Does Spay/Neuter Have a People Problem? Presented by Amy Mills September 2013 Alberta SPCA Conference

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Does Spay/Neuter Have a People Problem? Presented by Amy Mills September 2013 Alberta SPCA Conference"

Gladys O’Connor’
5 years ago
Views:

1 Does Spay/Neuter Have a People Problem? Presented by Amy Mills September 2013 Alberta SPCA Conference

2 People are Animals Too

3 What if? What would you do differently if you knew the millions of owners of unaltered pets would say yes if you just asked them? What would you do differently if you believed you could transform an entire society s behavior and attitude towards spay/neuter?

4 What s In Our Way? What if the only thing standing in our way is us? Our assumptions, beliefs, and fears about PEOPLE?

5 What Do We Really Believe?

6 The Power of Beliefs Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.

7 What do we believe? To understand our beliefs as an animal welfare field, we need to look to our words What words do we use to describe our clients (the owners of unaltered animals) and their behavior?

Irresponsible owners often just don't want to go to the trouble of having their pets altered. And many of them just don't care how many healthy pets we kill in our shelters.

8 Irresponsible owners often just don't want to go to the trouble of having their pets altered. And many of them just don't care how many healthy pets we kill in our shelters. Unfortunately, many animals lose their lives every day due to petoverpopulation and in many cases, irresponsible pet ownership. In most cases the overpopulation of pets is directly caused by irresponsible pet owners who won t spay their pets.

9 What s Our Message?

10 Estimated U.S. Pet Spay/Neuter Rates by Household Income 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Prior to 1970s Today

11 Remember Social Change? A significant and sustained transformation of societal behavior patterns and cultural norms over a period of time.

12 How Social Change Happens Exposure to idea/message Personal experience Personal transformation Social Group Transformation

13 The BIG Aha! Serving only those people who have already made up their minds to spay or neuter is important, but it doesn t create social change! If we alienate the owners of unaltered pets, we will never create the social change we seek.

14 Building the Infrastructure Understanding the difference between spays and neuters that advance social change and those that don t and why we need BOTH Cultivate designated funding for free spay/neuter for targeted populations Create opportunities for social change through direct engagement with targeted populations based on trust, respect, and faith in people

Programs/Services for pet owners seeking out only free

15 Infrastructure: Programming Model Programs/Services for pet owners not seeking out spay/neuter Programs/Services for pet owners seeking out only free services Programs/Services for pet owners seeking out discounted services

16 About us Emancipet started in 1999 offering low-cost spay/neuter procedures to the public Today, we have two mobile and two stationary clinics, with a third stationary opening in February We perform 20,000 spays and neuters each year Austin is now one of the safest communities for homeless pets in the U.S. euthanizing less than 10% of all homeless animals

It wasn t always so good Six years ago, Emancipet was performing about 16,000 spays/neuters per year We had already established a free spay/neuter program

17 It wasn t always so good Six years ago, Emancipet was performing about 16,000 spays/neuters per year We had already established a free spay/neuter program that was very successful in targeted areas But homelessness and euthanasia rates remained high. In 2006, more than 10,000 animals were euthanized in Austin

18 Why Isn t This working? We thought: We are doing our part why aren t more pet owners doing theirs? We assumed: Pet owners were making a conscious choice to not spay/neuter Pet owners knew about our services and understood them Pet owners who weren t coming in were opposed to spay/neuter and couldn t be convinced to do it These people just didn t care

19 And then, a Rabies Drive! The City of Austin provides free rabies vaccine clinics 5 times per year Emancipet is invited to attend Stats: About 70% of the pets are unaltered No one is looking for spay/neuter services About 90% of the people I offer free spay/neuter to say YES!

Assumptions Come Crashing Down We had assumed: Pet owners were making a conscious choice to not spay/neuter Pet owners knew about our services and understood them Pet owners who weren t coming in

20 Assumptions Come Crashing Down We had assumed: Pet owners were making a conscious choice to not spay/neuter Pet owners knew about our services and understood them Pet owners who weren t coming in were opposed to spay/neuter and couldn t be convinced to do it We learned: Pet owners in these areas had unaltered pets but had never considered spay/neuter because many didn t know it existed Pet owners in these areas had never heard of us, or of the type of services we offered Pet owners in these areas are NOT actually opposed to spay/neuter at all. In fact, they are overwhelmingly positive about the idea of spay/neuter if they can afford it!

21 Testing our New Assumptions More Rabies Drives, same results Experimenting with door to door approach really promising early results Not only are people saying yes the animals are those most at-risk They are bringing in their friends and neighbors!

22 Confirmed: Most People WANT to spay/neuter In our own experience, 85% - 90% of the people we approach with unaltered pets agree to spay/neuter Cost matters most, but the approach is just as important

23 Transforming Our Core Beliefs We believe all pet owners love their pets and will do what s best for them when they can. Our job is to provide the infrastructure and human connection to make it possible.

24 Love Me, Love My Owner

25 Where Do We Start? Authentic dialogue about your BELIEFS: Discuss your beliefs with a curiosity about their origin Ask yourself if your beliefs may be creating an atmosphere of judgment rather than openness Read and listen to your WORDS: Audit your printed documents and web site for words that reflect potentially harmful beliefs Review your words as you speak about owners of unaltered pets and help your team embrace more positive language

26 Think About Infrastructure Programs/Services for pet owners not seeking out spay/neuter Programs/Services for pet owners seeking out only free services Programs/Services for pet owners seeking out discounted services

27 Q & A What are your questions? Contact:

Social Change 101. April 14, ASPCA. All Rights Reserved.

Social Change 101. April 14, ASPCA. All Rights Reserved. Social Change 101 April 14, 2016 Presented by Amy Mills, CEO, Emancipet Find me on Twitter: @AMstation Email me: amy.mills@emancipet.org ASPCA Social Change has happened when there is a significant and