Vision For the future

The Five-year Plan to End Euthanasia of Adoptable Animals in Washington, DC

Goal of the Washington Humane Society's Good Home Guarantee Plan is to Reach 100% Placement of Adoptable Animals Entering Washington Humane Society Shelters. This Ambitious Plan Will Make Washington, DC an Exemplary Model for Urban Animal Care

Each year shelters across the country are forced to euthanize an estimated 4 to 5 million dogs and cats because they must take in far more animals than there are good homes willing to adopt them. The problems are far worse in urban areas like the District of Columbia, where a large number of homeless animals create a staggering influx every year.

The Washington Humane Society (WHS) currently operates two shelters in the District of Columbia. They are the only two open-access shelters in the DC area; meaning that no animal is ever turned away. WHS provides comfort and care to more than 20,000 animals each year through its broad range of programs and services including: sheltering, adoption, humane law enforcement, spay and neuter, humane education, human – animal programs, and lost and found services. Because of the large number of animals cared for every year, implementing the Good Home Guarantee will clearly be an aggressive undertaking for WHS – perhaps the biggest challenge in the organization's history.

In developing the plan, the WHS staff, Officers, and Board members initially launched a comprehensive review of adoption rates, spay/neuter, fundraising, communication, and education efforts. Then, they reviewed the best animal welfare practices, conducted local market research, held meetings with key stakeholders in the community, and consulted with a wide range of experts in the animal welfare field.

The resulting plan has three essential building blocks: increase adoptions, decrease the number of animals in need, and teach responsible pet ownership.

WHS has expanded its adoption program by increasing the number of off-site adoption events, launching a Mobile Adoption Center, offering adoption incentives, and expanding the foster and transfer program. In May of 2006, WHS made a pledge to guarantee a good home for every adoptable dog. The plan now focuses mainly on increasing placements for cats and providing medical treatment and behavioral correction to help dogs overcome obstacles to adoption.

However, no matter how much WHS expands and enhances its adoptions programs the pet overpopulation problem cannot be solved through adoptions alone. Consequently, the Good Home Guarantee plan seeks to greatly increase the availability of low-cost spaying and neutering, and in October of 2007 WHS moved the original (and only) low-cost spay/neuter clinic, into a state-of-the-art facility nearly four times the size. The new facility is named the National Capital Area Spay & Neuter Center, and addresses the desperate need for low-cost spay/neuter of domestic animals in our region with a goal of providing sterilization surgery on up to 75 animals every day, five days a week. The volume of animals come from the WHS animal shelter, the DC Animal Shelter (operated by WHS), as well as many other participating shelters, rescue groups and animal control agencies from around the region.

The education and outreach element of the plan encourages spaying and neutering, educates children and pet owners, includes a pet-friendly housing outreach effort to rental property managers, and provides affordable vaccinations and prophylactic medical care for pets belonging to low-income families.

The public's support for the Good Home Guarantee has been fantastic. The Washington Post endorsed the plan, calling it "An ambitious undertaking for a city where the influx of homeless animals runs into the thousands." The editorial ended with these words: "Will the euthanasia of adoptable animals become a thing of the past in five years, as the Washington Humane Society has announced? Toward that end, it has embarked on a million-dollar fundraising campaign to fuel the effort. For the well-being of the animals and the people who live with and around them, we hope that the undertaking is successful."

WHS is committed to running open-access shelters where no animal is ever turned away. Currently, its two shelters take in an average of thirty-three animals a day. Undeniably, achieving the Good Home Guarantee for every adoptable companion animal in the District of Columbia will require a lot of work, and a lot of resources.

Also, in the coming years, WHS plans to build a modern Adoption and Animal Care Center. This new facility will be a place where cats live in colonies, dogs live together in home rooms, and small animals live in groups with light and room to stretch. We know that people and animals thrive in this environment, and rich programs and services evolve when you can get beyond the desperate cycle of rampant overpopulation and embrace animals and people in a facility designed to bring them together.

WHS will need the community's whole-hearted support. We will need to increase financial contributions dramatically. We will need more volunteers and foster homes, as well as broad-based community involvement to promote shelter adoptions and spread the word about the plan and how the residents can help make it a reality.

WHS is asking all who care about animals and our community to lend their support to this critical effort. The animals need donations, volunteers, and publicity now more than ever. Together we can make this vision a reality!