to euthanize adoptable animals when we run
out of space and foster homes. Euthanizing adoptable animals is
contrary to our mission.
What will you do with
the
space
and time now that you won't have to
take in the stray animals and animals that come in through animal
control?
Adoptions will always be our priority. As our space and
resources permit, we will continue to accept animals from owners
who can no longer care for them to adopt them out in to loving homes;
we will continue to house and care for animals from cruelty cases in
hopes of being able to adopt them in to loving homes; additionally, we
will transder animals from organizations where they are at risk of
being
euthanized and bring them back to our facility to adopt out. We hope
to partner with the Chester County SPCA and the forthcoming county
shelter in Delaware County so we are
still helping the strays of Delaware County find loving, forever homes.
We will devote ourselves and our resources to adoptions and expanding
our current programs and launching new ones.
Expand our existing programs:
- Humane investigation and prosecution
- Behavioral assessment and training to
help prepare homeless
dogs for adoption
- Humane education and outreach programs
- Low-cost veterinary services such as spay
days and vaccination and microchipping clinics
New pilot programs in the
works:
- Pet food bank programs for pet owners in
financial distress
- When families are struggling
financially, feeding pets
becomes problematic. Our pet food bank program in conjunction with
Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry provides free pet food for up to 400 pets
a month to families in need so that they can keep
their pets at home versus having to turn them in to an animal shelter.
- Spay Day USA
- In honor of the Humane Society of the
United States' national pet awareness day, we offer a day of
drastically subsidized spaying and neutering, costing only a few
dollars, for owners of in-tact animals throughout our county, targeting
the most in-need, urban areas. We plan to continue to organize Spay
Days as our funds and resources allow.
- Fix-a-Bull
- Through this grant-subsidized spay-and-neuter
program, we are currently providing Pit Bull owners in Delaware County
the chance to alter their Pit Bull for only $10. Along with the spay or
neuter, the Pit Bulls in this program will also receive necessary
vaccinations, a nail trim, a microchip and a Heartworm test.
- As Fix-a-Bull gets off the ground, we plan to launch
Adore-a-Bull, a comprehensive behavioral and training program targeted
at Pit Bull owners, encouraging responsible pet ownership and awareness
of this very misunderstood breed.
- Temporary emergency housing and care to
help people in
crisis keep their pets
- In this pilot program, we are
partnering with the Red Cross to provide pet foster homes and basic
medical care for their emergency clients. In the face of a natural
disaster,
such as a fire or flood, people are often at a loss for what to do with
their pets. In many cases, the animals have to be relinquished; in some
cases, they are abandoned. Research shows that victims of such
disasters don't know what to do with their pets. We want
to give people facing these emergencies a temporary safe-haven for
their pets so they can take care of themselves and their families
first.
We will continue to roll out new programs as resources
become available.
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