The Future of Animal Welfare A look back, around and forward
Roger Haston, Ph.D. CAO A Cattle Dog’s Dilemma Realistic Optimism The World is Complex A Brief History of Animal Welfare The Beginning
Cruelty, Abuse & Suffering
Henry Bergh The First SPCA’s
ASPCA, 1866
Erie County, 1867
San Francisco, 1868
Massachusetts, 1868
Pennsylvania, 1868 1939 Newsletter History of the Five Freedoms
1964
o Release of Ruth Harrison’s “Animal Machines” book which highlighted the abysmal conditions for agricultural animals in Britain 1965
o UK government commissioned an investigation, led by Professor Roger Brambell, into the welfare of intensively farmed animals
o From this, the Five Freedoms were developed The Five Freedoms
Freedom from hunger and thirst
Freedom from discomfort
Freedom from pain, injury, and disease
Freedom to express normal behavior
Freedom from fear and distress 1970’s: Public Awareness Grows The Humane Movement Grows
First low cost spay and neuter clinics opened
o 1969 in Los Angeles was the first
Focus on euthanasia methodology
o Elimination of cruel and painful methods begin
Involvement of veterinary community
o Importance of disease control and animal condition recognized
Growth of adoptions from shelters
o Humane organizations begin promoting the rescuing of animals from shelters Early Pioneers
Dennis Moore, Animal Care and Control Division Palm Beach County, FL
Donald Anthony, Humane Society of Missouri, St Julie Morris, Michigan Humane Society & Louis ASPCA
Martha Armstrong, Massachusetts SPCA & HSUS Bob Rush, City of LA Animal Control, CA
James Bandow, Animal Control Services, Toronto Bob Sheen, Arizona Humane Society
Eric Blow, Jefferson County Animal Shelter, Louisville, Art Slade, Animal Rescue League, Boston KY John Snyder, Alachua County Office of Michael Burgwin, Seattle Animal Control, WA Animal Control, FL Pam Burney, City of North Richland Hills, TX Gary Tiscornia, Michigan Humane Society, Pam Burns, Hawaiian Humane Society, Honolulu Auburn Mills
Harry Dates, Hamilton County SPCA, Cincinnati Laura Thompson, Honolulu, HI William Garrett, Atlanta Humane Society, GA Ruth “Alex” Wade, Hawaiian Humane Dr. John Kullberg, American SPCA, NY Society, Honolulu
Fred Lee, San Diego Humane Society, CA Jeanne Werner, Tacoma-Pierce Co
Carter Luke, Massachusetts SPCA Humane Society, WA
Jan McHugh-Smith, Boulder, San Francisco, Dennis White, American Humane Colorado Springs Association, Denver
Phillis Wright, HSUS Phillis Wright, HSUS 1990’s: Focus on Live Outcomes
First appearance of the “no kill” movement
Large well funded shelters developed
Growth of low cost spay neuter begin to impact intake
Public awareness around the value of adoption grew 2000’s A Common Framework
In 2004, a group was convened in Asilomar to:
o Build a bridge across varying philosophies
o Develop relationships and create goals focused on significantly reducing the euthanasia of healthy and treatable companion animals
Developed some guiding principles and a common metric for success.
o Live Release Rate
A push for metrics and transparency Laws and Cruelty
Before 1986, only four states had felony animal cruelty laws: Massachusetts (1804), Oklahoma (1887), Rhode Island (1896) and Michigan (1931).
Three states enacted felony laws in the 1980s, 19 in the 1990s and 25 more since 2000 (including the District of Columbia)
50 states currently include felony provisions in their animal cruelty laws. Changing Attitudes Toward Pets
1940
1980
From the back yard to the bedroom
2010 Growth of Animal Rights Animal Welfare vs. Animal Rights
Animal Welfare (Peter Singer -- Consequentialism )
o Concerned with choosing the action that will bring about the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals.
o Prevention of unnecessary suffering
o Ensure a good quality of life and humane death.
Animal Rights (Tom Reagan, Gary Francione -- Kantian Theories)
o Assumes all subjects-of-a life possess inherent value and must be treated as ends-in-themselves, never as a means to an end
o A right may not be sacrificed even if the consequences of doing so are appealing or negative. Colliding Frameworks 2010’s Rising Conflict and Confusion ? Animal Welfare Metrics
A Quick Review Why Do We Measure?
