The Sacramento County Bradshaw Animal Shelter is doing its part to save cats by participating in the Million Cat Challenge. The Million Cat Challenge is a nationwide effort to save one million cats over the course of five years.
“The goal in accepting the Million Cat Challenge is to proactively lower shelter euthanasia numbers and lower the number of stray cats in the communities and shelters through more proactive and positive means,” said Dave Dickinson, Director of Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation. “These strategies produce positive outcomes that benefit both the community and the cats.”
To do this, there are five Challenge initiatives participating shelters can employ:
• Alternatives to intake: Provide positive alternatives to keep cats in the home or community when admission to a shelter is not the best choice
• Managed Admission: Schedule intake of cats to match the shelter’s ability to assure humane care and safe movement through the shelter system to an appropriate outcome for every cat
• Capacity for care: Match the number of cats cared for at any one time with the capacity required to assure the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare for all cats in the shelter
• Removing barriers to adoption: expand the pool of adopters by removing barriers to adoption such as cost, process, or location.
• Return to field: Sterilize, vaccinate, and return healthy un-owned shelter cats to the location of origin as an alternative to euthanasia.
• Shelters have the choice of implementing any or all of these initiatives to decrease the cat population out in the field or inside of the shelters. They adopt the initiatives best tailored to their needs and current situation.
Though the Bradshaw Animal Shelter only recently joined the Challenge, it has always actively promoted adoptions and has established two other programs that save unadoptable cats – the Community Cats/Trap-Neuter-Return and Barn Cats programs. The shelter also has low- and no-cost spay/neuter programs.
To find out how you can help save animals through adoption, volunteer, or donation, visit the Sacramento County Animal Care & Regulation website.
