Sophie Craighead Proposal - Animal Adoption Center

Animal Adoption Center Proposal

SOPHIE CRAIGHEAD

OUR MISSION

Saving the lives of homeless animals through rescue, adoption, education and spay/neuter.

Thank you for inviting the Animal Adoption Center (AAC) to submit a 2022 funding proposal. The AAC is forever grateful for you and your family’s support. Your generosity has played a critical role in moving our mission forward and is one of the reasons we will be celebrating our 19th year of animal rescue in 2023. With your help, we have found loving homes for over 4,600 animals and have helped nearly 20,000 more through free and low-cost spay/neuter. Thank you for making this life-saving work possible.

RESCUE & ADOPTION

As you may know, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred dramatic changes to the AAC operating model which has proven to better serve our mission and allow us to reach more animals than ever.

The outpouring community support coupled with the investment of donors like you, has allowed the AAC to increase our rescue and adoption capacity by 50%. Through new ideas and creative thinking, the AAC has been able to reach more animals in dire circumstances, better serve adopters needs to ensure long and successful adoptions, and prevent animals from entering the shelter system.

MEDICAL

The AAC ensures all animals in our program receive basic medical care including vaccinations, spay/neuter, and microchipping. In addition to saving healthy adult and juvenile animals, our team also focuses on reaching homeless animals with special medical needs. With the support of our dedicated donors, medical fosters, and adopters we are able to say “yes” to animals that need us the most.

This year, we have facilitated leg reconstructions, jaw surgeries, multiple amputations, dozens of dentals, treated heartworm and tick-borne illnesses, addressed allergies and heart murmurs, and even replaced a hip! All of this was possible thanks to supporters like yourself. Had we not provided medical intervention, these animals could have been deemed unadoptable in their source shelters. Looking towards 2023, we anticipate investing over $80,000 in basic and advanced medical care for the animals in our program.

TRAINING & BEHAVIOR SUPPORT

As we look to 2023, we are focused on expanding our resources for dogs, puppies, and adopters by adding a behavioral trainer to our team.

This person will strive to address the significant need for training resources both pre and post adoption. The AAC is moving in this direction based on our internal needs and the consistent feedback we receive from adopters. There are simply not enough training resources available in our area. Left unchecked this can lead to more dogs, with advanced behavioral challenges, entering shelters as they become too much for owners to handle. This new, full-time position will be shared between the AAC and Aska’s Animals. The trainer will provide behavioral assessments, private training sessions with adoptable dogs, post adoption consultations for alumni, and lead puppy play groups. With added training support, we anticipate higher placement and success rates for our dogs and community.

SPAY/NEUTER INITIATIVES

Our Spay/Neuter Wyoming Team continued to attack the root of the pet overpopulation problem. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our vets, vet techs, and volunteers we provided free and low-cost spay/neuter to over 2,000 animals in 2022.

This includes hosting three clinics on the Wind River Reservation (WRR), one of which was held in a targeted and high-risk neighborhood. Additional details on these efforts are highlighted in this year’s video (below).

In addition to our Wyoming work, we embarked on a new spay/neuter endeavor in Texas where euthanasia rates are amongst the highest in the nation. We selected the Laredo Animal Care Services (LACS) based on our existing partnership, their overwhelming intake numbers, and devastatingly low live release rates. Our team is overjoyed to see the positive impact this program paired with transport efforts are making on their euthanasia rates. Since creation, this initiative has led to the live release of 1,600 animals. We shared this story in our 2021 video (below).

For 2023, we plan to host 3-4 clinics on the WRR, expand the reach of our low-income voucher program across Wyoming, and assist LACS with spay/neuter while they develop new partners and programs designed to increase their live release rate.