A friend to pets?

A review of policies and procedures of Melbournes Lost Dogs Home. Introduction

Founded in 1910, The Lost Dogs Home was originally established to provide a temporary home for Melbournes lost dogs. Today, The Lost Dogs Home claims to be Australias largest animal shelter. The bulk of Lost Dogs Home income comes directly from the community, via the aquisition of lucrative local council pound contracts. Along with council income, they also receive around bequests and donations annually, ($8.2 million in donations and legacies in 2011/12). Currently the number of local councils serviced is 22, with brand new contracts won over the year. This ongoing expansion has not only driven up the LDH revenue (up from $12.3 million in 2010/11, to $17.5 million in 2011/12), it has also seen their kill rate skyrocket from 11,872 killed in 2010/11, to 14,240 killed in 2011/12 (an increase of around 20%). Their current annual report shows over the 2011/12 year the outcomes for pets were as follows; 5,462 adopted 11,652 returned to owner 14,240 killed (3,893 dogs, 10,347 cats) This means for every single one of the pets the organisation processes, they make a whopping $558, regardless of the outcome for the pet. By these calculations, they make a staggering $7.9 million dollars for pets who are simply killed and their bodies incinerated. With all this money being generated from lost and homeless pets, what incentive does the Lost Dogs Home have to reduce intakes and killing? Even as the solutions to shelter killing have been available to the animal sheltering community since the 80s and in the popular media since 2009 they still continue to choose to squander the enormous fortune given to them by the pet loving community every year and kill, rather than save the lives of pets.
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Successfully lobbying for BSL in Victoria

As one of the only animal welfare groups in the state of Victoria to come out in support of Breed Specific Laws after the Ayen Chol tragedy, the Lost Dogs Home Managing Director has worked for nearly a decade to get the laws expanded to include all dogs who, according to him, looked dangerous.

These laws resulted in the deaths of dogs like Bear and Kooda, who were two dogs whose looks meant they were seized and destroyed.

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The most questionable part of this arrangement is that the Lost Dogs Home is paid by local councils to hold any pit bull type dogs seized under this legislation while their owners fight the case in court. Given a Supreme Court case can take upwards of six months, for every dog targeted under this legislation, the Lost Dogs Home is being paid for several months for their care.

The New Lost Cats Home

In 2010 Victorians opened their hearts and wallets to support the Lost Dogs Home capital campaign to expand their operations. Opened in January 2011, the $2.35 million The Lost Cats Home was built on acquired factory space next door to the North Melbourne site. This investment has taken their kill rate for unclaimed cats down from 90%+, to around 80%, so now only 8 out of ten cats die if left with the facility.

Cat stats (North Melbourne)

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Building the countrys biggest pound

We are constantly bombarded with the idea that the reason there are so many pets in shelters is because there is too many pets that irresponsible owners are abandoning pets in record numbers and that shelters are simply a passive victim in their situation. Pet owners are to blame! The Lost Dogs Home has for decades blamed irresponsible owners for their pet population problems. However, currently in Australia there is no requirement for shelters to limit the number of pound contracts they take on. That is, regardless of the size of their facility, they are able to take on the pets of new councils as often as they wish. Even if this means they take on more pets than they can reasonably process. There is also no requirement for them to actually save pets; they can take in as many pets as they want kill them all and still be paid for their services. Over 90% of intakes to the Lost Dogs Home facility are via their own impoundment staff and vehicles. They are peoples lost pets.

Animal ambulances are a modern rebrand of the dog-catchers van, and are used by animal control officers to impound stray and unowned animals. Contrary to the popular notion that shelters are full of surrendered (dumped) animals, 90% of shelter animals are actually brought in by the shelter themselves.

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In Victoria, about one person in seven has a dog, while one person in nine have a cat. Based on the human population of each of these councils, we see that the North Melbourne Lost Dogs Home service the following populations; Brimbank City Council (170,000 people = 24,000 dogs, 19,000 cats) Darebin City Council (130,000 people = 19,000 dogs, 14,000 cats) Hobsons Bay (80,000 people = 11,000 dogs, 9,000 cats) Hume City Council (175,000 people = 25,000 dogs, 19,000 cats) Maribyrnong City Council (63,000 people = 9,000 dogs, 7,000 cats) Moonee Valley City Council (107,000 people = 15,000 dogs, 12,000 cats) Moreland City Council (135,000 people = 19,000 dogs (Dogs Only) Port Phillip (85,000 people = 12,000 dogs, 9,000 cats) Wyndham City Council (112,000 people = 16,000 dogs, 12,000 cats) Yarra City Council (70,000 people = 10,000 dogs, 8,000 cats) TOTALS = 1,127,000 people, 150,000 dogs, 109,000 cats

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If just 5 to 10% of pets need the help of a shelter each year, thats about 15,000 dogs and 10,000 cats entering the shelter just as lost owned pets. This is not overpopulation this is simply bad shelter management. Each one of those council contracts were sought out and won taking the contract from other shelters, or the councils own pound. Each one of those pets have an owner who is most likely frantically looking for their pets. Currently, there is no way for owner to search for their lost pets online. The organisation instead recommends you visit from say, the outskirts of Hume, to their facility and peer into each cage daily until your pet is found.