Assess the current state
Track progress toward success
Create awareness and focus
Keep us grounded
Keep us aligned to our mission
Motivate our donors & constituents Risks In Metrics
Measuring the Wrong Thing
Drawing the Wrong Conclusion
Destructive Incentives
Myopia Sheltering Has Been Focused On
Responding to a problem: Overpopulation
Tools we have been using:
o Spay/Neuter
o Sheltering
o Adoption
The scope of the problem forced us into a reactive strategy Traditional Measurements
Live Release Rate Intake Euthanasia Adoptions Lives Saved
Most of our measurement have been shelter-centric and organizationally focused
We have migrated away from overpopulation focus and onto a euthanasia focus Tremendous Progress
30 120
25 100
20 80
15 60
10 40
Euthanasias Euthanasias (in millions) (in Euthanasias
5 20 Euthanasias per 1000
residents Euthanasias per 1000 Residents 1000 per Euthanasias 0 0 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Year
Source: July/Aug 2008 Animal People The Rise and Fall of Live Release Rate Live Release Rate Limitations
Only looks at one aspect of animal welfare
Loses all information about scale
Achieving a high live release rate is not necessarily a measure of a successful operation
It is highly dependent on the input population Impact of LLR on Shelter Outcomes
100% Intakes Adoptions Euthanasia 80% Turned Away
60%
40%
20% Percent of Maximum Potential Animals Potential Maximum of Percent
0% 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 Live Release Rate
* Mean over 100 realizations Impact of Limiting Admission
Increasing intake restrictions 100 90 80 70 Class 6 60 Class 5 50 Limited Admission Class 4 40 Shelter Class 3 30 Policy: No Euthanasia Class 2
20 Class 1 Inventory Percent Percent of Animal 10 0 Class 6 Class 5 100 90 80 Class 6 70 Class 5 60 Open Admission Class 4 50 Shelter Class 3 40 Policy: Only Euthanize Class 6 Class 2 30
Class 1 Inventory Percent Percent of Animal 20 10 0 It a Community Problem
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
75%
70% Open 65% Limited 60% 100 95 90 85 80 A Growing Inventory Problem?
We are running out of dogs that people want…...... but not everywhere Intake is Declining Why the Decline?
Years of Spay/Neuter efforts are finally impacting population
More public awareness about pet overpopulation
Different approach to cats being deployed; many municipalities no longer pick up cats
Public fear of shelters
Shelters are not reaching the need
Shelters are limiting admission The Explosion of Transfers
778,385 dogs
From Woodruff & Smith, 2017 Transfer at a Large Scale
Percent of Dogs Adopted in Colorado that Came from Out of State 50.0%
45.0%
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0% 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Highly Adoptable Gets Transferred
4000
3500
3000
2500 UU 2000 TM TR 1500 Healthy 1000
500
0 Public Coalition Outside A Stark Comparison
Org 1 Org 2
Total Dog Intakes 4388 1494 Puppy Intakes 1153 1482 Intakes from Community 2812 12 % operating revenue from transfers ≈ 15% ≈ 95%
Services provided Owner surrenders Yes No Requires S/N Yes No Medical services Yes No Behavior capabilities Yes No Community programs Yes No Advocacy programs Yes No Court & Cruelty Yes No Dog-o-nomics
$25 to $50 at Source
$300 to $450 at Destination
40,000 in Colorado in 2016
($400 - $50) * 40,000 = $14,000,000
This amount of money can attract some bad actors and create problems in both the source and destination communities if not managed holistically Rescue or Hoarder?
