Experts weighed in on the staffing crisis as it applies to animal shelters recently, and they've got some good insights.
The first, I agree, is re-imagining our income streams. We switched the focus years ago to keeping pets out of shelters to save more lives, but I've not seen many organizations who've switched their budget focus as well. Good food for thought:
“Sadly, there are still too many animal shelter budgets that are predominantly based on revenue generated by the number of animals taken into a shelter,” she said. “It incentivizes you to be taking in animals in order to pay your bills, when in fact our mission has an absolute conflict: We want to keep as many animals out and safe in the community and provide the services that will make pets and people successful, so they never have to enter the shelter in the first place." - Holly Sizemore, Chief Mission Officer at Best Friends.
But there are other takeaways as well, such as proactive recruitment that highlights the rewards of animal rescue work not just the requirements. And for many of us in rural communities, highlighting the benefits of living in a small town during Covid may help as well.
Read the entire article online at Fear Free Pets.
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