Grant Application for Shelter Improvement in China
Introduction The majority of shelters across China are severely overcapacity and unable to meet or access the basic needs of clean water, food and shelter. Due to a lack of knowledge regarding animal welfare and standard protocols, shelters are not able to provide a good quality of life for the animals rescued through activities and tools such as daily walking programmes or enrichment. Public perception of stray animals is that they are dirty and disposable, and this position is reinforced by the lack of adequate or accessible veterinary care and standards at shelters. Shelters consistently take in and rescue more animals despite not having the funds or capacity to care for the animals already there. Record keeping and adequate hygiene standards are non-existent, which combined with the large influx of animals being taken in, leads to decreases in adoption and rehoming rates, and increases disease prevalence in such cramped and overcrowded conditions. Presently there are no long-term sustainable or animal welfare solutions to provide the animals in shelters a life worth living once they are rescued.
Grant Application for Shelter Improvement in China
1
Kunming Rescue: 7 April 2013 Before
After
Wuhan Rescue: 16 January 2014
Grant Application for Shelter Improvement in China
2
Background The overwhelming problems in shelters are largely the result of Chinese animal activists physically risking their lives to stop trucks and rescue or confiscate hundreds to thousands of cats and dogs intended for slaughter. Many dogs and cats die from suffocation due to the inhumane conditions that they are transported in, and those that live are either skinned alive for their fur or horribly beaten to death as some believe that the increased flow of adrenaline tenderizes the meat. On several occasions animal activists have re-released cats rescued from the meat trade back onto the streets, as there was no room at shelters or rehoming programme available. These actions negatively impacted the stray animal population in that environment, further fueled and supplied the meat trade, and displayed the immense need for animal rescue and shelter protocols to be implemented.
Solutions We aim to integrate a similar pragmatic approach as Soi Dog Foundation in Thailand to directly impact the dog meat trade through the regulation of shelter protocols. The Royal Society for Protection and Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) states that to ensure proper animal care and avoid suffering the five welfare needs must be met. These five welfare needs are: 1. Need for a suitable environment 2. Need for a suitable diet 3. Need to be able to exhibit normal behavioural patterns 4. Need to be housed with or apart from other animals 5. Need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease
The RSPCA’s five welfare needs and shelter management will serve as guidelines to address these problems and utilized in a pilot project at two shelters for one year starting at the end of April. The project will then be promoted as a model for other shelters to follow after impact assessments are completed. Sustainable, environmentally-friendly and local accessible resources will be used to meet the basic needs, enrich enclosures and minimize costs. These would include, for example, solar water heaters, rain barrels, dog kibble-making machines and using PVC pipe to create cat resting or hiding places. Resources are have already been produced and are available in Chinese to educate shelter workers, volunteers and rescuers regarding animal sentience, behaviors and care. Standards will be implemented in shelters to provide the animals rescued with a life worth living.
Grant Application for Shelter Improvement in China
3
Objective
Activity
Indicator
Methods of Measurement
1. Need for a suitable environment
Make quarantine and isolation locations for new intakes
Healthy or unhealthy medical check.
Intake systems and record keeping
Create hiding and resting places in each enclosure.
Rescue centre workers learn about animal behavior
Training and evaluation
Decrease in animal stress, stereotypic behaviors such as spinning, self- mutilation, chewing on cages.
Monitoring and data analysis
Separate locations in each enclosure for feeding and defecation
Decrease in animal stress
Behavioural assessments to monitor stress and increased sanitation of the facility
Develop an enrichment schedule
Behavioral observations to determine animal response
Data analysis similar to the ones used for behavioural observations
Outdoor fenced run for dogs and indoor enriched housing for cats
Decrease in animal stress
Behavioural data analysis
Daily feeding and water schedule
Adhere to both morning and evening feeds
Improvement in overall health of the animals
2. Need for a suitable diet
Log-sheet to monitor feeding regimes
3. Need to be able to exhibit normal behavioural patterns
Develop a dog walking programme for rescue centre workers and volunteers
Use environmentally sustainable practices to produce fresh water
Decrease in running costs
Increase socialization to both animals and humans and ability to express natural behaviours
Increase in adoption rates log-sheet with a checkable walking schedule
Grant Application for Shelter Improvement in China
4
4. Need to be housed with or apart from other animals
Facility design for group and individual housing
Use behavioral observations to determine animal placement
Behavioural data analysis
5. Need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease
Develop procedures for large confiscations or rescues of dogs and cats from the meat trade
Create a foster parent database specific for large rescues
Increase in foster parents and foster animal placement
Partner with local veterinarians, animal welfare organizations and businesses
Medical checks for all new arrivals
Increase in number of partnerships and greater access to medical care
Increase in animal health
Medical records
Microchip all animals rescued
Expand microchip plan to be nationwide
Creation and use of microchip database
Record keeping
Log and track all animals, treatments, behavioral observations and much more
Implementation of appropriate monitoring systems
Hygiene and cleaning protocols
Structured regime for shelter cleaning
Implementation of appropriate monitoring systems
Shelter maintenance
Maintain a safe environment for both workers and animals
Implementation of appropriate monitoring systems
Euthanasia policy
International standards and agreed upon appropriate staff
Have an euthanasia policy
Management structure
Communication hierarchy
Increase in efficiency and work standards
Volunteer and shelter training
Identify areas that require training
Structured training
6. Shelter management
Grant Application for Shelter Improvement in China
5
Outcomes After the first year of the pilot project an impact assessment will be conducted to evaluate the level of the success of the project. Once this is determined, the two shelters will serve as models to promote this project to other shelters, with the longterm goal of developing an evidence-based set of nationwide shelter guidelines and protocols in China. The outcomes will include;
Partnerships between international and Chinese organizations and shelters, veterinary clinics, businesses and other relevant stakeholders
Increase in foster parents and animal adoption rates
Overall increase in standards of animal care and use of protocols in shelters
Decrease in zoonotic diseases
Increase in knowledge and training of workers and volunteers in the shelters
Shelter intake to be more sustainable and well-managed
Development of microchip database and shelter euthanasia policy
On-going monitoring and evaluation of the project to ensure the five welfare needs are being met and that all standards and protocols are in place and are being implemented
Employing this pragmatic approach will guarantee that the dogs and cats rescued from the meat trade will be have their five welfare freedoms met and have a good quality of life while in shelters, without any further suffering. Correspondingly, the public perception of stray and rescued animals will shift from dirty and disposable to that of companions. This will result in an increase in rehoming rates so that the thousands of animals rescued from the meat trade can be cared for and rehomed in a sustainable manner through these programmes. This approach will also ensure that the broader concepts of animal welfare better concepts are better integrated into wider aspects of Chinese society.
Acknowledgements: The author, Ruby Leslie, wishes to thank Dr. Michael, Harry Eckman from Change for Animals Foundation, Lee-Anne Armstrong from Second Chance Animal Aid Shanghai, Grace and Lucy from TACN, and Kim Wallace, Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff, and Dr. Vicky Rands from RAR Foundation, for their time, advice and help to develop this project.
Grant Application for Shelter Improvement in China
6