As I have written about before, animal shelters use many tricks to try to make it look like they are performing better than they really are. Sometimes the Board of Directors is in on it when whole categories of shelter deaths are eliminated from the computed Live Release Rate (LRR). More often than not, however, they are not. They are often being fooled by the shelter director and other shelter staff, which is one of the reasons I believe Boards of Directors should, as a matter of normal business practice, have their shelters audited every year or, at least every other year. That is the only way they can know for sure there is no monkey business going on in their reports.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Alan Rosenberg, the New Jersey Animal Observer, and one of the people who has most comprehensive understanding of animal shelter statistics in the nation. He talked about how shelters hide killing in their statistics and what animal advocates can do to keep them honest. Watch the video above. You won't want to miss it.
I also encourage everyone to enter their own shelter statistics in the RescueSuite Software Live Release Rate Calculator. It will not only give you an accurate Live Release Rate, it will give the shelter a grade and may highlight some of the issues found in the data.
Comments