TASK FORCES/PROJECTS
GET INVOLVED!
No Kill Pima County conducts much of its work through our task forces which develop and implement plans to save lives of lost or homeless pets and ferals in our community. A task force is organized around specific projects that will improve the live release rate at our County shelter. Meetings are open to the public and we are interested in your input and participation.
If you are interested in facilitating a task force based on one of the No Kill Components, please contact us here.
Select a task force to learn more about recent or current activites.
Owner Retention and Return to Owners
Spay/Neuter and Trap Neuter Return
Rescue and Foster Care
Public Relations, Marketing and Fund Raising
OWNER RETENTION AND LOST PET RETURN TO OWNER
Owner Retention (Keeping Pets with their responsible owners)
Many owners believe they are doing the best, most responsible thing they can do by bringing a lost pet or a pet they feel they can no longer keep to a shelter. The public needs to be aware that shelters are a last resort, even the best of shelters. Shelters are often a traumatic experience where animals are at risk for complications of health – and no one can ever be 100% sure an animal will be adopted.
This Task Force’s first accomplishment, in 2013, was the publication of Support Options Solutions (S.O.S.) for Keeping Pets Out of Shelters, A Directory of Resources. The directory includes resources to meet the needs many owners report as the problem when surrendering pets such as: lack of pet friendly housing, financial assistance for veterinary care, behavioral issues and training options and, for those who resources will not help, there is information on rehoming one’s pet. Volunteers are needed to update and grow this directory.
From May, 2014 to February 2017 the S.O.S Help Desk went ‘live’ in a partnership with PACC to offer options counseling to people bringing animals to the shelter. About 1,500 animals were diverted from the shelter! This service is now provided directly by the county shelter’s Pet Support Center.
NKPC is always identifying the gaps in our community’s safety-net for pet owners and future projects will be based on meeting those needs.
Proactive Redemptions (Lost pets returned to owner)
One of the most overlooked areas for improving the live release rate in animal control shelters is returning pets to their owners. Shifting from a passive to a more proactive approach has allowed shelters to return a larger percentage of lost animals to their families.
In FY 2016 only 14.5% of stray dogs and cats were returned to their owners, no change from the previous fiscal year. The good news is this is an improvement over the 8-9% for periods since 2012-2014. One recent change at PACC that likely accounts for some of the change is the fees policy for redeeming a pet. NKPC advocated for more leniency and flexibility when caring owners are trying to get their escapees back. Now, first offenders with a licensed/neutered pet may now have the fee waived and PACC will ‘work with’ others to redeem their pets.
Another activity is helping is the team of volunteers that is posting stray pets on Facebook and Craigslist where many people are looking for their lost pet and don’t know the shelter posts them on their own website.
Since March 2017, NKPC is developing the Lost Pet Initiative which will provide low cost or free microchipping and collars and offer science-based information/tools to help people find lost pets. The kick off will be in June, 2017.
The S.O.S. Resource Directory has guidelines to assist those who lost or found a pet, but much help and work is needed however to continue to increase the return rate from the shelter.
We are seeking more people to join this task force and/or volunteer to directly support our efforts to keep pets out of the shelters and reunite pets with their owners as soon as possible. These efforts will have a direct impact on saving lives at our shelters. If you can spare a few hours a month you CAN make a difference. Our community of dogs and cats will be grateful!
To join this task force and provide any of the needed services, contact us here.
SPAY/NEUTER AND TRAP NEUTER RETURN
Spay/Neuter and Trap Neuter Return (TNR) are critical in controlling reproduction and keeping animals out of pounds and shelters and TNR is considered the most humane and only proven effective long-term solution in managing feral cat populations.
In Pima County, Spay/Neuter resources and assistance have come a long way. The county’s current program “Petfix” provides low cost spay.neuter. Best Friends Animal Foundation and Petsmart Charities granted Pima County a 3 year program to provide TNR services feral/community. The grant ends in August 2017 and the County will continue services. More people need to educated about TNR and more assistance is needed to trap and transport the animals.
Spay/Neuter and Trap Neuter Return task force goals and current projects are:
•Advocacy, education and outreach within all areas of the community. This includes the public, other organizations and associations, institutions, etc.
• Recruiting and training volunteers to assist with trapping and transport for both pets and ferals.
• Creating comprehensive bilingual TNR information available in the form of printable brochures.
There are many ways to help our efforts! Please join us!
To join this task force, contact us here.
Every year, thousands of dogs, cats and other animals are killed at our shelters because they lack the medical or behavioral service they need and/or space to take care of them. Some animals cannot thrive in a crowded, noisy shelter setting and need to leave quickly or are at risk for not surviving. Rescue groups are formed within our community to bring animals to safety and meet those needs. To be able to do this effectively, rescues depend on “foster homes” during the transition from shelter animal to family animal.
