Shelters Doing Good 3

These are some good/unique/innovative things shelters are doing. This does not mean each individual shelter is perfect or ideal, just that they may be offering alternatives to the traditional animal shelter model. These ideas and tools can be a great resource for other shelters and animal lovers, to encourage a transition to a no-kill model.

For the second year in a row, the Calvert County Sheriff's Animal Control Office will be offering animal licenses at a reduced rate of $3.00/castrated animal and $10/intact animal from December 20-23. Amnesty license events are a great way to improve licensing and offer a low-cost alternative to those who may be enduring economic strife.

Sudbury, Ontario is offering a unique incentive to register your dog and cat - if they are caught wearing the 2011 registration tag and found running loose, no $125 fee for the first offense! Ouch to the citation if you don't have a tag, but yes to the incentive AND to the wide availability of tags, which will be sold in citizen service centers, public libraries, pet food stores, animal clinics and the Sudbury shelter.

Petfinder has a nice holiday program called Foster a Lonely Pet. This holiday open up your home to a needy dog or cat, giving them the best gift ever - a safe home for the holidays! Participating shelters are listed. The Henry County Humane Society Geneseo Chapter is participating and hoping some foster homes step forward for the 80 cats in their care.

During a crisis, it's especially important to make adopting animals incredibly easy. The Humane Society of South Mississippi recently took on 121 cats from a home (and I question if the animals were healthy and in good condition, why ALL of them were removed, but that's for another post). It's nearly impossible to move animals out of the area, so they're relying on the local community to step up and help. Which is why they are waiving adoption fees and asking for donations instead...the amazing thing about this is folks generally pay as much, if not more, when given this option!

The Hawaiian Humane Society is doing the same, offering a "pick your price" option up until Christmas eve on cats. With shelters overloaded with cats, this is an easy way to increase adoptions and get media attention! Also, the Hawaiian Humane Society is doing what every shelter should do to increase adoptions - stay open 7 days a week and include hours of operation for those who work. They are open until 7 pm on weekdays.

Having a responsible nonprofit take over your local government run facility can mean the difference between life and death.I've already profiled the St. Louis city shelter being taken over by Stray Rescue and the great things that have happened there. The same thing is happening in Collinsville in which Partners for Pets Humane Society took over running the Warren Billhartz Collinsville Animal Shelter. In September and October of last year, 79 animals were killed...with the nonprofit at the helm? Only 8.

Working with a pet store business that does not sell animals can be a great way to boost adoptions and improve life for the animals at the partnering shelters. In Rome, Georgia, Pet$ense - a pet supply store - only offers rescued dogs and cats for adoption in their store. This holiday, they are also putting a tree with adoptable animal names on tags - people can grab a tag, buy supplies, and donate them to the partnering shelters. Coolness.