The VHS’ annual infographic is here! Even as a pandemic ravaged the country, 2020 was the best year ever for pets nationwide. And for the first time ever in the organization’s history, the VHS has reached a 91% save rate in 2020, placing the shelter above the national “no-kill†industry threshold.
Here are some bullet point highlights:
- Intakes: The VHS took in more animals than any other year in the organization’s history except for 2005 (the first year the new building was open)
- Adoptions: It was also a record year for adoptions. 2,715 which is the most in VHS history — despite taking in so many more animals!
- “No-Kill” Threshold: The VHS has finally, after 64 years, reached a 91% live release rate which places the shelter above the national industry standard “no-kill” threshold.
The industry benchmark for “no-kill” status is a 90% live release rate, meaning 90% or more of your animals leave the shelter alive in some way. For the first time ever in our organization’s history, we have reached the no-kill threshold. Our 2020 live release rate is 91%.
Even though we could now be considered a “no-kill” shelter, we do not use that term. “No-kill†is a misleading and often overused marketing term in the animal welfare industry and it creates divisiveness between organizations who are all working toward the same goals. For more information on that, check out our blog post entitled, “The No-Kill Myth.”
(For some perspective, in 2005 when they took in the largest number of animals as mentioned above ^ only 53% of the dogs and 31% of the cats made it out alive. Now, it is 90% and 91% respectively. What a fantastic improvement we’ve been able to achieve since then.)
Spay/Neuter Surgeries: The Clinic performed 6,057 surgeries even with a mandatory statewide shutdown for 5 weeks in the spring. VHS also does surgeries for 8 other local animal welfare groups including Evansville Animal Care & Control, It Takes a Village, Warrick Humane Society, and more. So when you donate to the VHS, you are also directly helping all of the other major animal welfare organizations in the Tri-State by helping us continue to offer low-cost high-quality high-volume spay/neuter!
Brand New Fospice Program: Thanks to having more medical resources and foster homes than ever, the shelter has been able to begin treating and placing senior animals with terminal illnesses into foster care. Years ago, terminal geriatric animals may have been euthanized simply because there weren’t enough homes for the healthy animals, let alone very sick ones. This is a testament to how far sheltering has come as a field.
The VHS has received zero local COVID-19 relief funding, but thankfully was able to take advantage of some federal and state COVID grant & loan programs to keep the doors open for the animals. Though some employees were temporarily laid off during the spring shutdown, 100% of employees were back by summer and have been retained ever since.
Thankfully, donors rose to the challenge and the shelter had an increase in public support in 2020 that really helped get them through alongside the federal relief.
So what do all these numbers really mean? If you’re a numbers geek, visit the VHS’ website for a deep dive into the data!