In FY 2016 over 3,300 animals died at Pima County Animal Care Center. Many were indeed in need of humane euthanasia, but too many were not. The good news is the County now has it’s own foster care program and three full time vets who are providing more and more life-saving services to the shelter pets.
A critical link to enable the shelter and rescues to increase the number of animals that are saved is the need for volunteers from the community to become a temporary “safe-house.” Yet, many Pima county residents don’t know that they can help simply by coming forward and saying “yes” I can make room in my home for a cat or dog and make a difference for an animal, without making a long-term commitment.
NKPC works to get the word out about the need for foster homes and assistance from the community may come in a variety of ways including sponsoring an animals medical/behavioral needs, providing transportation for animals from Pima County Animal Care (PACC) to rescues’ approved foster homes, volunteering at adoption sites where rescues present their foster pets, performing home visits and so forth.
This Task Force works to provide a framework of support to help link rescues and fosters and provides practical assistance where needed. In great part, our work will be geared toward recruitment and pre-screening of foster homes so there is an ongoing availability of quality foster homes and caregivers in our community.
A significant development of this Task Force is the development and maintenance of a “foster registry” SAFeR that rescue groups can tap into to locate an available foster. This tool will provide search functions and features enabling the rescue to find a “best-match” if perhaps the animal has special needs, or needs a foster with specific experience such as bottle feeding or perhaps a home with no cats or other dogs.
Our Task Force has ongoing needs and therefore, we are always seeking volunteers to join us as well as rescue groups to collaborate with us so we can best understand the needs and provide meaningful solutions. If you can participate on an ongoing base or periodically, or contribute to a specific campaign or project – we welcome you and encourage you to join us and become a part of this critical link.
To join this task force, contact us here.
PUBLIC RELATIONS – MARKETING – FUNDRAISING
Public Relations
MISSION: No Kill Pima County is working to end the needless killing of shelter animals in Tucson and Pima County, AZ through the rigorous implementation of the No Kill Equation. We strive to create a compassionate community that recognizes the intrinsic value of animals. We agree on the shared principles of accountability, respect, transparency and community collaboration.
With these guiding principles we strive to inform, educate and involve the residents of Pima County about the No Kill Equation and the work that No Kill Pima County is doing to assist in implementing these lifesaving principles into our community. With community involvement we can accomplish our goal to save our community’s healthy, treatable and re-habitable pets and ferals. Examples of how volunteers support these efforts is manning information tables at events, representing NKPC on other animal welfare organization committees in the community who are making a difference and spreading the word about the work of the various projects within No Kill Pima County.
Marketing
No message is complete without great marketing. In addition to our website, media publications, radio and television, interactive public relations such as social networking allows No Kill Pima County to disseminate information without relying solely on mainstream publications and communicate directly with the public. In order to utilize all of the outlets efficiently, the Public Relations/ Marketing/ Fundraising task force needs volunteers to:
• Research new advertising opportunities within Pima County
• Identify target markets and how best to reach them
• Source creative ideas for marketing campaigns that communicate events and our mission to the community
• Arrange for advertisements to be placed in newspapers, magazines, the trade press, TV or radio
• Organize and execute the production of posters, brochures, social networking and websites
• Design, create and oversee the work of advertising and design
• Write and distribute press releases and mailshots
• Assist with event management
• Network with community members, suppliers and the media
• Monitor and report on the effectiveness of strategies and campaigns to task force leader.
• Translate materials into Spanish
Our current marketing project is a media campaign that launched in July 2015 to promote animals with “special needs” at Pima Animal Care Center savethesaveable.com. Animals with “special needs” at PACC can include simple or complex medical and or behavior issues. We also focus on animals that have been at the shelter too long and seniors who are at a higher risk for lingering too long at the shelter and/or developing health problems. If you would like to get involved contact admin@www.nokillpimacounty.org
In April 2017 savethsaveable.com initiated Patio Adoptions! Animals featured on the website are brought to a pet friendly restaurant for public exposure and possible adoption. The first establishment to support NKPC and our local shelter pets is The Eclectic Cafe . One dog at a time is brought to the cafe on the third Sunday of the month from 11am to 1pm. Volunteers transport the animal to the event and assist in handling at the event. To transport or conduct the adoption you must also be a volunteer of PACC.
Fundraising
One of the goals of No Kill Pima County is to raise funds to support efforts that have a direct impact on saving the lives of our community pets and ferals and are consistent with the No Kill Model. Currently NKPC facilitates the Each One Medical Fund to provide medical services to animals at PACC that cannot be provided at the shelter. Fundraising is a product of networking and effective marketing. We need volunteers to help with:
• Research and develop fundraising campaigns
• Assist with fundraising events
• Articulate the organization’s mission to the community and donors
• Research, rate and cultivate potential donors
• Research and grant writing
To join this task force, contact us here.