Pug puppies look out from a kennel at the Animal Foundation campus, 655 N. Mojave Road, Tuesday, March 4, 2014.
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 | 2:42 p.m.
The Animal Foundation believes it can save all healthy and treatable animals it takes in by 2020 — and it points to a three-legged dog named Krusher as proof.
After Krusher badly injured his front leg, his family thought it would need to surrender him because amputation cost too much money.
But the Animal Foundation, the largest shelter in Las Vegas, intervened, secured medical care for the small dog and reunited him with his grateful family.
The happy ending was the result of a new program called KEPPT, short for Keeping Every Person and Pet Together, which has allowed 430 animals to remain in their homes since September.
It’s a crucial piece of the shelter’s five-year strategic plan to drastically reduce euthanasia, said Christine Robinson, executive director of the Animal Foundation.
“We see cases like Krusher’s every day here at the Animal Foundation, and we are committed to helping families find solutions so they don’t have to give up their pets to the shelter,” Robison said today at a news conference.
The downtown shelter in June announced its plan to save 90 percent of animals that enter its doors by 2020. Last year, the shelter euthanized about 35 percent of the 28,834 animals it took in, according to Animal Foundation data.
The goal requires the Animal Foundation to significantly tighten its requirements for euthanasia while also expanding life-saving programs and positioning the shelter to safely harbor more animals.
Under the new plan, animals only will be euthanized if they meet the following strict criteria: they have a behavioral or temperamental characteristic that poses a health or safety risk; they are suffering from a disease, injury or hereditary condition that negatively affects their health now or in the future; they are younger than eight weeks and not likely to become healthy if provided care considered reasonable by pet owners in the community.
Robison outlined the shelter’s strategic plan — nicknamed Mission: Possible 2020 — for how to save thousands more animals each year. Here’s a summary:
• The Animal Foundation has used $500,000 from its endowment to jumpstart life-saving efforts like the community cats program, which debuted in June and has saved an additional 743 cats. The program spays and neuters stray cats and returns them to their neighborhoods. It will be implemented valleywide later this year. The shelter also plans to expand other life-saving programs, including KEPPT.
• The shelter will expand its adoption programs and continue offering discounted adoption fees to help animals find homes.
• The shelter has launched a capital campaign to help fund the initiatives as well as a construction project. The Animal Foundation plans to renovate its shelter and build a new administration building, which would house the adoption center. Construction plans should be completed by the end of March, Robison said, although she did not release cost estimates.
• The Animal Foundation launched a website, missionpossible2020.vegas, so the community can keep tabs on the shelter’s progress toward its goal.
“We will be calling on you, the community, to support us on this effort,” Robison said.
About 600 animals were in the care of the Animal Foundation today. Of those, about 150 were available for adoption, officials said.
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