November 2, 2011 Truly Targeted Spay/Neuter Emily Weiss, CAAB, PhD Vice President, ASPCA Shelter Research & Development (emilyw@aspca.org) Kathleen Makolinski, DVM Kathleen Makolinski, DVM Senior Director, ASPCA Grants & Spay/Neuter Programs (kmakolinski@aspca.org) 1
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Where Will We Go? Community assessment and collaboration Barriers to use of spay/neuter services Methods to target spay/neuter Targeting spay/neuter toward At Risk animals Messaging spay/neuter to target audience Measuring impact of spay/neuter and related challenges 3
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter 4
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Step ONE Determine which spay/neuter services are currently being offered in your community Inquiring Minds Want to Know 5
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Step ONE Low Cost Spay/Neuter Clinic Database www.aspca.org/pet-care/spayneuter care/spayneuter 6
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Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Step TWO Determine WHICH animal populations do not utilize or have difficulty accessing the spay/neuter services that currently exist and WHY 8
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Messaging Spay/Neuter, Lessons from the Gulf Coast Spay/Neuter Campaign (HSUS, Cammisa, H. 2009) www.humanesociety.org Motivations & barriers for pet adoption & spay/neuter (PetSmart Charities, 2009) www.petsmartcharities.org 9
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Reasons owners cite for not having pet spayed/neutered: Cost Haven t gotten around to it Not necessary pet confined to home Pet is too young Intend to breed animal Unaware of spay/neuter program Cannot access spay/neuter program 10
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter 11
Poll Question #1 Whichanimalsin in yourcommunity have the most difficulty accessing spay/neuter services: a) Pets of low income people b) Free roaming cats c) Animals between the age of 8 and 16 weeks old d) Animals in shelters or with rescue organizations e) Pit bulls Select your answer on the poll to the right. 12
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Step Three Data Collection Determine what information is being collected by organizations that admit animals and spay/neuter programs 13
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Step Three Information to Collect for each animal admitted to shelter /rescue agency Age Species Sex and spay/neuter status Breed (dogs only) Location (Ex: Accurate address where lived or found) Weight Intake type (source of animal) 14
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Step Three Information to Collect for each animal spayed/neutered Same as for shelters plus date of surgery Location (Ex: Accurate address where cats trapped) 15
What to do with Data? Target spay/neuter services to animal populations most in need Measure impact that spay/neuter services have in communities 16
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Step FOUR Decide: If better utilization of an already existing program will allow them to achieve their goals OR If a new spay/neuter program is needed 17
Community Assessment for Spay/Neuter Step FIVE Implementation! Periodic evaluation of data to determine if adjustments in program capacity or animal populations served by spay/neuter program are needed Wash, Rinse, Repeat 18
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Spay/Neuter for Pets of Low Income Owners Low cost or free spay/neuter to those who produce relevant documentation Receive or qualify for public assistance Full time student Senior citizen 20
Poll Question #2 If your community has a spay/neuter program, does it utilize some sort of income screen to determine eligibility for services? Use the buttons on the right side of the screen to answer. Click Click for YES for NO 21
Spay/Neuter for Pets of Low Income Owners Population characteristics and neuter status of cats living in households in the United States Chu, K., Anderson W., Rieser, M. JAVMA, 2009 22
Study Shows Percentage of cats sterilized differed significantly by annual family income 96.2% of cats in households with annual family incomes $75,000 were neutered 51.4% of cats in households with annual family incomes < $35,000 were neutered. 23
Spay/Neuter for Pets of Low Income Owners Challenges Checking documentation is time consuming Can be easily subverted Difficult to judge impact 24
Spay/Neuter of Free Roaming Cats Courtesy of Dr. Julie Levy 25
Spay/Neuter of Free Roaming Cats Trap/Neuter/Vaccinate/Return programs Feral Freedom programs Instead of euthanizing free roaming cats, community g g, y organizations team up to provide spay/neuter and return cats to site of trapping 26