Developing the Whos for Cats program

Launched in 2007, at the Home the Whos for Cats program was lauded to be an innovative public awareness campaign. In execution however, it demonised freeroaming cats and the people who showed them compassion, and increased impounds several fold. By 2008, there had been a 40% increase in complaints calls about cats and by 2010 the Lost Dogs Home was taking in more cats than dogs. With kill rates of over 80% for the over 10,000 cats the Lost Dogs Home takes in annually, any program which appeals to cat-haters and asks them to seize cats, was always going to result in increased rates of killing. Continuing to create programs which support the impoundment and systematic killing of cats, while profitable (via multiple council tenders), is unethical for an organisation who claims to advocate for cat welfare.

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Oopsie killing pets with owners

Brindle had a family who wanted to collect him, but he ended up dead.

Bubba had an owner who wanted to collect him, but he ended up dead.

Killing dogs
At North Melbourne, every second dog who remains unclaimed, is killed. One in every two.

Dog stats (North Melbourne)

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Solutions
There are quite straight forward solutions to the issues currently seen at the Lost Dogs Home. 1. Require that pets, who would otherwise be killed, are instead offered to community rescue groups. Currently the discretion as to whether a pet will be treated and saved, or killed, lays entirely with the Lost Dogs Home management. As the organisation is paid per pet, rather than per pet saved, there is little incentive for them to invest in time-consuming or expensive treatments for pets. Community foster care and rescue groups are community based groups who treat and rehabilitate pets in a home environment. They have relationships with behaviourists and veterinarians, and can care for pets for as long as is needed to see them made adoptable. Currently, the Lost Dogs Home refuse to work with these groups. Killing pets when rescue groups are willing to save their lives, at no cost to the taxpayer, is completely unacceptable in a modern, pet-loving society. The Lost Dogs Home has unfortunately proven that unlimited discretion to kill does not serve pets well. They need to be given the following direction; - They can treat and save the pet themselves or - They can sign the pet over to a police-cleared, publicly indemnified rescue group, who is willing to take on responsibility for its care. All liability would be assumed by the rescue group (just as happens around the nation currently, with pounds and shelters who release to rescue) as would any costs for the pets care. If the Lost Dogs Home wishes to choose not to work with a particular rescue group, then they can simply pass the pet to another rescue group. What they cant do is kill a pet for space, without first consulting with the community.

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2. Invest heavily in desexing, rather than catch and kill programs for cats For every cat who is desexed, many kittens may not be born. Rather than support the catch and kill programs of the Whos for Cats iniative, every person who has a cat who is happy to continue to care for it, should be offered free desexing for that cat. Research has shown that 40%* of Victorian cat owners are secretly feeding a cat they don't own. Compassionate cat-lovers across the country are giving outdoor kitties extra help. Wild, stray or homeless; whatever you call them, they're Community Cats. The message that desexing is the responsible option for cat owners has got through to the Australian public, with 95% of owned cats being desexed, and now we need to begin caring for Community Cats so they, and their offspring, don't become another statistic. These kinds of programs have seen an enormous reduction in the number of cats entering shelters by literally giving cats a lifeline, rather than impoundment. See the Secret Cat Society.
* From Characteristics of Pets Visiting Vets Dr Linda Marston and Dr Pauleen Bennett, report to the Animal Welfare Science Centre, 2009

3. Require that the Lost Dogs Home Melbourne photograph and make public the images of every lost pet on their website. Currently 90% of impoundments to the Lost Dogs Home are brought in by the organsations own vehicles. They are the communitys lost pets. Only by having a public register of lost pets, can people be reunited with their animals. In 2013, the process of putting photographs up on the internet is cheap and easy, which is why the majority of local councils are now investing in the technology, including; - The City of Casey (VIC) - The City of Wyndham (VIC) - Logan City Council (QLD) - Stirling City Council (WA) - Brisbane City Council (QLD) (and already on the Lost Dogs Home system)

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