The rescue world is largely unregulated and has exploded in number How People Adopt is Changing
There is strong competition for adoptable animals Animal Welfare Organizations
PetSmart Charities AWOs Growth of Retail Adoptions
Over 1,000,000 in 2016
This is changing the dynamics of the sheltering community Shelters Don’t Have What People Want
4500
4000 Intake
Outflows 3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0 Pitbull/Mix Chihuahua German Shep Terrier Mix Lab/Lab Mix Boxer Sib Husky/Mix Poodle Toy Blocky Headed Whatevers The System is Bypassing Large Segments
We are very successful with the people that we are very successful with Socio-Economic Distribution
Animal Incident Reports from Dallas Pets-For-Life Data
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% No Vet Experience No Shelter of AC Contact Where People Get Their Pets
120% Underserved 100%
80% Petstore Rescue/Shelter 60% Breeder Offspring 40% Friend/Relative Stray 20%
0% APPA Pets ForLife Strong Socio-Economic Variability Spay/Neuter Rates
100% 93% 90% 80% 70% 60% 51% 49% 50% Altered 40% Unaltered 30% 20% 10% 7% 0% < $35k Income > $35k Income Why Free is Too Expensive
How do I need I catch time off this work for thing? my cat Cat carrier $20
4 hrs * $15/hr = $60
Can I $50 to $100 borrow your car? X
Uber $20 Leaving Behind Rural America The Current Model is not Financially Viable
For most organizations….others will thrive Skyrocketing Cost of Sheltering
300%
250%
200%
150%
100%
Inflation Adjusted) Inflation (
50% Increase in Expenses since 2000 2000 since Expenses in Increase
0% 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
-50%
Average of all shelters The Cost of Doing More
$1,000
$750
total expenditures
per animal Per animal $500 total program services per animal total veterinary $250 services per animal
$0 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Cost in Non-Profit Shelters
$4,000
$3,500
$3,000
$2,500
$2,000
$1,500 Costper Animal $1,000
$500
$- 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 Number of Animal Intakes Municipal Spending Disparity
Jacksonville $3.91
Dallas $7.29
Fort Worth $7.67
San Antonio $8.19
San Francisco $8.45
Austin $11.32
$- $2.00 $4.00 $6.00 $8.00 $10.00 $12.00 Per Resident Spending
Per head count based on population and the average budget from the last three years
SOURCE: Dallas Morning News Scope of the Problem
$10,000,000,000 per year
(if nothing changes) Attitude Polarization
The Growing Divide Attitude Polarization
Following a general trend in our society, animal welfare is polarizing and getting more extreme Are We In an Echo Chamber? A Growing Disconnect?
US
THEM A Loss of Perspective
“Memphis -- Director Receives Death Threats”
“Bomb, death threats beset Lindon animal Shelter”
“Clarksville crying dog video, petition spur death threats”
“Augusta animal director receives death threats over euthanasia” Real People
Jace Valdez Ryan Maxwell Howard Nicholson, Jr. Daxton Borchardt Dorothy Hamilton Norberto Legarda Diane Jansen Monica Renee Laminack John Harvard Joshua Strother Dylan Andres Tyler Jett Katie Morrison Annie Williams Kylar Johnson Claudia Gallardo Jessica Norman Carolyn Lamp James Hurst Jordyn Arndt Kasii Haith Max Gracia Aiden McGrew Beau Rutledge Holden Garrison Porsche Cartee Jeremiah Eskew-Shahan Rachael Honabarger Craig Sytsma Cathy H. Wheatcraft Clifford Wright Carlton Freeman Logan Shepard Barbara McCormick Jazilyn Mesa Pamela Marie Devitt Johnathan Quarles Jr. Emilio Rios Makayla Darnell Ayden Evans Cindy Whisman Carmen Reigada Eugene Cameron Nephi Selu Joel Chirieleison Lamarkus Hicks Ja'Marr Tiller Arianna Jolee Merrbach Deriah Solem Tanner Smith Jack Redin Linda Oliver Javon Dade Jr Edgar Brown Tyzhel McWilliams Jordan Reed David Glass Sr Amiyah Dunston Ronnel Brown Daniel Teubner Alice Payne Anthony Riggs Rebecca Carey Samuel Eli Zamudio Logan Meyer Carter Hartle Charles Hagerman Jordan Ryan Alameaner Dial Xavier Strickland Dawn Jurgens Terry Douglass Jose Cruz Cazares Robles Rebecca Hardy Bryton Cason Katherine Atkins Deanne Lynn Coando Nyjah Espinosa Debra Renee Wilson-Roberts Nga Woodhead Stella Antanaitis Tyler Trammell-Huston James Hudson Levi Watson Jayla Rodriguez Payton Sawyers Donald Thomas Joan Kappen Edward Cahill Talan West Rayden Bruce Jah'Niyah White Christopher Joaquin Camejo Aiden Grim Nellie Davis Mia Gibson Eugene Smith Suzanne Story Mary Jo Hunt Michal Nelson Declan Moss Bessie Flowers Tarilyn Bowles Betty Clark Malaki Mildward Sonda Tyson Dixie Jennings Tom J. Vick Fredrick Crutchfield Sebastian Caban Remedios Romeros-Solares Christine Bell TayLynn DeVaughn Adonis Reddick Dawn Brown Kara Hartrich Roy Higgenbotham Jr. Earl Wayne Stephens Jr. Esteban Alavez Annabell Martin Betty Wood Hunter Bragg Unknown woman Klonda S. Richey Julia Charging Whirlwind Erin McCleskey Savannah Edwards Je'vaeh Mayes De'Trick Johnson Jocelyn Winfrey Tomas Henio Braelynn Rayne Coulter Neta Lee AdamsKenneth Ford Susie Kirby Betty Ann Chapman Todd Summer Sears Brayden Wilson Christopher Malone Christian Gormanous Kenneth Santilla Gaege Ramirez Elsie Grace Raymane Robinson Jr. James Nevils III Isaiah Aguilar Mia DeRouen Jordan Collins-Tyson Divergent Whys
