by KC Pet Project President/CEO, Teresa Johnson
It’s been an incredibly busy 2022 so far and we continued to see increasing number of animals in need arriving in March. We received or provided care for 1,156 dogs and cats in March (618 dogs, 538 cats). We’ve taken in 3,122 dogs and cats already this year – the largest number of pets received in the 1st quarter of the year in our organization’s history, including a record number of lost or loose pets being brought in by the public. We’re on track to surpass the record-breaking 14,000 animals we cared for in 2021.
Here are just a few of your accomplishments or statistics shared in this month’s Impact Report:
- Nearly 40% of all dogs surrendered by owners in the 1st quarter were due to a lack of affordable housing, inability to find housing that allows dogs, and financial barriers for access to care. See a KSHB Report on this here.
- Our veterinary team performed 581 spay/neuter and specialty surgeries in March and provided emergency medical care to 82 seriously injured animals that arrived (gunshot wounds, thrown from bridges, hit by vehicles, emaciated, fractured limbs, etc.). We’ve seen a 26% increase in the number of seriously injured pets and emergent cases arriving in 2022.
- Families adopted 702 pets from KCPP in March – and adoptions are up 9% over last year at this time.
- Animal Services Officers responded to 1,308 calls for service in March 2022, a 15% increase in calls from last month. We saw an all-time high in the percentage of lost pets picked up by officers that were able to be returned to their owners instead of being impounded at the shelter – with nearly one in every three (3) animals found being reunited with their families by officers.
- Staff from KC Pet Project’s Animal Services Division, Rose Brooks, and Synergy Services joined together to launch a pilot domestic violence assessment program. This program is designed to create more resources for victims of domestic violence when our animal services officers are dispatched on an animal abuse, neglect, or bite case. Two Animal Services Officers were already able to connect two individuals from two separate animal services cases to domestic violence services to help them get safe.
- 131 Kansas City families benefitted from our Keep ‘Em Together KC programs in March, receiving $5,431.08 in medical care assistance grants and $6,680.00 in reclaim fees forgiven.
- We launched our partnership with Boulevard Brewing Company that will provide donations to KC Pet Project for all sales of their KC Pils beer sold anywhere from March through August.