Pound Kill Rate Sparks Concerns - Lost Dogs Home

[Steve]

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pound-ki...0430-1e29v.html

A LOST Dogs Home plan to take over the running of more council pounds has alarmed animal welfare groups, who say the strategy will lead to more dogs and cats being killed.

The home has won three council contracts from rival RSPCA Victoria and has plans to take over more pounds as well as expand interstate.

The home has won contracts with Casey, Hobsons Bay and Echuca councils by tender from the RSPCA over the past two years and now runs 17 council pounds in Victoria.

Advertisement: Story continues below But animal welfare groups have criticised the home's growth strategy because of its high kill rate of impounded animals.

Activist Mike Bailey, who runs the Stop the Clock campaign aimed at preventing impounded dogs and cats from being routinely killed after 28 days, asked why the Lost Dogs Home was bidding for more council contracts when it knew it could not find homes for the thousands of animals it already had.

The home killed 85.8 per cent (10,352) of the 12072 cats and 26.2 per cent (3242) of the 12,354 dogs it received at its main shelters at North Melbourne and Cranbourne in 2009-10.

RSPCA Victoria, which still runs 17 council pounds, had a much lower kill rate, putting down 56.4 per cent (9086) of the 16,111 cats it received and 18.6 per cent (3297) of the 17,733 dogs it received in 2009-10. RSPCA Victoria's chief executive, Maria Mercurio, admitted the organisation was losing contracts to the home.

She said her organisation accepted that its bids to run council pounds may not have been cheap enough but the group's aim was to save animals.

''We are committed to … implementing preventative measures to reduce the number of animals ultimately coming into shelters, and these programs are not reliant on being awarded pound contracts,'' she said.

City of Casey spokesman Chris Ryan said tenders were called for all contracts valued at more than $150,000. The Lost Dogs Home was awarded the council's pound contract, held by the RSPCA for the past 15 years, in December and will begin services on June 1.

The Lost Dogs Home's Graeme Smith said the organisation did not receive any government funding, unlike the RSPCA. ''Tenders are judged on many factors. These include financial, ability to deliver, customer service, management, quality, etc,'' Mr Smith said.

''In other words, they are awarded on the basis of performance.''

Mr Smith said he welcomed plans announced by the Baillieu government to remove the 28-day time limit for keeping animals in shelters before they had to be put down. ''It will allow us to do more for the dogs that have behavioural problems,'' he said.

''These changes … will see a further reduction in our euthanasia rate for dogs.''

Councils that do not run in-house animal pounds agree to pay a set fee to a shelter for the cost of caring for each animal brought in. By law, animals must be kept for eight days to give the shelter time to find the owner. Any expenses after eight days, when the animal may be placed into adoption or rehabilitation, are incurred by the shelter. This includes desexing, microchipping, food and medical costs.

Ms Mercurio said a big challenge for animal welfare groups was the state's soaring cat population.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pound-ki...l#ixzz1L8Hk8G60

[RottnBullies]

And so they should be frighteningly alarmed

Mr Smith said he welcomed plans announced by the Baillieu government to remove the 28-day time limit for keeping animals in shelters before they had to be put down. ''It will allow us to do more for the dogs that have behavioural problems,'' he said.

''These changes … will see a further reduction in our euthanasia rate for dogs.''

You have got to be kidding, mr smith! well there Is already plenty of room for reduction seeing as you kill 6 out of every 10 dogs and 9 out of every 10 cats!

What I don't understand Is how In the hell are they winning these new contracts with their grave past stats of V High kill rates In both Dogs and Cats and they're complete Incompetence In being able to reunite dogs with owners when owners are clearly seeking their dogs back......Brindle comes to mind, one very sad case ;) ;)

[Aphra]

I think this is the big clue:

Councils that do not run in-house animal pounds agree to pay a set fee to a shelter for the cost of caring for each animal brought in. By law, animals must be kept for eight days to give the shelter time to find the owner. Any expenses after eight days, when the animal may be placed into adoption or rehabilitation, are incurred by the shelter. This includes desexing, microchipping, food and medical costs.

The set fee paid by councils also includes a payment for each death. It's not hard to see why they take on more council pounds, the more dogs they take the more money they make as long, of course, as they have no intention of rehoming them. You'd almost think that funding for any dogs they rehome comes from the marketing and promotion budget ...

Another spokesperson for the Lost Dogs Home has said that the LDH have only had to kill one dog because of the 28 day rule, so it's disingenous of Graham Smith to say it will help them save more lives. And really, if the LDH have been so opposed to the 28 day rule, why have they done nothing about it - they have a seat on the Animal Welfare Committee which writes the legislation and have had plenty of opportunity to reshape the rules to save more lives if that was something they wanted to do.

Clearly cash-strapped local councils are awarding the LDH contracts on the grounds that they'll do it cheaply. However, Government contracts are never awarded purely on the grounds of cost, there is always a "value for money" clause which allows for contracts which might not be the cheapest but which provide additional services. Rate payers need to know what the implications of awarding contracts to the LDH are and lobby their local councils for pound contracts which include a commitment to rehoming.

I think it is actually unethical to outsource pound services to groups which live such a long distance from local goverment areas. I'm convinced a great many animals are not reclaimed because people just don't realise how far away their lost pet might actually end up.

[megan_]

Miles Heffernan left the LDH a few days ago (due to tragic personal circumstances) so it will be interesting to see what happens.

[Sheridan]

Mr Smith said he welcomed plans announced by the Baillieu government to remove the 28-day time limit for keeping animals in shelters before they had to be put down. ''It will allow us to do more for the dogs that have behavioural problems,'' he said.

And what exactly do you do for them now aside from kill them?

''These changes … will see a further reduction in our euthanasia rate for dogs.''

A further reduction? Has it actually reduced at all?

[Curlybert]

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pound-ki...0430-1e29v.html

The Lost Dogs Home's Graeme Smith said the organisation did not receive any government funding, unlike the RSPCA. ''Tenders are judged on many factors. These include financial, ability to deliver, customer service, management, quality, etc,'' Mr Smith said.

''In other words, they are awarded on the basis of performance.''

Wonder what he means by "performance". Perhaps he thinks a high kill rate equates to high performance...?

[Sheridan]

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/pound-ki...0430-1e29v.html

The Lost Dogs Home's Graeme Smith said the organisation did not receive any government funding, unlike the RSPCA. ''Tenders are judged on many factors. These include financial, ability to deliver, customer service, management, quality, etc,'' Mr Smith said.

''In other words, they are awarded on the basis of performance.''

Wonder what he means by "performance". Perhaps he thinks a high kill rate equates to high performance...?

With the amount of lethabarb LDH must run through, I'd hope they'd get a good discount.

[tdierikx]

Councils are the ones looking for the cheapest options - so is it any wonder the euth rate is so high in those areas where the councils have sought the cheapest tender?

Some Sydney councils have clauses built into their tendering for impound services for low kill options... maybe lobbying the councils or higher Government departments will be the ultimate answer?

T.

[Aphra]

The Hands Off Foster Care group have submitted an FOI request for the Lost Dogs Home submission on the proposed changes to the Code of Practice, if any. I hope they get it, I'd be fascinated to read it. The Cat Protection Society and the LDH have incredibly high kill rates; they also have seats on the Animal Welfare Committee, so will clearly carry a lot of weight in the decision making process.

The RSPCA have made their submission public: http://www.rspcavic.org/campaigns_news/latest_news.htm

I know that the Dog Rescue Association of Victoria have posted their submission on the DRAV website.

Our group also responded: http://tinyurl.com/3pdbv7x

I've be interested to know who else made submissions and if they are willing to share them.