Where Do People Get These Ideas?
Greater Androscoggin Humane Society
Shelters are temporary places, right? I mean except for those agencies that have chosen to run sanctuaries, isn’t the goal supposed to be to return lost animals to their owners and adopt the rest out to good homes? This past week staff and volunteers at 49 shelters worked their tails off to launch ASPCA $100K Challenge efforts – many with goals to double or better their adoption numbers for the next three months. And their out-of-the-gate efforts were wildly successful, with single-day adoptions ranging from in the 30s to over 100 – breaking all-time records in many cases. But staff members at a number of these agencies had to take time away from working on successful adoption and return-to-owner efforts to respond to heated criticism: Why aren’t you doing home visits before approving adoptions? If you do a 24-hour event you’ll be adopting to crackheads. And my personal favorite, By giving cats away for free, you’re attracting dog fighters to use them for bait.
Where do people get these ideas? You know….they just may have gotten them from us. Maybe years of justifying our lengthy and sometimes arduous adoption screening processes have given the public the wrong idea about what constitutes a good adoption. The truth of the matter is, we have precious little research to back up any of our adoption practices – both the restrictive and the more open practices. But all the way back in 2003, there was a growing consensus among shelter leaders that our old restrictive policies were not necessarily helping us to make the best matches – and indeed, were likely hurting our shelters’ abilities to provide positive outcomes for animals. (You can read all about these conclusions in the free Adoption Forum II Report.) And there’s some interesting research on fee-waived adoptions for adult cats – a practice started successfully at Wisconsin Humane Society many years ago, as well as a cadre of success stories from shelters around the country.
And let’s be clear, just because fees are reduced or waived, shelter staff and volunteers aren’t simply winging animals into open windows of cars driving by…there’s still an adoption application and counseling process. Oh yeah, and in the case of this past week, hours-long waiting lines. Please, how many dog fighters and crackheads are waiting in line at the shelter to complete their adoption counseling?
The first adoption of the day for Humane Society of South Mississippi's record-setting 24-hour adoptathon this past weekend.
I for one am celebrating what the staff and volunteers at Challenge contestant agencies pulled off this past week. July and August are insane for most shelters – and yet these people figured out how to do even more than usual to reach out to their communities and get people to help them with more happy endings than usual. Are they all perfect adoptions? I doubt it – just as much as I doubt that every adoption that includes triple reference checks and home visits, etc. is a perfect adoption. This isn’t a perfect-science kind of business. But as long as there are thousands of animals every day at risk of euthanasia or of languishing in shelters for months – and even years – at a time, I’m going to salute the efforts of the people who are trying new things to send animals home.
These guys don't look like crackheads!
Related Links:
Adoption Forum II Report (.pdf)
Fee-Waived Cats Research and Success Stories
ASPCA $100K Challenge Save More Lives Community
Tags: $100K Challenge, Adoption Marketing, Adoption Programs, Board & Leadership, Fee-Waived Adoptions, Saving Lives
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Brad Says:
I hear it every time we have an adoption promotion- you hit the nail on the head, thank you Bert.
Kelly Says:
Over the years I’ve heard members of the public boast about how they passed their shelter’s application process in order to get their cat/dog. And I wonder why they’re so excited – is it like doing well on the SATs? Do they think it’s a true and accurate predictor of how they’ll fair as a pet parent to this particular or any animal? (and the jury’s still out on whether or not the SATs are a valid predictor!) I have often wondered if we, members of the animal welfare field, have accidently taught them to value a rigorous screening process and to be proud when they’re deemed “good enough” for an animal. This blog post was great, Bert. And I LOVE the caption under the last photo. I’d have to agree, they look pretty healthy to me!
Mary Jarvis Says:
Thank you Bert! As always, well said!!!
Kate Hurley Says:
Well said! And lest we forget, people CAN get pets from sources other than shelters. Free pets. Intact pets with no vaccines or microchips (have you looked in your local paper or craigslist to see how hard it is to acquire a kitten)? Even crackheads can get pets if they want them. They just won’t get them from a shelter, with the protection and education that can entail for animal and adopter.
Ellen Taylor Says:
Dear Bert, This blog provides a great opportunity for dialogue with my staff, volunteers and Board of Directors. Thanks.
Patti V. Says:
Well said Bert! I couldn’t have said it better for the last picture caption. I have the honor of being a volunteer at the Wisconsin Humane Society. The waived adoption fee for cats over one year old works. We don’t just give away the cats; in fact we ask the new owners if they would like to make a donation for a waived-fee cat, which many people decide to do. Wisconsin Humane Society started the Felinality profiling, and that is going great also.
Thank you to all of you who work so hard to find forever homes for the adoptable animals!
Cindy K. Says:
I remember trying to adopt a dog after my “Georgie” died. I went to a local no-kill shelter and I wasn’t good enough for their dogs. Really, I had a large dog for 15 years and small dog for 17 and I don’t know how to provide a quality home for a dog? Then found another shelter and they were great! If it hadn’t been for them, I would probably had given up on the whole shelter process.
Austin Says:
Very well said!! I have told so many people about the Fee Waived Cat adoption webinar and now will tell them about your blog! Great job!
Bert Troughton Says:
Cindy – judging from the comments here, I would say there are a LOT of people who are so glad you persevered. Thank you!