Dr. Aqa Baidar’s Post

It’s no secret that it’s been tough for shelters since the pandemic dramatically altered the animal welfare landscape, resulting in lagging adoptions and staffing shortages. It’s been a long, hard road, but all your hard work and dedication have built momentum. Based on sample data from January – September**, shelters across the country are poised to see the first decrease in animals killed since the pandemic began – a 3.4% decrease in the number of animals killed in our sample compared to the same period in 2023. This represents the first positive national trend in lifesaving since 2020 and the start of the Covid 19 pandemic. Because of your persistence and resilience, thousands more animals found loving homes this year than in the last 🧡 📊 Read the full Shelter Pet Lifesaving Year-to-Date Data Report: https://bit.ly/3Zb8sBc

Interesting assessment about Animal Welfare challenges for my connections in this field: 🐾Top 5 Animal Welfare Industry Challenges for 2024: You're Not Alone 🐾 As we navigate 2024, animal welfare organizations are facing significant hurdles. If your organization is experiencing these challenges, know that you are not alone: Funding and Financial Stability: Economic uncertainties impact donations and grants, requiring innovative fundraising and diversified income streams. Overcrowding: Shelters often operate beyond capacity, making efficient space management and community outreach crucial. Staffing and Volunteer Retention: High turnover disrupts operations; investing in training and supportive environments is essential. Healthcare Costs: Rising veterinary costs strain budgets, necessitating a balance between quality care and expense management. Adoption Rates: Continuous marketing and community engagement are vital for connecting animals with forever homes through effective adoption campaigns. If your organization is grappling with these issues, remember, you’re not alone. Together, we can share insights, support each other, and work towards sustainable solutions for our beloved animals.🐶🐱❤️ #AnimalWelfare #NonprofitChallenges #ShelterLife #CommunitySupport #2024Goals #AnimalShelters #PetAdoption

🎥 SPOTLIGHT CLIP: During the pandemic, animal shelters 🐕 across the U.S. experienced unprecedented high rates of #adoption, with more than 23 million American households taking in a pet. In 2023, that changed dramatically, with national trends swinging in the opposite direction. ⬇️ More than 𝟔 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬 enter U.S. shelters every year. Many shelters still use a kennel model created back in the 1800’s, which doesn’t encourage or support social engagement or activity for the animal. 🐈 𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 is spotlighting Suncoast Humane Society, which is building a 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐬 designed to meet the needs of the pets and provide a peaceful environment to release energy and anxiety. 🌴 The campus includes fresh air, natural lighting, and soundproof barriers inside the kennels. The new grounds can give adoption seekers a true sense of the pet's personality, by allowing them to play 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. “𝙒𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙, ‘𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙙𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮.’ 𝘼𝙣𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠, 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙣𝙖𝙥, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚. 𝙄𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙨, 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚.” Watch these short snippets from a segment with CEO Maureen O'Nell (she/her/hers); shelter donor Elsa Soderberg; and SHS Canine Behaviorist and Trainer Lizz Briley. #animals #dog #cat #health #wellness #nature #innovation 🎬 𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨

Bruno-types are common along rural roadside settings; they wait and wait in the hope that their owner returns. More often than not, Bruno-types are less than optimal health, unsocialized, sexually intact, and fearful of strangers. That sums up Rural Roadside Rescue Challenge #1. The second rural challenge is animal welfare resources, most notably county budgets, to support animal control officers' ongoing education and 21st-century modalities to help a stray or injured dog in distress. To make matters more challenging, there is a need for more humane shelters that provide veterinarian treatment services for dogs of all ages vs. those reserved for puppies and quick-fix adoption candidates. Led by LGCR's Founder, Rhonda Minardi, Project Roadside Rescue is mapping new routes of hope, health, and happiness by building a coalition with Midwest sanctuaries that save, serve, and value a dog's life regardless of government-funded zip codes. Big Dog, Little Dog, and Old Dog Dreams Can Come True when ordinarily people come together in the spirit of compassion. 💜🤝Let's never give up on what we value. #whereloveresides #lgcanineranch #roadsiderescue #dogsanctuarylife

