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Charleston FAQ
Why was Charleston chosen as an ASPCA® Mission: Orange™ partner city?
The ability of Charleston’s local animal welfare groups to respectfully collaborate with one another was an important factor in its selection. The county’s animal welfare organizations have a strong history of working together to effectively address animal overpopulation and care through collaborative disaster response efforts, low-cost spay/neuter initiatives, adoption campaigns and cruelty prevention and law enforcement.
Charleston’s community demographics, representative of most mid-sized cities around the country, are another factor. The county struggles with many of the same animal welfare issues common in other communities. These factors make Charleston’s achievements a model on which other communities can base their own growth.
What Charleston animal welfare agencies are participating?
In 2008, Charleston County welcomed the completion of two new animal shelters, Charleston Animal Society and Pet Helpers, both of which include high-volume affordable spay/neuter clinics.
Also participating is Humane Net, a nonprofit focused on advocating for and educating the community in animal rights, and supporting other organizations with similar objectives.
How many homeless animals do these agencies handle annually?
Charleston County has an estimated population of about 227,000 homeless pets. In 2008, the two partner shelters took in a combined total of 11,471 dogs, cats, puppies and kittens.
What are some of the challenges that the Charleston agencies face?
As compared with other communities, Charleston has high numbers of feral cats along with a low adoption rate. The county also struggles with limited resources for expansion of spay/neuter programs, fighting pet-overpopulation and educating people in responsible pet ownership.
How will ASPCA Mission: Orange efforts address these issues?
ASPCA Mission: Orange funds will be used to improve adoption programs, reduce animal intake and increase the availability of low-cost spay/neuter services. The ASPCA will evaluate current community resources as well as the capacity, strengths and challenges of the three partner agencies in developing a community plan to increase the live release rate. The ASPCA team and local partners will then strategically plan how to prioritize and target efforts to maximize the number of lives saved, while paying special attention to ensuring that these efforts are collaborative, measurable and sustainable.
What have the results been so far?
In 2008, the number of animals saved from euthanasia in Charleston County shelters increased by 884. Adopted pets increased by 616; 311 more at-risk animals were transferred to rescue groups.
How Much Is the ASPCA contributing to Charleston?
In addition to providing the resources mentioned above, the ASPCA will invest up to $600,000 in Charleston County over a three-year period to assist in making inroads toward significantly increasing the live release rate. In addition to the direct cash investment of $600,000, numerous resources, including staff, programs and training, will be provided to our three ASPCA Mission: Orange partners in Charleston, as well as to county and municipal government agencies, nonprofit groups and other facilities that are working to make Charleston a more humane community. This will bring the total investment in Charleston to well over one million dollars.
What Are Charleston’s Animal Welfare Goals?
Charleston’s animal welfare agencies look forward to making an adoption guarantee for every at-risk animal not only attainable, but sustainable.
Other goals are:
- Working collaboratively to develop a community plan to focus on programs, services, strategies and tactics that are targeted to reduce the population of homeless pets, increase the live release rate of adoptable animals, provide affordable and accessible spay/neuter services, promote adoption of shelter animals and create a community where all animals are treated with respect and kindness
- Moving toward a 75% live release rate for the community shelter partners by 2011
- Fostering a mutual respect for one another and all members of the partnership
What Strategies Will Be Used to Accomplish These Goals?
Strategies and programs used to increase animal placement are:
- ASPCA Meet Your Match™ adoption program training and implementation
- SAFER screening for aggression in dogs
- Off-site adoption activities
- Improved and increased adoption training
- Transfers within community partnership
- Transports of adoptable pets to areas outside the community where there is an appropriate and legitimate demand
- Marketing campaigns to increase adoptions
- Processes to enhance adoptions and reduce returns
Strategies used to reduce intake:
- Promote affordable microchips so that more pets can be reunited with their families
- Support Trap-Neuter-Return programs with training and assistance
- Encourage regional animal shelters to sterilize animals prior to adoption
- Work with animal control agencies to implement enhanced identification methods
Strategies used to increase spay/neuter surgeries:
- Offer affordable high-quality sterilization of animals
- Establish the Humane Alliance model in the partner clinics to optimize the number of animals sterilized
- Increase and enhance marketing campaigns to encourage people to neuter their pets
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