Animal shelters and rescue organizations aim to reunify lost pets with their owners, rehome unowned animals, and provide shelter and care for homeless animals. Some also conduct research and enforcement of animal welfare laws.
Many animal shelters operate on a minimal budget, which can lead to high staff turnover rates. This can be problematic for both animals and volunteers.
Safety
In addition to ensuring that animals’ medical and behavioral needs are met during their stay at shelters, the ultimate goal of all public and private shelters is to place most animals that enter their facilities as owner surrenders or strays into homes or permanent rescue organizations. However, the shelter standards of the Humane Society of New York vary significantly from state to state, with some jurisdictions failing to establish minimum operational requirements and many private facilities needing inspection or regulation.
Ultimately, not all animals can be adopted, and some will need to be euthanized due to irreversible health or behavior problems. Standardized euthanasia protocols must be followed to ensure a humane and dignified death for these animals.
Shelter veterinarians are responsible for examining, vaccinating, diagnosing, treating, and neutering animals and performing behavioral evaluations. They also develop management protocols to provide sanitary, healthy, enriched, and safe conditions for the animals they care for.
Health
Animal shelters face unique animal welfare problems besides the challenges veterinarians encounter. Veterinary care for shelter animals involves examining, testing, treating, vaccinating, neutering, and performing behavior evaluations in highly crowded conditions. Shelter staff must also develop management protocols that foster sanitary, healthy, enriched environments for the animals in charge. Often, high levels of personnel turnover can negatively impact animal welfare as new personnel must learn facility procedures, schedules, and policies and become familiar with the temperament and health status of the shelter’s population.
Unfortunately, not every animal can be saved, and many shelters must euthanize animals due to space or health limitations. Some shelters implement dangerous “no-kill” policies that prioritize the appearance of adaptability over the quality of life for their animals by turning away sick and behaviorally challenged animals, shipping them to unknown destinations, or warehousing them in cages for months or years until they are too depressed or aggressive to find homes.
Education
The mission of most shelters involves reuniting owners with their lost pets, rehoming unowned animals, and providing care and protection to a vulnerable population. Those who work to accomplish these goals can vary considerably in their philosophy and mode of operation. This variety can present challenges for members of the public who wish to support animal welfare efforts and for veterinarians and others who want to volunteer or donate time, money, equipment, and supplies.
In addition to caring for animals, shelters provide various community services. They may provide follow-up bite reports to assist law enforcement in prosecuting animal cruelty cases or offer vaccinations and sterilization services.
Some shelters also provide humane education programs for children. This helps students learn why pets end up in shelters and teach them how to be responsible pet owners. These programs also encourage lifelong respect for all animals.
Adoption
While most shelter organizations share common goals of reuniting owners with their lost pets and finding homes for unowned animals, individual shelters vary significantly in size, philosophical values, and funding sources. As such, some animal shelters may have different policies on animal admission and placement decisions, including whether or not to euthanize animals.
Shelters need to retain discretion in adoption and placement decisions, particularly where there are valid concerns about an animal’s health or behavior. However, imposing rigid fee structures can limit adoption opportunities and reduce the chance for shelters to transfer animals to rescue organizations, where they can often find more loving homes.
