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Orange County unwanted pet euthanasia hits record low I Guest Co.. <br />ChapelHillNews.com <br />Previous Story <br />Next Story <br />Commentary <br />http://www.chapelhiHnews.com/2014/03/11/3687804/orange-co-unty ... <br />Oran to ow <br />unwanted pet euthanasia hits <br />reco By Robert MarottoDrew Brinkley <br />March 11, 2014 <br />Facebook Twitter Google Plus Reddit E -mail Print <br />Last year Orange County Animal Services (OCAS) increased animal placements, while simultaneously <br />reducing intake and the number of animals euthanized. These accomplishments arose in collaboration <br />with partner organizations, our community, and support from our elected officials. <br />Pet overpopulation is a community, not a shelter, problem. We partner with other organizations to reduce <br />the unneeded pet reproduction that occurs upstream of our own and other community animal shelters. <br />To provide low -cost options for spaying /neutering, we partner with the Orange County Department of <br />Social Services, AnimalKind (which offers the $20 Fix), and Spay Neuter Assistance Patrol -NC. Targeting <br />pets that otherwise would not be sterilized is basic to the strategic plan for managing pet overpopulation <br />we developed with the Animal Services Advisory Board in 2010. <br />OCAS now pays as much attention to animal intakes as it does to adoptions and other "live releases.,, In <br />2013, we received 3,207 animals, the lowest total in our history. Intake was down 283 from the average for <br />the three preceding years, and more than 1,100 for the average from the period 2005 to 2009. <br />At the same time, we had a remarkable year placing animals in new homes. We adopted 1,506 animals, <br />our second highest total since 2005, and we set a record for monthly adoptions (193) during August's <br />"Back to School" special. As with other adoption events such as "Adopt a Cat Month," this one entailed <br />reduced adoptions fees previously approved by our county commissioners which we now apply to all <br />available animals during an adoption event. <br />Our staff and volunteers worked diligently to adopt these animals and to transfer another 310 animals to <br />rescue organizations for their final rehoming. They warmly welcomed guests and provided top -notch <br />service in the context of the state -of- the -art Animal Services Center Orange County had the foresight to <br />open in 2009. <br />As Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle observed when visiting a few years <br />ago, the Animal Services Center both embodies and expresses our community's commitment to animal <br />welfare and protection. Designed as a destination for the public, it attracts and enlivens residents and <br />others in marked contrast to earlier shelters, which many people actually avoided. <br />A dramatic reduction in the number of euthanized animals — a reduction to a historic low — is the outcome <br />of the combined effect of lowered intake and higher placements. If there is a general lesson from our <br />recent experience, it is that reducing euthanasia is neither to be attributed solely to spay and neuter nor to <br />efforts to boost placements and rescue homeless animals. <br />Staff did euthanize 847 animals by direct injection last year. But this number was a 25 percent reduction <br />from the previous year; and an overwhelming decrease (1,039 animals / 55 percent) from the average <br />1 of 3 3/19/2014 12:36 PM <br />