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As part of the San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition, County Animal Services and six other animal sheltering organizations in the region launched a “Getting to Zero” campaign Wednesday to stop the unnecessary euthanasia of homeless animals.
The organizations in this region have not euthanized a healthy animal in approximately 10 years. This new initiative would extend that to “treatable” animals. A treatable animal is defined as an animal that has a medical or behavioral condition that can be “healthy” with reasonable efforts.
Currently, about 45,000 animals enter shelters throughout the county every year. As of July 1, any coalition member that runs out of space to house treatable animals can now approach another in the group to take in the homeless pets. It is also the partnerships with rescue groups and finding foster homes that will help make this possible.
The coalition says this campaign will make San Diego one of the pet-safest communities in the nation by finding homes for all healthy and treatable animals in the region.
“This is a huge milestone for San Diego,” said Animal Services Director Dawn Danielson. “These partnerships will alleviate overcrowding in the various shelters so no treatable or healthy animals will be euthanized.”
The coalition includes the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility, El Cajon Animal Shelter, Friends of Cats, Rancho Coastal Humane Society, Coronado Animal Shelter, County Animals Services and the San Diego Humane Society. The seven organizations include 11 animal shelters in the region.
