We and our partner TABTO were provided with a copy of a communication from the local animal shelter Denver Dumb Friends League (the League) emailed to select Front Range animal shelters on July 2nd, one day after the policy changes described in the communication went into effect. The following is an analysis and discussion of changes to its operating policies the League communicated in that message. We believe the changes the League has made to its admission policies are harmful to homeless pets, to our communities, and to other animal shelters that serve them. These changes shift responsibility for animals previously served by the League to other shelters without providing any assistance to those shelters to deal with higher intake volumes. We believe the motivation for the policy changes is for the League to increase its live release rate, without consideration for the welfare of the animals turned away. Open-admission shelters do not have the luxury of turning animals away and when they take on the League’s volume the outcome will undoubtedly be increased euthanasia rates, they just won’t show up in the League’s numbers. As the largest and oldest animal shelter in Colorado, we would expect much more leadership and creative problem-solving from the League.
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The League states in its July 2nd communication to select Front Range shelters:
Beginning July 1st, the League will:
- “Manage intake numbers across all League shelter locations. We will not screen intakes for behavior or medical conditions, we will continue to accept animals regardless of the needs they may have, but we will manage the volume to control our own population.
- Take owner surrenders of all species by appointment only at all shelter locations.
- Evaluate local transfer requests more deliberately, including medical cases, and accept transfers based on need and our shelter population.
- Refer strays to local jurisdictions as consistently as possible.
- Apply appointment requirement for surrenders of previously adopted animals if adopted over 30 days prior. While we will always accept an animal back that was adopted from us, we do not always have capacity available immediately.
- Strategically limit or close our night kennels as necessary to maintain our population levels.”
We say: The very first statement says it all, the League will “manage intake numbers”. That is to say, they’re focused solely on their “numbers”, which is code for how many animals they must euthanize as an open-admission shelter. These policy changes demonstrate the League’s focus solely on its own self-interest and place additional stress on other Denver Metro animal shelters without any regard for the challenges those shelters may be facing. The League says, “We do not make these adjustments to our operations lightly and we remain dedicated to collaborating to find solutions to best serve the animals and people in our communities.” There is nothing collaborative about the League’s sweeping policy changes that simply divert animals in need to other facilities. For more than 100 years the League has been an open-admission shelter and taken in all kinds of animals in all kinds of situations. They are now abandoning that tradition and operating as a limited admission shelter, shifting responsibility to government shelters.
Questions:
Owner surrenders (39% of 2023 intake): What’s to say community members won’t simply surrender their animals somewhere else? Unless all shelters have the same policy of requiring appointments, some (many?) owners will take the path of least resistance.
Strays (39% of 2023 intake): Will the League only consider accepting strays physically brought into the building by community members? That is, no effort will be made to locate strays and shelter them? Community members will no longer have the option of using night kennels to give shelter to strays? Isn’t “Referring to local jurisdictions” just an excuse to turn strays away?
Total intake (78% owner surrenders & strays in 2023): In total, owner surrenders and stray intake is down 5% compared to 2022. Why are policy changes needed when this is clearly being managed?
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The League says, “Economic challenges and changes in the animal welfare landscape have created a need for the League to reevaluate our capacity for care. With more animals coming into our care than being adopted, we need to make adjustments across all our sheltering locations to strategically narrow our scope to accept and house only as many animals as we can reasonably care for.”
The League states its capacity for care is “constantly changing and is influenced by many factors including:
- Number of humane physical housing units
- Number of animal care personnel
- Knowledge, training, and skill level of animal care personnel
- Number of animals currently in care
- Additional needs of animals currently in care (e.g., specific medical or behavioral care)
- Financial resources
- Animal length of stay”
We say: These factors influence the capacity of every animal shelter to care for the animals and communities they serve, not just the League. The League is hardly in a unique position.
Questions:
Number, knowledge, training, and skill level of animal care personnel: In their 2023 Form 990 filing, the League reported having 426 employees, an increase of 32% compared to pre-COVID levels while salaries and benefits nearly doubled during the same period. Higher salaries per employee indicate that the current staff is in fact more skilled than five years ago. What are we missing?
Financial resources: The League has a uniquely strong reputation in the community and a significant donor base – its financial resources are multiples of other shelters, not just in Denver but throughout the entire region. The League’s assets totaled $128M at the end of their 2023 fiscal year, an amount approximately equal to the assets of all the rest of Colorado’s shelters combined. The League’s CEO, Apryl Steele, makes a tidy salary of more than $289,000, an increase of 19% compared to pre-COVID levels. Not bad when the League operated at a loss four of the last five years. Should a private organization’s leadership not be compensated based on the performance of the organization?
Capacity for care: Why is the League any worse off than the other Denver Metro Area shelters that will have to accommodate what the League is turning away?
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The League says, “Driven by compassion, transparency, and leadership, the League recognizes the power of working together with partner shelters and rescues to best support the welfare and well-being of animals in our community.”
We say: The new policies and the way in which they were (not) communicated demonstrates an absence of compassion for the community and for shelters that will see increased intake and, realistically, increased euthanasia rates. The League has failed in all regards to be transparent about the policies and the reasons for the changes. They notified impacted shelters the day after the new policies went into effect, a date which (not) coincidentally coincides with the largest single day of intake in sheltering – the day after Independence Day. The League failed to make the public aware of these new policies resulting in a great deal of confusion and frustration among the community, fellow shelters, and the League’s own staff. The reason behind these policy changes is clear – the League is more focused on its euthanasia numbers than they are on the welfare of animals and the community that depends on them to do so. By shifting responsibility for higher volume to other shelters, the League sees an immediate benefit to its live release rate and preserves its coveted Socially Conscious Shelter designation. There is no leadership in that, just self-serving, short-sighted action that harms homeless animals and the community.
Questions:
Supporting impacted shelters: What is the League doing to help shelters that will have increased volumes due to the League’s policy changes?
The League’s core work: In its notification of policy changes to fellow shelters, the League states, “These adjustments support our core work, which is to: prevent and alleviate the suffering of pets in Colorado, create systematic changes that support pets, and provide a safe place for Colorado homeless companion animals while adhering to our socially conscious sheltering model.” How do these adjustments “create systematic changes that support pets”? How does limiting admissions “provide a safe place for Colorado homeless companion animals”?
Open admission: Why does the League continue to represent itself as an open-admission shelter given it will and in fact is actively turning away animals?
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The bottom line:
- The League is abandoning its tradition of being an open-admission shelter and is now turning away animals. While the League fails to acknowledge it, by definition, this means they are operating a limited-admission shelter, which is bad for animals and bad for the community.
- The League has failed to make the community aware of these changes and appears indifferent to the impact their new policies have on other shelters.
- Leadership is completely absent within the League with a highly paid CEO that runs the League at a financial loss, makes policy decisions based on the League’s own self-interest, and goes against everything they say the League stands for and what the community expects from them.