Lost pets found their way home. Abused pups were rescued and shown how to trust again. Sick and injured animals were rehabilitated. Children adopted their first pets. This is only a small snapshot of what happened inside the walls of the Seattle Animal Shelter in 2019. Here’s a deeper look at what happened this year and how it will impact the shelter in the new decade to come:
By the numbers
It was an incredible year for Seattle’s homeless animals; in 2019, the Seattle Animal Shelter took in a total of 1,056 cats, 891 dogs, and 358 critters. Of those, 844 dogs, 916 cats, and 349 critters adopted, transferred for adoption elsewhere, or reunited to their owners. The shelter continues to stay well above a 90 percent live release rate (the percentage of live outcomes compared to overall outcomes).
Growing our volunteer community
This year, the shelter welcomed 236 new volunteers! This includes volunteer foster parents, behavior team volunteers, in-shelter volunteers, Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation (SASF) volunteers, and more. Our incredible volunteers work 365 days a year and are extremely dedicated. They save thousands of animal lives each year. Without them, the shelter would not be the success it is today.
New staff members
In 2019, the shelter welcomed a new member to its animal control team, which handles all manner of cases, commonly those of abuse, neglect cruelty, injured and sick animals, and aggressive animals. The shelter also brought on its first full-time animal behaviorist. Kimberlee Spicer is a CPDT-KA and Fear Free Certified trainer. She formerly worked with Homeward Pet Adoption Center, starting as an adoption counselor, then a dog behavior coordinator, and finally as an animal behavior manager.
Since 2016, the shelter’s behavior training program has helped at-risk dogs overcome their fears and start to trust humans again through positive behavior modification techniques. It also helps cats find the right homes through animal profiling, which matches a cat’s personality type to an adopter. Learn more about the behavior program here. This unique program is entirely funded by SASF donors. With a full-time behaviorist on board, the shelter can now expand its training of volunteers and staff to assure every animal with special needs benefits from the program.
Donations
Our annual Furevermore Fundraising Gala raised $213,000 alone. Our Furry 5K raised more than $114,000. (Get details on our 2020 events here!) While helping supplement shelter essentials such as veterinary care, animal control, food and supplies, staffing, spaying and neutering, and facility upkeep, this funding also supports a range of programs that go beyond what the City of Seattle can finance, including our Behavioral Training, Foster, and Fospice programs.
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