Shelter plans to save 90 percent of its animals by 2020

By Jackie Valley

Published Thursday, June 4, 2015 | 10:45 a.m.

Updated Thursday, June 4, 2015 | 4:45 p.m.

With barking in the background, the Animal Foundation today announced plans to save 90 percent of animals that enter its shelter by 2020.

“Our board has set a goal to save all healthy and treatable animals,” said Christine Robinson, executive director of the Animal Foundation, which operates the largest shelter in Las Vegas.

It’s a daunting task considering that last year the shelter took in 33,982 animals and euthanized 13,828 — or about 40 percent of its population, according to the shelter’s 2014 annual report. Five years earlier, in 2010, the Animal Shelter euthanized about 64 percent of the 45,367 animals that wound up in its care as strays or unwanted pets.

The numbers long have sparked outcry from animal-welfare advocates who demanded that Las Vegas do better for its vulnerable animal population. One of those critics has been Bryce Henderson, who with his wife started an organization called No Kill Las Vegas in November 2013 after, they say, their calls for change were met with resistance.

As local dignitaries, including Mayor Carolyn Goodman, District Attorney Steve Wolfson and Clark County Commissioner Chris Guinchigliani, praised the shelter’s initiative during a morning news conference, Henderson stood quietly in the small crowd.

“I think we are finally getting our voices heard today,” he said afterward. “We are very happy and supportive of their decision.”

So how does the Animal Foundation — a landing spot for 100 to 120 animals daily — plan to pull off this feat?

Animal Foundation staff will create a five-year strategic plan, which will be released this summer, detailing how to reach the goal, Robinson said. Meanwhile, a separate community group will design its own strategic plan, with an emphasis on how local governments, animal-welfare groups and residents can help the effort.

The shelter hopes to implement or bolster the following programs, each of which Robinson said would save hundreds or thousands of lives at the onset:

• Form a community cat program to reduce feline euthanasia by spaying or neutering, vaccinating and ear-tipping cats before returning them to where they were found.

• Develop a surrender mitigation program to reach people who might be contemplating bringing their pet to a shelter and providing them with assistance to avoid that situation.

• Establish a medical fund to provide animals with treatment, care and procedures above and beyond the shelter’s current capabilities and resources.

• Grow the shelter’s existing foster program and formalize sub-programs, such as foster ambassadors and foster-to-adopt.

• Continue offering adoption discounts to entice potential pet seekers to give shelter animals a forever home.

• Encourage pet owners to participate in responsible ownership practices by continuing to offer promotions for spay and neutering, vaccinations and microchips.

• Increase English and Spanish outreach and advertising to educate community members about what to do if their pet goes missing.

• Find more transfer partners and send more animals to parts of the country that can more easily find them homes.

The Animal Foundation has allocated $500,000 from its endowment to jump-start the lifesaving programs, Robinson said. That money is on top of $4 million the shelter raises each year and funds from local government contracts.

All told, the new and existing programs tied to the initiative will cost about $2.5 million, Robinson said.

“We will work tirelessly to achieve this goal,” she said.

The Animal Foundation’s optimism stems from progress made so far: Since 2010, euthanasia rates have dropped by 52 percent while home placements have increased roughly 26 percent. In that same time period, the volume of animals — the majority being cats and dogs — arriving at the shelter decreased 25 percent.

Plus, there’s this rationale: If the shelter spays and neuters more cats, for instance, the population will reproduce less frequently, becoming smaller over time. And with a smaller population, that means fewer animals will land in the shelter.

The gradual progress followed a scathing report issued in 2007 by a team brought in to evaluate the shelter. What it found was not pretty: a shelter busting at the seams with animals, an overwhelmed staff and inadequate daily care.

“The animals were sick; they were frightened,” said Dr. Kate Hurley, director of the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at UC-Davis and member of the consulting team. “Rampant disease was costing thousands and thousands of lives.”

Hurley consulted with the shelter again last year and acknowledged the “tremendous progress” she’s witnessed over the last eight years. But she said it still wasn’t good enough, hence the Animal Foundation’s new goal to save 90 percent of animals that enter its care.

The remaining 10 percent would include animals severely injured and beyond rehabilitation, terminally ill or court-ordered to be euthanized, Robinson said.

“This is a vision that will require the participation of every animal lover in this community,” Hurley said. “I am absolutely sure success beyond our wildest dreams is possible.”

Henderson, once one of the shelter’s biggest adversaries, hasn’t ruled out joining forces with the Animal Shelter again to make the no-kill movement a reality.

“If they are interested in working with us, we are interested in working with them,” he said. “Hopefully, now our focus won’t have to be on trying to move an immobile boulder but us pushing the rock together.”

There’s no shortage of work to do. The Animal Shelter currently is housing about 1,000 animals, and that number is expected to rise during the summer.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.