Last  August amid record heat, an elderly Samoyed was found roaming a neighborhood with a neck wound where her chain had become embedded, a 

wound on her back filled with maggots, horrible teeth, and a growth on her hindquarter. The owner of the dog was identified and did not want her. The rescuer was willing to foster, however needed a rescue group to assist with veterinary costs and future re-homing. 

MPFA's Certified Rescue Committee was approached for help. MPFA contributed $150 to the dog's medical care, and Canine Companions Rescue Center agreed to take responsibility for Snow, who recuperated and was recently adopted by a loving family. 

From that seed of an idea, the Judith Middleton Kroon Livesaving Fund was established.  Grants are now available to Certified Rescue organizations. See how your group can benefit from the program here. 

Snow's progress since August.

HSUS will be offering free "Supporting Community Cats" webinars throughout 2014. Tracks include Colony Level (caretakers and practical hands-on skills), Community Level (current TNR practitioners and those looking for larger scale impact), and Hot Topics (exploring current issues related to community cats).  View the schedule here. 

January's Hot Topic is The Community Cats Project: A New Model for Animal Sheltering  January 22, 2014, 3pm EST

This webinar will introduce participants to the theory and structure behind a new animal sheltering model for community cats being piloted in select communities by PetSmart Charities and Best Friends Animal Society. Current data showing the programs' very positive impacts will be shared with participants.
Speaker: Bryan Kortis, PetSmart Charities; Shelly Kotter, Best Friends Animal Society
 

The Animal Rescue Site Shelter Challenge had several Michigan winners in 2013.

Lapeer's Adoptable Animals, Inc. won $500 in the Sweetest Photo category with Kitty Kingdom, showing Dash immersed in a snowy Christmas village. 

Animal Rescue Site Shelter Challenge: Enroll your shelter and invite supporters to vote between 1/6/14 and 3/30/14. Winning shelters in a variety of categories win monetary prizes. More information is here. 

Best Friends No More Homeless Pet Network:  Valentine's Day "The One" Promotion offers $500 awards for signing up by Jan 24th. More details can be viewed here. 

Judith Middleton Kroon Life-Saving Program:

Applications are now being accepted from Michigan Certified Rescues. Grants of $100 are available for any animal 7 years of age or older, sick/injured, or with a behavior issue.  Grants of $200 are available on a monthly basis for a sick or injured animal whose veterinary expenses exceed $500. See information here.

If your shelter takes in a significant number of lost pets, you are doubtlessly aware of microchipping. Yet, you may not know that a large number of pets are never reunited with their rightful owners because of incorrect scanning. Some of the most obvious problems might involve difficulties with the equipment itself, such as a low battery in the scanner, or pets who don't remain still while being scanned. However, an animal's collar (if it has a lot of metal), thick or matted fur near the implantation site, or fat deposits can also interfere with proper scanning.  

All animals should be scanned upon intake, but they should also be scanned before spay/neuter surgery, and certainly before 

euthanizing. It is best if at least three different members of your staff can each perform a separate scan since techniques vary and one person might detect a chip where another couldn't.

Although microchips for pets have been around for two decades, the technology is only gradually being standardized. According to Vet Street, as recently as 2007, 98% of the chips implanted in the U.S. had a 125-kHz frequency but only 80% the scanners in shelters and veterinary offices could detect them. Most other countries use 134.2-kHz frequencies and the United States is now beginning to follow suit. Nevertheless, a pet with a lower-frequency chip lost while travelling abroad, may not be reunited with its owner. To resolve this, ideally all organizations that bring in lost pets should be equipped with universal scanners.

Some pet owners are reluctant to chip their companions, because they incorrectly assume that they will have to pay an annual fee to keep the chip registered. So, it is always a good idea to remind your clients that this is not the case. What is most important is that contact information is kept up-to-date if you move, get a new phone number, or re-home the pet. 

Additional FAQs on microchips are addressed here.  Think you know all there is to know about microchips?  Test your "ID IQ" here.

According to the American Strays Canine Survey conducted by the World Animal Awareness Society, there are fewer than 3,000 dogs on the streets of Detroit on any given day. Prior estimates had listed the number as high as 50,000. See the science behind the survey and what can be done to help the dogs here.  

Save the Date! 

Just One Day will be held 

on June 11, 2014.

Animal shelters throughout the country will pledge to not kill any savable animals. For Just One Day, syringes will be replaced with cameras. The internet will be flooded with images of adoptable animals. Adoption events, extended hours, and amazingly creative marketing will take place. Will your shelter be participating? Take the pledge here. 

Using Marquette's UPAWS as an example, the widely-held myth that "saving lives is too expensive" is debunked here and in a Facebook Post by Nathan Winograd. 

The blog YesBiscuit! also highlights UPAWS success as a shelter that has significantly improved their save rate and thoroughly analyzed the costs associated with saving 97% of the pets entrusted into their care. 

Pet-abuse.com is a website that contains:

• animal abuse cases, searchable by zip or county
• statistics
• risk assessment
• animal cruelty information
• laws by state
• prevention information
• adoption myths 
• reporting tools
• additional information and resources