It’s been a great year of HASS webinars so far, with people from every part of animal welfare sharing their thoughts and lifesaving expertise.
Here are five—and if you like these, which we really think you will, be sure to check out the rest of HASS’s webinars, starting from the very beginning of the HASS project. You can find them all here, which is where new webinars are posted, too.
Every webinar is free, and each one is aimed toward helping you save lives and keep families together. We hope you’ll check them out, use this great information, and let us know what you think!
Supported Self-Rehoming Without Surrendering: Setting Up Supportive Services with Safety and Success
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About a quarter of all animals entering shelters come in as “owner surrenders.” Often people would like to find their pets new homes themselves, without those pets ever having to enter a shelter, but just don’t know how.
In this webinar, Kaycey Adair from Greenville County Animal Services, Ana De Luccia from Adopt-A-Pet, and Lucy Fernandez from Austin Pets Alive!, highlight how organizations can begin offering supported self-rehoming options to pet parents who need it. They also discuss ways to utilize social media and other technology solutions that fit your organization’s needs, and best practices for communicating these programs to stakeholders and your community.
Building a Positive Workplace Culture—Why It Matters and How To Do It
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The animal welfare industry is understaffed and facing worker turnover, like employers around the country. The effects are dire: animal shelter workers are burned out, and animals’ lives are at risk.
But in the face of these challenges, Pasco County Animal Services (PCAS) in Florida has zero vacant positions, and hasn’t had an opening in an entry level position in over a year. PCAS Assistant Director Spencer Conover attributes this success to a positive workplace culture, built through inspiration, leadership, recognition, equal pay, and training.
In this webinar, Spencer discusses how PCAS created and sustains its positive workplace culture, and how you can easily adapt these methods to your workplace to help better retain team members and build a positive workplace culture of your own.
How to Expand Veterinary Access, Increase Revenues, and Prevent Burnout
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Veterinary care is expensive, and can be hard to access—causing pets to go without needed treatments, and be given up to shelters. This in turn contributes to burnout among shelter workers, veterinarians, and veterinary staff.
The Open Door Veterinary Collective is working to change that. This nonprofit, founded in 2021, has developed a business model for nonprofit, for-profit, and government veterinary clinics that prioritizes access to care, and increased revenue. In addition to helping keep families together and pets unnecessarily out of shelters, Open Door sees this model as helping prevent compassion fatigue in veterinarians and staff.
This webinar is about how the Open Door model can work for you and your community. It’s hosted by Dr. Sara Pizano, the founder of Team Shelter USA, author of The Best Practice Playbook for Animal Shelters, and a national trainer for Open Door, joined by expert panelists.
Adoption Requirements vs. Open Adoptions: a Conversation
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Fenced yards, vet checks, home visits…are these restrictive adoption requirements standing in the way of pets getting adopted into loving homes? The evidence shows open, barrier-free adoptions lead to the same positive outcomes—while saving more animals.
If you’re considering a change to your adoption process but don’t know where to start, check out this face-to-face conversation, led by Abbie Moore, CEO of Adopt-a-Pet.com, to learn how to increase adoptions, connect more pets with people, and solve adoption program challenges.
How Understanding Lost Cat Behavior Can Keep Them Out of the Shelter and Get Them Back Home Faster
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The majority of cats brought into shelters are classified as “stray,” but many are actually lost pets. Too many of these cats are never reunited with their families because lost cat psychology is poorly misunderstood.
Lost cats behave differently than lost dogs and by understanding how they think, we can reduce unnecessary intake and get cats back home where they belong.
In this webinar, Monica Frenden-Tarant, former Maddie’s® Director of Feline Lifesaving, and cat finder extraordinaire Kimberley Freeman dispel myths, explain the science behind lost cats, and teach you what you need to know to reunite more lost cats with their families.
Source: Human Animal Support Services