We haven’t come to grips that we aren’t all working for the same thing
Right to Life
Humane Treatment
Promote Pet Ownership
Eliminate Breeding
Eliminate Suffering
Reduce Population
No More Homeless Pets
Celebrate the Human Animal Bond Looking Outside Our World
Where can we look to understand the future? The Extremes of Policies Addressing a Problem
Education
Early Interdiction
Strict and Severe Enforcement
o Up to $10,000 fine for aggressive dog attack
o Potential court ordered euthanasia The Future of Animal Welfare
Pets, people, preserving the bond, professionalization and a whole new set of metrics Forward to Our Roots
We started around eliminating cruelty and suffering and reducing pet homelessness
Adoption and life saving are tactics, not ends
Its about being humane; it’s the currency that brings us together
Building and maintaining the bond is key Honest Risk Assessment
We have no formal risk assessment methodology
Community data on public safety issues is sparse and often flawed
Every time a person has a negative experience with an animal, it sets us back
We have to come to grips and be honest about the consequence of aggression
Our relationship with animals has been built up over 50,000 years. We can not afford to risk jeopardizing that bond for short-term benefit. Focusing on the Welfare Deserts Rebuilding Our Metrics
Highest Community Impact
Good Community Impact Refocus on Maintaining the Bond
70%
60%
50%
40%
30% Euthanasia Rate
20%
10%
0% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Return-to-Owner Rate
Source: California Department of Public Health Too Many Organizations
San Diego
Washington
Minneapolis
…......
Like in the Arts, our space needs to consolidate in order to better serve those who need it Professionalization
We risk marginalizing ourselves in society
We need professional certifications and qualifications
Passion is not enough
We serve people and pets, not just pets Cats: One Big Complex …...???
We need to deal with all the cats in the community beyond just having cats in the community
The new approaches to cats have rendered traditional measurements like “intake” woefully insufficient
No agreed upon goal or measure of success
A mash-up of interests – it’s bigger than the cats Difficult Road Ahead
Many of the messages that have made us successful are starting to get in our way
Animals should only be adopted
“Adoptable”
Save them All
No Kill
Everyone Should Have a Pet
Donate to save this poor sad creature locked away in a dirty, dank, stinky shelter where no one cares (backed by sad music)
People want to kill adoptable pets Where We Can Be
Celebrating the human animal bond No more homeless pets Safe Pet-friendly Compassionate to people and animals Community engaged A Cattle Dog’s Dilemma Thank you for listening!
Questions? Early Pioneers
Dennis Moore, Animal Care and Control Division Palm Beach County, FL
Julie Morris, Michigan Humane Society & Donald Anthony ASPCA Martha Armstrong, Bob Rush, City of LA Animal Control, CA James Bandow, Bob Sheen, Arizona Humane Society Eric Blow, Jefferson County Animal Shelter, Louisville, KY Art Slade, Animal Rescue League, Boston
Michael Burgwin, Seattle Animal Control, WA John Snyder, Alachua County Office of Animal Control, FL Pam Burney, City of North Richland Hills, TX Pam Burns, Hawaiian Humane Society, Honolulu Gary Tiscornia, Michigan Humane Society, Auburn Mills Harry Dates, Hamilton County SPCA, Cincinnati Laura Thompson, Honolulu, HI William Garrett, Atlanta Humane Society, GA Ruth “Alex” Wade, Hawaiian Humane Dr. John Kullberg, American SPCA, NY Society, Honolulu Fred Lee, San Diego Humane Society, CA Jeanne Werner, Tacoma-Pierce Co Carter Luke, Massachusetts SPCA Humane Society, WA
Jan McHugh-Smith, Boulder, San Francisco, Dennis White, American Humane Colorado Springs Association, Denver Phillis Wright, HSUS Phillis Wright, HSUS