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What agencies need to find out before transferring animals
When an organization sends the animals that its own local community has entrusted to its care to another group for placement, it makes a clear statement to the public: We trust this group to care for these animals as well as we would.
Conducting transfers with another organization is essentially an endorsement of the cooperating group. And in order to fulfill its obligations to its donors, supporters, and animals, any organization sending animals out needs to know a great deal about where they’re going—preferably by conducting an in-person visit to the partnering facility to verify that it is a good place for animals to be. Is it clean? Is it safe? Does the organization have good reason to think the animals will be better off once transferred?
Animals going to another organization for placement must have a long-term as well as short-term guarantee of safety. The shelter sending animals should be familiar with its partner’s operating procedures and confident that animals will be safe while at the new facility—and beyond. Groups transferring animals between each other’s facilities need to have in-depth knowledge of the policies that will govern the care and placement of those animals. Here’s a basic list of questions potential partners need to ask each other.
Questions to ask the organization that wants to send animals out:
- Why do you want to release animals to another organization?
- What are you doing to address the root causes of animal overpopulation in your community?
- Will shipping animals force you to cut time and resources from other programs, such as spay/neuter, behavioral enrichment, or adoption follow-ups?
- What sort of disease issues have you dealt with over the past year? Are the problems under control now?
- What kind of help do you need aside from acceptance of your animals?
- Will you be in compliance with any state requirements for health certificates and other regulations and recommendations for the transport of companion animals?
- Will you accept our placement and euthanasia decisions?
- What are you doing to eliminate the need for transfers in the future?
Questions to ask the organization bringing animals in:
- What are your adoption guidelines? Is your adoption contract legally binding? What kind of follow-ups do you perform? Will you take an animal back if the adoption fails?
- Do you have an effective licensing program?
- Do you have a mandatory spay/neuter policy for all adopted animals?
- Will you have to euthanize more animals if you bring in more? Will transferred animals displace animals waiting for homes?
- How are your animals housed? Are the conditions safe and sanitary? When can we visit?
- What kind of animals will your agency take in? Will you help us with the animals we have a hard time adopting, or will you focus solely on the puppies and kittens?
- How will you promote this program in your outreach and fundraising materials? Will your messages convey a positive understanding of our shelter’s situation, explaining our lack of funding or community support rather than portraying us as uncaring?
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