Big jump in lives saved at Chicago Animal Care & Control!
Big jump in lives saved at Chicago Animal Care & Control!
The statistics from Chicago Animal Care & Control today will shock you – pleasantly.
As of November 30, 2015:
- 84% of cats and kittens are leaving alive
- 80% of the non-pittie/non-Chihuahua-type dogs are leaving alive
- 83% of Chihuahuas are leaving alive
- 45% of pit bull-type dogs are leaving alive
(Pitbull-type dogs and Chihuahuas make up an unusually large portion of dogs coming into the shelter and are the most difficult to find adopters or rescues to take. That is why those numbers are important to look at separately from other dogs.)
FCACC has enlisted shelter medicine expert, Dr. Sandra Newbury, to serve as a consultant to the management of Chicago Animal Care and Care & Control (CACC). The goal is to reduce euthanasia. Dr. Newbury has been working closely with shelter management and staff for just short of two years to implement processes to do just that. Friends is more than pleased by the huge improvements made!
On Saturday, December 5th, the private nonprofit rescue groups who are helping make the reductions possible were invited to a meeting with Dr. Newbury at the shelter to talk about several topics. Covered in the discussion were:
- current statistics
- the status of the Canine Influenza Virus (CIV) that hit Chicago in April
- the importance of transferring animals to private rescues as soon as they come into the shelter
The onset of CIV in April threw a monkey wrench into CACC’s efforts to save more dogs. (Stats were on track with cats at that time.) Because it is a novel virus it is difficult to deal with. New knowledge about it is uncovered daily, changing the methodologies necessary to fight it.
In the meantime, there are two things that can be done:
- dog owners should vaccinate their pups as soon as the new vaccine is available (the old one won’t protect against this new virus)
- rescue groups should prepare to transfer dogs out of the city shelter as soon as possible after they arrive
Friends would like to thank everyone working hard to save more of Chicago’s neediest animals!
Photo: Shelter medicine expert, Dr. Sandra Newbury, and her team of veterinarians remodeled CACC cat kennels to reduce stress on the shelter’s feline population. When the shelter population is low, the new portals installed allow each cat to have two kennels, keeping litter pans separate from the food and sleeping area.
