For more detailed background on this survey, please visit the following link and review the PDF documents there: http://sonoma-county.org/health/announcements/20130307shelter.asp
Since November of 2012, animal service providers from the County of Sonoma and each of the nine Sonoma County cities have been meeting as the Animal Services Workgroup, an ad hoc group working to increase collaborative efforts to realize an efficient and effective system of animal service that protects the public health and safety, and well-being of people and animals throughout Sonoma County.
The Animal Services Workgroup has developed a “Framework for Collective Impact” to articulate a collective vision, guiding principles, shared goals and indicators to track progress toward goals.
A key part of the group’s work has been to compile countywide animal services data and analyze it collaboratively. Based on that analysis, we know the following:
• 485,000 people live in Sonoma County in about 190,000 households with about 250,000 dogs and cats.
• About 10,000 animals come into Sonoma County shelters per year, and this number has remained consistent since 2006.
• Since 2006, there have been steady increases in adoptions, and steady decreases in euthanasia.
• Compliance with dog license requirements is low and varied by jurisdiction, and needs to be improved.
• The many animal services groups that operate in Sonoma County are committed to serving animals and the community in the best possible matter.
• A complex and decentralized system makes it challenging for residents to access services, information about adoptable animals, lost animals, and other important resources.
• There exists both the desire and opportunities to work collaboratively across the County to optimize resources, standardize systems, increase efficiency, decrease redundancy, and improve public access to services and information.
After carefully reviewing the data, issues, and contributing factors, the Animal Services Workgroup identified four high-level goals that it believes could address key community challenges and put all of us on the track to realize a collaborative and high-performing animal services system for Sonoma County.
Reduce the need for shelter intakes
o Low-cost & accessible spay/neuter services for owned animals
o Increase sterilization of stray/feral animals (TNR, Community Cats, Barn Cats)
o Pet-retention support (owner education, mobile resources,behavior hotline)
Increase number of positive shelter outcomes
o Expand adoption efforts
o Increase number of animals returned to owners (lost & found coordination, micro-chipping)
o Increase medical & behavioral rehabilitation
o Increase overall community shelter capacity (expand partnerships with rescues & foster care options)
Improve compliance
o Develop comprehensive & consistent, Countywide ordinances
o License more pets
o Improve service response
o Educate public (standards of pet care, role of government)
Collaborate on common concerns
o More cross- jurisdiction planning & coordination
o Improve communication with public (social media)
o Expand volunteer opportunities & enhance volunteer training
o Promote private donations and resources
o Collect and report data consistently and clearly
We hope that these goals and the guiding principles outlined in the Animal Services Workgroup Collective Impact Framework can help move Sonoma County toward an efficient, streamlined, user-friendly, collaborative system for animal services that protects the public health and safety, and well being of people and animals in our community. This is about all of us, and it will truly take a village to create it.
Purpose of survey:
The purpose of this survey is to get input from the community on these high-level goals.