Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia—Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their Outcomes
Access to comprehensive municipal pound, animal welfare shelters, and rescue group data for admissions and outcomes for stray and owner-relinquished cats in Australia is currently lacking. This hinders effective assessment of existing management strategies for domestic cats by animal management agen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/11/1771 |
| _version_ | 1797597971396689920 |
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| author | Diana Chua Jacquie Rand John Morton |
| author_facet | Diana Chua Jacquie Rand John Morton |
| author_sort | Diana Chua |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Access to comprehensive municipal pound, animal welfare shelters, and rescue group data for admissions and outcomes for stray and owner-relinquished cats in Australia is currently lacking. This hinders effective assessment of existing management strategies for domestic cats by animal management agencies. Our study aimed to estimate the numbers of cat admissions and intakes to Australian municipal council pounds, animal welfare organizations (excluding smaller animal welfare organizations thought to have annual cat intakes of less than 500), and animal rescue groups and their respective outcomes for 2018–2019 (pre-COVID). Unavailable municipal council data were imputed based on known data and council human populations. Only Victoria and New South Wales had publicly available municipal data, and only RSPCA had publicly available data in all states. We estimated a total of 179,615 (7.2/1000 human residents) admissions to pounds, shelters, and rescue groups in 2018–2019, with an estimated 5% reclaimed, 65% rehomed, and 28% euthanized. Reclaim rates were low across all the agencies. Councils operating their own pound had nearly double the euthanasia rate (estimated at 46%) compared to animal welfare organizations (25%). Rescue groups rehomed an estimated 35% of the total number of cats rehomed by all agencies. The upper quartiles of councils with intakes of >50 cats in Victoria and New South Wales had estimated euthanasia rates from 73% to 98%, and 67% to 100%, respectively. We recommend that comprehensive municipal pound, shelter, and rescue statistics be routinely calculated using standardized methods and made available publicly in a timely fashion. This would inform management strategies to optimize live outcomes and therefore reduce the negative mental health impacts on staff tasked with euthanizing healthy and treatable cats and kittens. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:12:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b88c32c6d043471ab75250d0431106c1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:12:48Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-b88c32c6d043471ab75250d0431106c12023-11-18T07:29:30ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152023-05-011311177110.3390/ani13111771Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia—Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their OutcomesDiana Chua0Jacquie Rand1John Morton2School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, AustraliaSchool of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, AustraliaSchool of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, AustraliaAccess to comprehensive municipal pound, animal welfare shelters, and rescue group data for admissions and outcomes for stray and owner-relinquished cats in Australia is currently lacking. This hinders effective assessment of existing management strategies for domestic cats by animal management agencies. Our study aimed to estimate the numbers of cat admissions and intakes to Australian municipal council pounds, animal welfare organizations (excluding smaller animal welfare organizations thought to have annual cat intakes of less than 500), and animal rescue groups and their respective outcomes for 2018–2019 (pre-COVID). Unavailable municipal council data were imputed based on known data and council human populations. Only Victoria and New South Wales had publicly available municipal data, and only RSPCA had publicly available data in all states. We estimated a total of 179,615 (7.2/1000 human residents) admissions to pounds, shelters, and rescue groups in 2018–2019, with an estimated 5% reclaimed, 65% rehomed, and 28% euthanized. Reclaim rates were low across all the agencies. Councils operating their own pound had nearly double the euthanasia rate (estimated at 46%) compared to animal welfare organizations (25%). Rescue groups rehomed an estimated 35% of the total number of cats rehomed by all agencies. The upper quartiles of councils with intakes of >50 cats in Victoria and New South Wales had estimated euthanasia rates from 73% to 98%, and 67% to 100%, respectively. We recommend that comprehensive municipal pound, shelter, and rescue statistics be routinely calculated using standardized methods and made available publicly in a timely fashion. This would inform management strategies to optimize live outcomes and therefore reduce the negative mental health impacts on staff tasked with euthanizing healthy and treatable cats and kittens.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/11/1771catssurrenderedstrayeuthanizedpoundshelter |
| spellingShingle | Diana Chua Jacquie Rand John Morton Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia—Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their Outcomes Animals cats surrendered stray euthanized pound shelter |
| title | Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia—Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their Outcomes |
| title_full | Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia—Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their Outcomes |
| title_fullStr | Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia—Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their Outcomes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia—Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their Outcomes |
| title_short | Stray and Owner-Relinquished Cats in Australia—Estimation of Numbers Entering Municipal Pounds, Shelters and Rescue Groups and Their Outcomes |
| title_sort | stray and owner relinquished cats in australia estimation of numbers entering municipal pounds shelters and rescue groups and their outcomes |
| topic | cats surrendered stray euthanized pound shelter |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/11/1771 |
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