Humane warriors
As it expands, Dakin Pioneer Valley confronts killing of unadoptable pets
Saturday, August 15, 20091
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NORTHAMPTON - With its expansion into Hampden County complete, the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society is about to embark on a three-year campaign to end the killing of all adoptable homeless dogs and cats in the Valley.
If the vision laid out by the region's only remaining humane society comes to fruition, the organization will become the first animal welfare group in New England to achieve an "adoption guarantee" under which all but the most sick or dangerous dogs and cats taken in will find homes.
That's a lofty goal, considering that nearly half of the more than 11,000 animals that entered the region's three largest animal shelters last year - Dakin, the now-closed Springfield branch of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center in Springfield - were killed before finding homes.
"By 2012, we will have a plan in place to ensure that every healthy animal or animals capable of being rehabilitated or made healthy will not die for a lack of a home," said Candy Lash, Dakin's community and media relations director.
The detailed plan, unveiled this week by Leslie Harris, Dakin's executive director, begins this fall with the opening of a high-volume, low-cost spay and neuter clinic in Springfield. Over the next three years, Dakin's transformation will include the launch of dozens of initiatives and programs and the expansion of existing endeavors to help the adoption process as well as lower the number of animals that come through its doors in Springfield and Leverett.
The plan, modeled on programs in other parts of the country, is necessitated by developments this spring that changed the landscape for animal adoption in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties.
That's when the MSPCA shuttered its longtime adoption center in Springfield, citing significant financial losses. Some two months later, Dakin bought the MSPCA's old headquarters on Union Street for $1.2 million and expanded its operations to fill the void in Hampden County. Dakin moved its administrative offices to Springfield and opened an adoption and education center there Aug. 1.
Regionwide changes
The developments also set in motion changes to Dakin's locations in Franklin and Hampshire counties. In June, the organization closed its Greenfield shelter, which for the last two years had been used as a staging area to prepare animals for adoption at the Leverett shelter on 163 Montague Road. Those duties are now taking place in both Springfield and Leverett.
Harris and Lash stress that Dakin's service to Frankin and Hampshire counties remains strong.
Its adoption center in Leverett is open and many familiar programs will continue.
"There is a perception among the public that Leverett is closed because of all the attention the Springfield opening has received," said Lash.
Spay/neuter clinic
The spay and neuter clinic is expected to open with fanfare in October.
Staffed by seven people, including a veterinarian, the clinic will spay and neuter 7,000 animals a year. By way of comparison, Dakin and the MSPCA performed a combined 2,000 such surgeries last year.
The clinic, to be located in Dakin's Springfield building using MSPCA's former surgical suites, will service animals that live within a 90-mile radius of Springfield. Its services will target specific populations of animals, including cats and pit bull dogs belonging to low-income residents, and free-roaming and feral cats. The service will also be offered to qualified members of the general public and at cost to rescue groups, animal shelters and animal control agencies that fall within the coverage area.
"A lot of people have no access to affordable neutering and spaying," said Harris. "We want to reach those people."
Dakin's leader describes the clinic as the first of its kind in Massachusetts.
The concept is modeled after a national organization called Humane Alliance, which created the program and now helps set up clinics throughout the country.
Harris praises the MSPCA for donating much of its surgical equipment and other needed items.
The gear is enabling Dakin to get the clinic up and running in three months instead of eight. She cautions that it will not be a full-service veterinary clinic.
"The surgeries are the only thing we are doing," she said. "There is a community of people who cannot afford that relationship with a vet that many of us have."
Existing spay and neuter programs will be phased out, such as Feral Spay Sunday and CatSnip, Dakin's voucher program with participating veterinarians.
The plan: year one
The clinic is one piece of a larger, multiple-step plan that calls for no dogs to be killed - starting immediately.
"Right out of the gate, we will have an adoption guarantee for all healthy dogs to find a home either through adoptions or through placement partners with breed-specific rescue groups," said Harris.
Within the first year, Dakin will work on programs so that all dogs whose conditions can be rehabilitated and managed are guaranteed a home by August 2010.
Cats, however, pose a different problem. Dakin is receiving 10 times as many adult cats as it is finding homes for now. Between now and August 2010, the organization's goal is to put programs in place so that it can guarantee adoption of all healthy cats.
By August 2011, Dakin expects to guarantee the adoption of at least half of the cats whose conditions can be rehabilitated or successfully managed. That number jumps to 100 percent by the end of the three years.
A number of initiatives are planned to make this happen. In September, the organization will launch a program in which it will waive the adoption fee for people who take home an adult cat. People will be asked for a donation in lieu of the fee, said Lash. The organization is also continuing a long-held policy of only admitting animals after its staff has first met with owners by appointment and offered potential solutions that might help a pet stay home.
While it won't turn animals away, the appointment policy has helped the Leverett adoption center reduce the number of animals that are given away, Harris said. This will be a change for Hampden County residents, who were able to walk in and drop off pets at the MSPCA. "Sometimes we can keep them from even coming in," Harris said. "No animal comes to our door of their own volition. Somebody drags them in there."
In addition to increasing the visibility of adoptable dogs and cats, other initiatives involve increasing the number of foster homes by 25 percent in the first year; implementing a "safety net" program to target sources of animal homelessness and provide support to individuals who are threatened with the loss of their pet; boosting the number of training classes to help people learn how to communicate with their dogs; and increasing the space available to isolate and treat sick animals.
The former MSPCA building will play a key role in making some of these programs happen, particularly with the overpopulation of cats.
The 46,000-square-foot building will be reconfigured to simulate an cat's real-life environment, instead of housing them in cages. For example, a multi-level "colony" housing near the front of the building will allow 10 to 12 adult cats to stretch, climb and socialize with prospective adopters.
There also will be space for additional housing for the 1,000 rabbits, birds and other small animals it takes each year.
Clinic to grow in year 2
In the second year, from August 2010 to August 2011, the plan calls for implementation of a color-coding program called Meet Your Match. It is designed to match prospective adopters with animals that fit their personality. The spay and neuter clinic is also expected to grow. The addition of a second veterinarian and support staff will allow the clinic to sterilize 12,000 animals each year and begin to transport animals from outlying areas to the clinic for sterilization.
Other plans call for another expansion of the foster program, the launch of a behavior help line and ramping up stress reduction and adoptability training for half of all animals in adoption centers.
Pit bulls, a misunderstood dog that languishes in adoption programs, will also take center stage. Dakin will provide free sterilization of pit bulls and pit bull mixes through its spay and neuter clinic, launch special training classes and begin education programs targeted at kids to change their attitudes and expectations of pit bulls.
The final year of the plan calls for a new wellness clinic to provide reduced-cost vaccinations and routine health care for spayed and neutered pets.
Clinic clients will be Pioneer Valley residents with a household income of less than $30,000 per year.