Spay/Neuter of Free Roaming Cats Feral Freedom Programs Premise Free roaming cats in a thriving environment will continue to thrive with or without an identified caregiver Reality Years of trap and euthanize has not solved the overpopulation lti problem 27
Spay/Neuter of Free Roaming Cats Case Study: Return to Field Program Charleston, South Carolina Comprehensive Free Roaming Cat Initiative Legislation Proactive proponents 28
Spay/Neuter of Free Roaming Cats Case Study: Return to Field Program Postcards and face to face communication Animal control officers and shelter staff return cats to site of trappingafter after sterilization 29
Spay/Neuter of Free Roaming Cats Case Study: Return to Field Program Program started in 2010 1 st year: Over 1,000 free roaming cats who would have been euthanized were sterilized/returned to field 2 nd year: Over 2,000 free roaming cats who would have been euthanized were sterilized/returned to field 30
Spay/Neuter Free Roaming Cats Case Study: Return to Field Program Important Lesson Most citizens want to help sustain free roaming cats, butdo not want to self identify as the custodian of the cats. They would rather treat them as community owned cats. Challenge Where to best focus trapping efforts? 31
Spay/Neuter Prior to Puberty 32
Prevents accidental litters Spay/Neuter Prior to Puberty 33
Spay/Neuter Prior to Puberty Prevents accidental litters Greatly reduces risk of mammary tumors 34
Spay/Neuter Prior to Puberty Prevents accidental litters Greatly reduces risk of mammary tumors More cost effective 35
Spay/Neuter Prior to Puberty Prevents accidental litters Allows shelters to spay/neuter before adoption Greatly reduces risk of mammary tumors More cost effective 36
Spay/Neuter for Shelter Animals 37
Spay/ Neuter 38
Spay/ Neuter Adoptable Animals Here! HOME 39
Adoptable Animals Here! Spay/ Neuter HOME 40
Targeting Spay/Neuter Toward Animals whose owners are low income Free roaming cats Pre pubescent animals Shelter animals 41
Targeting Spay/Neuter Toward At Risk Animals... 42
Can we better target and focus on risk? 43
With limited resources we can t spay/neuter them all Who do you choose? I have been waiting here since last night to get a space this is my third attempt to get a spot Neutering my pet? Why would I? He is outside and does not bother me I decided to do it for the free gas card I am bothered by my yorkie going into heat this was a great low cost option for me as I am on a budget 44
MAPPING & TRACKING RISK 45
GIS A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts. (www.gis.com) 46
Cat Intake 47
Owned Cat Pattern of Intake Across from Shelter 48
Intake with Spay/Neuter 49
Owned Pit Bulls 50
Kittens Owned and Free Roaming 51
2500 Cat Intake Type 2000 1500 STRAY UNKSTATUS 1000 OWN UNALTERED 500 STRAY UNALTERED STRAY ALTERED 0 OWN ALTERED 52
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Intake Free Roaming Cats Pre and Post intervention 70 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Mar 10 Apr 10 May 10 Jun 10 Jul 10 Aug 10 60 50 40 30 20 10 JUVENILE ADULT 0 Mar 11 Apr 11 May 11 Jun 11 Jul 11 Aug 11 55
Intake in One of the Intervention Areas 30 Intervention 25 20 15 JUVENILE ADULT 10 5 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug 56
Challenges of Hitting Targets Neutering my pet? Why would I? He is outside and does not bother me I decided to do it for the free gas card 57
Traditional high volume methods may not work Barriers of language, understanding and in some cases simple survival Outreach becomes vital 58
SO You wanna Map? and Clean. 59
How Clean is Your Data? 60
Why?? We want to do VERY targeted spay/neuter so that we reach the animals who are most at risk If we re using the wrong addresses, we will target the wrong areas and this is where the finder lives? What if this is where the animal was found. The finder s address doesn t tell us which area needs our help the most! 61
Dirty Data Address of feral coordinator entered as opposed to where cat was trapped Coding a cat as owned if someone has fed it for X days ACOs not recording numbered street address where pet was picked up Front desk staff record address of finder as opposed to address where the finder found the pet Service S/N for shelters or rescues included in data set Shelter address is used for strays Jurisdiction is recorded as opposed to city No age recorded 62
Additional Resources www.aspcapro.org org Spay/Neuter Public Funding Spay/Neuter Partnerships Grants NEW GIS http://www.aspcapro.org/aspcaresearch gis mapping targets risk.php www.petsmartcharities.org i Grants, Free Roaming Cat Spay/Neuter 63
What are your QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? 64
COMING ATTRACTIONS FROM ASPCApro.org http://www.aspcapro.org/upcoming webinars.php The Linkages between Violence to Animals and People (Nov 10) Shelter Guidelines: Spay/Neuter (Nov 17) The Veterinarian as Expert Witness in Animal Abuse Cases (Dec 17) 65