Today is International Cat Day. While we are enjoying the company of our pet cats, it's important to remember that there are millions of stray cats struggling to survive worldwide. As of August 2023, the global cat population is estimated to be around 700 million, with approximately 480 million of them being stray cats. This large number of strays has significant negative impacts on society, public health, and the ecosystem. Stray cats often inhabit hidden places such as building ruins and sewers, where the environment is harsh and the hygiene conditions are poor. However, extreme weather conditions such as extreme cold and heat pose a threat to the survival of stray cats and lack of suitable shelters. Even worse, some people have hostility towards stray cats and even engage in abusive behavior, making it more difficult for stray cats to survive. Governments, animal welfare organizations, and the public must take comprehensive measures to control the growing number of stray cats and improve their living conditions. #pet #petcare #cat #catlovers #straycats #internationalcatday

Some important tips for all of the dog owners out there.

How is our branch responding to the animal rehoming crisis? As some of you may know, there has been a huge decline in animal adoption numbers,  which is now taking its toll on the animal welfare community. The implications are far-reaching and show no signs of improvement. This is why we are channelling our efforts into delivering the best service possible to our beneficiaries. What we are doing: 🐱 Placed the adult cats at our animal centre into foster homes to ensure that they can enjoy a familiar, homely environment whilst waiting to be adopted. 🐰 Seeking feedback from our adopters through a post-adoption survey. This allows us to adapt and respond to ensure we offer the best experience possible. 🐹 We pride ourselves on making the journey to adoption as easy as possible. Testimonials from adopters include: “slick process”, “clear steps”, “easy to follow”, “staff are extremely helpful”. 🐱 Some of the ways we make our cat adoption process easier is through tutorials that come both in written and video format, as we know everyone processes information differently. 🐰 We are at the forefront of difficult conversations about the future of the animal welfare sector. We believe a head-on approach, working in partnership with others, is necessary to deal with the crisis and to finding solutions. You can find our video guides here - https://lnkd.in/gSwUgYUe This fight requires us all to work together. Want to buddy up? Get in touch! 💬

In a recent survey conducted as part of the Shelter Animals Count and PEDIGREE Foundation Dogs and Data webinar series, we asked 150 animal welfare leaders about their confidence in their own and their team's basic understanding of data in their shelter or rescue. 🐾 92% of respondents said they are someone confident or confident they understand their own data. 🐕 65% said they somewhat confident or confident the majority of their team know how to correctly enter data. 🐈 62% said they are somewhat confident or confident that data is being entered the same way by everyone on their team. 🐶 52% responded that they review their data monthly or quarterly and 48% responded they review their data daily or weekly. High staff turnover, lack of consistency in shelter data entry practices, and stress and fatigue among shelter workers is likely leading to increased problems with basic understanding of how shelter data works among staff at all levels. We're guessing. A lot. And many of us are doing so without even knowing what exactly the words we're using mean. That's why the Dogs and Data summer series is so important. We're aiming to make shelter data more accessible and useful for everyone while discussing some of today's most urgent animal welfare challenges like how to fix transport, getting big dog fosters, and safety. Join the nearly 2,000 people who have registered to be part of these calls: https://lnkd.in/gkDiYC-h Stephanie Filer Greg Lucas Elena Battles Meg Meredith April Huntsman, CAWA, Debra Fair, Michael Keiley, CAWA, Emily Weiss, Julie Levy

What happens when no-kill policies prioritize numbers over long-term animal welfare? A closer look at Best Friends' strategies reveals critical flaws and unforeseen consequences that threaten the sustainability of no-kill communities. This article explores the missing elements in Best Friends' approach—and why the future of animal welfare depends on a more balanced, effective strategy.

What happens when no-kill policies prioritize numbers over long-term animal welfare? A closer look at Best Friends' strategies reveals critical flaws and unforeseen consequences that threaten the sustainability of no-kill communities. This article explores the missing elements in Best Friends' approach—and why the future of animal welfare depends on a more balanced, effective strategy.