June 14, 2007    

Ways FGCAS would like to help the Genesee County Animal Shelter

Submitted to Chief Lloyd Gerhardt on June 15th

1.  Schedule a volunteer to walk and socialize all Adoption Room dogs/pups daily

2. Schedule a volunteer to play with and socialize all adoptable cats/kittens daily

3. Groom all dogs/pups as they're moved to the Adoption Room. This would include bathing if necessary. FGCAS would provide supplies but would use  GCAS's grooming facilities.

4. Utilize "Volunteer Information Sheets" for all adoptable animals. These sheets would be attached to each animal's cage and would be used to communicate between volunteers about the animal. Notes such as "loves to snuggle, walks well on leash, knows sit and shake, seems potty trained", etc would help the volunteers as they worked with the animals. These would be our responsibility to maintain and keep in a professional manner.

5. Design flyers to explain the Shelter's adoption process to the public. After the flyers content was approved, they would be mounted in a holder by the door leading to the animal wards. We believe something explaining the "steps" of adoption would help not only the animals get adopted but also relieve some of the routine questions asked of the front desk employees.

6. Develop signs to mount in each room explaining the mysteries of the "Day of the Week" rooms, Adoption rooms, Stray hold times. Explain what to do if a person sees a dog in the Stray room that they'd like to be able to adopt. Again, we believe this would make things much less confusing to the public, resulting in more animals being adopted. All designs and materials of any such items to be approved by GCAS.

7. Let the FGCAS help list all adoptable animals on Petfinder. We would include a photo, description, date available. This will get the animals visible to the public, which is crucial to any potential adopter. If the public knows the amount of animals that are at the shelter and can see their pictures, they WILL come from all over the state to adopt. This is verified by Petfinder statistics. The listing of all animals is very time consuming and the volunteers of FGCAS are willing to devote as much time as needed to make sure every adoptable animal's photo is on Petfinder. A list can be provided of many Michigan Animal Control agencies that allow their volunteers to oversee the Petfinder site to alleviate that concern.

8. FGCAS plans to promote the shelter as a place for animal adoptions. Flyers will be left in vet's offices, animal supply stores. "What to do if you've lost your pet" posters will be posted in these places also, instructing the person to come to the Shelter and search for their pet. Word of mouth promotion is also one of the best tools to use, we will be mentioning the GCAS as a wonderful place to find your new best friend.

9. All FGCAS volunteers will eventually wear either name tags or tee shirts with our group's name visible to the public and shelter employees. We will greet the public in a friendly manner and offer assistance while at the shelter but will always refer someone to the front desk to verify information that may or may not be up to date.

10. We would be available to provide assistance in facilitating "shelter to shelter" transfers by helping to arrange such transfer and providing assistance with transporting the animals.

11. We would be available to assist the Shelter in transport of animals to any low cost "spay/neuter" clinic, television "Pet of the Week" features, or other promotional events.

12. FGCAS asks that the Genesee County Animal Control keep us updated on the results of our efforts to help. We are interested not only in positive remarks but constructive criticism.

            Short Term Goals for the Shelter

1. To have the link corrected on the Gensee County Animal Control website to show Petfinder instead of Pet Ark

2. To move all adoptable animals to the Adoption Ward after their stray hold, space permitting, for at least 5 days.

3. To help arrange rescue organization adoptions of these animals after the 5 day period has passed.    

4. To find out what's needed for reputable rescues to work with GCAS toward finding homes for these unadopted animals.

5. To increase the amount of animals being adopted from the Shelter.