Canadian Federation of Humane Societies – Animal Shelter Statistics 2013
This annual report from the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies compiles 2013 statistics from Humane Societies and SPCA shelters across Canada. The paper provides numbers going back to 2007 to give a sense of the recent trends, and finds some reason for optimism: the situation for shelter animals seems to be improving gradually. For cats in particular, who make up the majority of shelter animals in Canada, adoption rates are increasing while euthanasia rates are decreasing, and maintaining a gradual decrease year over year.
In Canada, many shelters for animals are operated by a provincial SPCA or a local Humane Society. The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) is the only national organization representing Humane Societies and SPCA, and has been collecting data from shelters since 1993. Between April and October 2014, the CFHS surveyed shelters from across the country and collected 2013 statistics that show some positive trends for companion animals.
For cats especially, numbers are improving year over year. Cats make up the majority of the population of shelter animals in Canada (which speaks to the gravity of the problem of cat overpopulation in the country), but adoption numbers are steadily rising. Relatedly, the intake numbers as well as euthanasia rates are dropping. The situation for dogs is likewise improving, with the same trends showing across the board. The CFHS notes that if the numbers continue in this positive trend, it may mean that the diligent application of spay/neuter programs and progressive sheltering is starting to reap positive benefits.
Though the news is generally positive, there is always room for improvement. The CFHS notes that not all shelters have mandatory spay/neuter procedures before adoption, and also encourages shelters to strongly consider mandatory permanent ID such as microchips before adoption as well. Finally, the CFHS notes that, though the data they collected was positive, only 52% of shelters provided data to the survey and that the overall picture remains incomplete.
Original Abstract:
This report presents the results of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) survey of humane societies and SPCAs for the year 2013, which demonstrate the scale of cats and dogs being taken in to shelters across Canada as well as their eventual outcome. A comparison of the 2013 figures to those from shelter surveys conducted by the CFHS in previous years suggests slowly improving trends in the homeless companion animal population in Canada, particularly for cats.
Individual shelters and communities collect and analyze data about the animals under their care to fulfill essential functions, such as evaluating the effectiveness of their programs (for example, those targeting increased adoption or spay/neuter), prioritizing program resource allocation, and for accountability. The aggregation of this shelter data at a national level is critical to provide indicators of companion animal welfare and responsible guardianship in Canadian society. National data also affords indicators of the scale of work being undertaken by Canadian shelters as an industry. Finally, it permits individual organizations to benchmark themselves against national averages.
http://cfhs.ca/athome/shelter_animal_statistics