Tracking Success - a case study from No Kill West Georgia

Last week, our friends over at No Kill West Georgia wrote about a new report compiled by the Georgia voters for Animal Welfare Report.  The full overview is over at their place, and worth the read.

The study was designed to really get a baseline handle on how many companion animals were killed in Georgia so they could get a baseline read on a) how big of a problem they have in shelter killing in Georgia and b) give them a baseline in order to track their success.

The study itself entailed a lot of work, and their methodology is fully covered in the report.

Meanwhile, the idea of this report shows a larger problem that I feel like needs to be addressed -- credible information and its availability to citizens.

As a part of my blog, I am routinely asking cities for animal control information -- bite stats, bite stats by breed, euthanasia stats (by species and breed), financial information and the like. And I never cease to be amazed that even when I mention state Freedom of Information requests or Sunshine Laws, that many cities still ignore the requests, or have non-existant or incomplete information.

If we are to ever make a major impact on animal control and shelters, we must demand that not only do our shelters and animal controls keep accurate information, but also make that information easily available to the public (heck, why not post it on your website?) so the public can take an active role in helping improve the situation. If as a shelter you are indeed doing things the right way, it is a great way to get the public involved in helping and sharing in your success. Many animal control departments that are making major progress are making their numbers available - -like in Charlottesville, VA and in Reno, NV. 

Maddies Fund director Rich Avanzino has a great article on Why Transperency Matters that highlights why, if we really want to reach No Kill, and improve animal control, we need to be open and honest with our information so we can all see our collective successes and failures.

So nice work by the Georgia Voters for Animal Welfare -- and may they begin to make inroads in saving the lives of animals in Georgia.

Comments

[Dr. Hannah deSoto Tostensen]

Hannah Tostensen of Darien, GA here! I am amazed -- and pleased -- that the study Chamblee Abernethy of Decatur, GA, and I completed this year is "out there". Thanks for helping to expose the critical need for reliable baseline data readily available to everyone. Until animal control facilities stop "circling the wagons" (I like Nathan's term), transparency will be nothing more than a sweet dream.

[Valerie]

Thanks for covering this. One thhing I've been wondering about is just how are the nationwide kill numbers arrived at? For one thing, the exact numbers seem to vary depending on who is stating them. We are told that shelter killings have declined from 17 million (or perhaps some other number)in the 1970s to 4 million (or maybe 11 million), as mentioned in the GVAW study. The GVAW went through an enormous amount of work in an effort to get a fix on numbers fom one state from one year. Given the enormity of the task and the state of recordkeeping in some 'shelters' (which may well have been even worse 30 years ago), how much do we really know. I have an interest in both biology, especially of populations, and statistics, so I'm really curious from both an animal welfare and a scientific standpoint. Do you count doses of Fatal Plus sold to shelters? Even if you can get that information, that doesn't account for animals gassed or killed in other manners.

[Brent]

Valerie, I think these national numbers are based on estimates on intake and euthanasia numbers per capita. I don't think anyone is even close to a "real" number -- but most people who do this based on projections end up with pretty similar numbers.

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