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FEATURES
Partnership Puzzles
Animal shelters and rescue groups share many goals, including reduced euthanasias and successful adoptions. But instead of being cooperative partners, many organizations find their relationships plagued by misunderstandings. Explore six reasons that shelters and rescue organizations clash—and how they can learn to practice the gentle art of compromise.
A Little Help for a Lot of Territory
New Mexico’s Doña Ana County is home to rural desert communities where some people don’t know or care about animal control regulations. Faced with serving an area that covers more than 3,800 square miles, the county’s animal control department is using volunteers for tasks that don’t require specialized training.
DEPARTMENTS
Letterbox
Scoop
Coffee Break
In your space, you told us about your favorite (or least favorite!) book or movie about animals.
Creature Feature
The Tennessee walking horse has been a victim of cruel performance enhancers for decades, but big money gives unscrupulous trainers incentive to flout the law and keep the abuse under wraps.
The “101” Department
A coat of paint here and a leaky faucet there may seem like back-burner stuff when you’re busy saving lives, but properly maintaining your shelter now will save money later and pay off in improved animal care.
Shelter Medicine
The questions seem simple enough: How much space do you have in your shelter, and how much do you need? But Dr. Kate Hurley explores how the equation gets complicated by such factors as needed adoption capacity, staff time per day, “animal care days,” and turnover time.
The Behavior Department
Conflicts can crop up in multicat homes, causing the animals undue stress and health problems. But dissension can be minimized without calling the kitty shrink.
Off Leash
NFL player Jarrod Cooper has played ball with Dolphins, Rams, Eagles, and Panthers … but now Oakland’s shelter pooches are getting a turn, too.
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