“But where do we start?” If you’ve ever uttered these words, this session is for you. Gone are the days we dream of an answer to ending animal abandonment and euthanizing healthy animals for space, here are the days we implement proven, practical solutions that take us to a no/low kill nation together. In this discussion, we’ll introduce a nation-wide challenge that has already saved a quarter of a million lives in just one year. Discover a formula that will take you from an overwhelmed, reactive care plan to a proactive, life-saving strategy that puts you in the driver’s seat in just five steps. Can reducing your capacity allow you to save more lives? How can an open admission shelter legally manage intake? Learn the answers to these questions and hear how shelters across the country of all shapes and sizes are utilizing strategic shelter management tools to drastically increasing their live release rates. *Bonus—this session is dog approved.

1. The Million Cat
Challenge
Can we count you in?

2. A brief trip back in time
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3. MVC 2008
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6. Underlying risk factor

7. Impact of reducing “wasted care days”

8.  
!!!

9. 2013: Still making progress!
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10. But still…
2013 annual report

11. What does winning mean?
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12. What does winning mean?
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13. Summer 2014
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14. Summer 2015
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15. January 2016
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 1:02 PM
To: Kate Hurley
Subject: And....
….the numbers are in:
Euthanasia:
Dogs: 2014=4,722; 2015=3,049. < 1,673 or 35.4%∆
Cats: 2014=8,430; 2015=6,358. <2,072 or 24.6%∆
Imagine the possibilities for 2016 with a county wide cc program now
allowed under our ordinances! We haven’t even sent our 2015 annual
report to the printer yet and I already can’t wait to see the 2016
report.
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16. Mission Possible
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17. What does winning take?
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18. Confession

19. Plan A

20. The problem
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74-86 million pet cats
30-80 million community cats
> 95% NOT in colonies

21. What can our superpowers
control?
• Whether people
have or care for
cats?
• Whether there
are free roaming
cats in the
world?
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22. The limits of our superpowers
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23. Where it matters most
HSUS Pets for Life Report 2014

24. The limits of our superpowers

25. Reality Check
• 11 by 7 miles; 2500-3000 cats
• 96 cats trapped, infected with panleukopenia, released by
helicopter
• 8 full time teams of 2 hunters hunting day and night
• 5 full time teams of 2 trappers running 500 lethal traps
• Poison injected into 30,000 day-old chicks
• Cats eliminated after 14 years
“The eradication campaign on Marion Island has
been the largest and only successful one of its
kind.”

26. The bottom line

27. What can we really control?
• Which cats come
through our shelters’
doors, and the
outcomes for these cats
• The conditions in our
shelters
• The messages that we
share with the public
• Where we focus our
limited resources
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28. If it’s not helping, we can stop

29. We can stop this too

30. Is this the way change needs to
happen?
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31. Reality check
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32. Moral distress
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33. We need to stop this too
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34. What could we do instead?
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35. Parallel universe
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36. The 100,000 lives campaign
• A peer-to-peer
“support group” for
health care
improvement
• 6 key evidence-based,
field-tested initiatives
• Voluntary declaration of
participation
• 18 month reduction
compared to pre-
campaign baseline
122,300 lives
saved in 18
months

37. Hmmmm….Hmmmm….

38. Why not go big?

39. Our values and
vision
• Trust in the inherent
desire of shelter
professionals to improve
care and outcomes for
cats
• Create a fun and
inclusive community that
supports, enhances and
celebrates shelters’
success in saving cats’
lives

40.  Balancing intake, shelter care and outcomes
 Evidence based
 Proven in a variety of contexts
 Variable resource requirements
 Can be implemented in part, gradually or all
at once; singly, in sequence or in conjunction

41. The Big Five

42. Dear Million Cat Challenge…
Do we have to use all five
initiatives to join the
Million Cat Challenge?

43. NO!

44. Strength in numbers
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http://www.millioncatchallenge.org/who's-involved/million-cat-challengers

45. Making our progress visible

46. A new day
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47. Co-curators
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48. • Shelters report baseline
2012 and current
calendar year estimates
at enrollment:
– Live intake, euthanasia,
live release
• Numbers, not rates
• Updated annually
• We do the math
– Euthanasia ↓
– Live release ↑
– No double counting
• No individual shelter
data made public
• Every cat counts

49. Can we count you in?
 Join the Million Cat Challenge at www.millioncatchallenge.com
 Once you join the challenge, join the Million Cat Email Discussion
 Tell your colleagues, friends and community
 Become a regional mentor/recruiter
 Follow us on facebook at www.facebook.com/MillionCatChallenge
 Talk to us at info@millioncatchallenge.org

50. THANK YOU!!!
The Million Cat Challenge is made possible by an
educational grant from Maddie’s Fund
US!

51. #ThanksToMaddie
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