Building Bridges: The Intersection of Black Activism and Animal Welfare with HASS
Do Black people like animals? Hell yes, they do! I’ve been thinking a lot this Black History Month. I did a Google search using the first part of this article’s title. What I found ranged anywhere from the offensive to the absurd. Opinions are all over the place regarding whether an entire group of people have a connection with animals, and the worst opinions are usually propagated by non-black people, who lack no understanding of black people or black culture. I don’t speak for all black people, so the best I can do is tell...
How Supporting Self-Rehoming Helps Your Community and Your Shelter
Owner surrendered pets make up the second largest category for shelter intake, contributing over a quarter of intake cases annually in national data, and over 14% in HASS pilot shelters. They are an important population to address if shelters are to alleviate the overcrowding many have seen since the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic began to fade. The data on owner surrenders also shows a pattern that likely contributes to the extra strain on resources and space that shelters typically see in the summer months. Both in Shelter Animals Count...
Human Animal Support Services (HASS) Announces Highly-Anticipated Launch of the HASS Playbook
(AUSTIN, TX) January 23, 2024–Human Animal Support Services (HASS), an international project revolutionizing the animal welfare industry by uniting the human and animal welfare approach, announced today the launch of the HASS Playbook–a FREE comprehensive portfolio of how-to guides aligned with the HASS pathways. The HASS Playbook aims to provide animal welfare organizations with innovative programming and best practices to rise above existing sheltering system challenges and increase capacity for care within their...
Data Insight: Advocating for Court Case Animals
Confiscate, court order, cruelty, protective custody, evidence hold—these are some of the intake subtype designations used by HASS pilot shelters to notate that an animal has been impounded on suspicion that a law has been broken by a human caretaker. Sometimes referred to in the animal welfare industry as “Court Holds” or “Court Case Holds,” these are the animals that are potential victims of cruelty, neglect, animal fighting and hoarding. If you’ve worked in the animal welfare industry long enough,...
Sheltering Beyond Shelters: Housing Justice Advocacy and its Role in Animal Welfare
[embedded content] Housing is a necessity that impacts all families in the United States, and believe it or not – it also profoundly affects animal shelters. Watch this webinar on the state of housing and the history of housing justice advocacy efforts in the U.S. (and why animal welfare advocates should care). Lauren Loney, Staff Attorney & Policy Specialist for HASS, shares highlights from the HASS shelter intake reasons database, which details more than 20,000 housing-related intakes across the country. Joining Lauren is Megan...
Data Insight: The Potential Power of Intake Data to Keep Pets with Families
One of the sadder things we see in shelter intake lobbies is when someone arrives to surrender the beloved pet of a deceased family member or of a loved one unable to care for a companion. HASS believes there are other solutions to consider before a shelter surrender, especially in sensitive moments such as these, that can benefit both the family in need and a shelter’s ability to manage intake in a positive way. But how can shelters still support this need? It begins with intake data. At HASS, it’s increasingly clear there...
Paws for Celebration: A Look into Resources, Tools, and the Year Ahead From the HASS Division Leads
[embedded content] Watch this webinar that promises a celebration of the work done by the HASS community and valuable insights into tools, resources, and the work shaping the future of supporting people and pets! Hear from HASS division leads: Maggie Lynch, Senior Director of Research and Development, and Amanda Foster, Assistant Director of Implementation Analysis, share our Social Return on Investment (SROI) in Supporting Human-Animal Bonds research collection and examples of data dashboards that help HASS pilots improve their operations....
Human Animal Support Services (HASS) Receives $90,000 Grant from PetSmart Charities
(AUSTIN, TX) November 29, 2023–Human Animal Support Services (HASS), an international project revolutionizing the animal welfare industry by uniting the human and animal welfare approach, is the proud recipient of a $90,000 grant from PetSmart Charities® to benefit an initiative entitled the Competitive Pet Placement project. With this $90,000 grant from PetSmart Charities, HASS will conduct research on how to effectively reduce barriers to adoption within five pilot shelters, implement best practices associated with the...
There’s Likely a Better Way to Get Lost Pets Home: Public RTH
Traditionally, a return-to-home (RTH) takes place when a family arrives at the shelter to be reunited with a lost companion, or whenever animal services have made it a priority for field officers to take pets home vs. bring them straight to the shelter. There is another way shelters can facilitate RTH, which HASS data indicates is likely to be even more effective—working with finders of lost pets in the community and avoiding shelter custody altogether. Where this has been tested in HASS pilot communities, we are seeing that...
Let’s Get Out of the Way of Getting Pets into Homes
Over the last few months, 12 HASS pilot shelters took a deep dive review into their shelter operations and programs, aiming to identify any lingering barriers to positive outcomes as part of a formal Competitive Pet Placement project. An initiative supported by PetSmart Charities, the goal is to make sure animal shelters are not making it harder for people to adopt and foster than it ought to be—and to make it easier for pets to get into homes. HASS trainer, Jenifer Reed with Onyx. Throughout the beginning stages of this process, the...
