4 SARL Drive, Salem, NH 03079 (603) 890-2166, fax (603) 890-8717

Salem Animal Rescue League’s Annual Report - 2003

The Salem Animal Rescue League's twelfth year was highly successful on many levels, most especially in animal care, fundraising, capital improvements, and increased community involvement and exposure.

Our Mission Statement was revised this year to better reflect our goals and purpose:

The Salem Animal Rescue League (SARL) is an all volunteer, non-profit, limited admission shelter, funded entirely by private donations. SARL is dedicated to the responsible rehoming of stray and unwanted dogs and cats in Salem, NH and surrounding communities. We are committed to strengthening the human-animal bond through humane education and pledge to impact overpopulation by altering all animals in our care.

In March of 2003, we implemented a new policy to spay/neuter as many of our dogs as possible prior to adoption. Over two-thirds of our adopted canines were altered before they left our shelter. In the remaining cases, when adoptions were formalized before an appointment to alter could be scheduled, the new owner was given reduced rate spay/neuter program information/forms and signed our contract to have the surgery performed within a month of adoption or at the appropriate age for puppies.

Our cat adoptions remained flat compared to 2002 statistics, but indicates an impressively high number of adoptions for our shelter's capacity. Our pre-adoptive spay/neuter rate stands at 98% for cats and kittens.

A new policy was implemented to request a basic blood workup at initial vetting of all shelter pets aged 8 or over in order to obtain a Wellness Profile for senior adoptive animals.

One of the major challenges we faced this year was the exposure of Bordetella (or kennel cough) in both our cat and dog shelters for the first time in our 12 years of operation. The presence of this illness required quarantine of our animals and caused a temporary suspension of adoptions and surrenders.

In early August, we accepted five small breed puppies ranging in age from 4 months to 1 year (four were strays and one an owner-surrender). All subsequently developed symptoms of sneezing and/or coughing within a two week period. None of the older, large breed dogs were symptomatic. All the pups were treated with antibiotics and eventually adopted, by the end of August/begin September, to homes with either no other dog or a dog which had prior inoculation. We closed the kennel to owner-surrenders until September to limit exposure to new dogs, however some large breed strays did come into the dog kennel. These dogs also never developed symptoms. Once all the pups were adopted, the kennel was stripped, and all solid, washable surfaces and items were bleached. We had no further incidences after this time.

Our Kitty City felt a much greater impact with the severity of Feline Bordetella beginning in October and lasting through mid-December. All of the cats and kittens at the shelter and most of the foster homes were exposed. Rigorous daily cleaning/disinfecting and medication schedules were established, creating a very grueling workload for our volunteers. But the alternative of euthanizing our feline population was not an option we chose to utilize. The shelter was closed to incoming owner-surrenders, the unclaimed stray cats remained in the dog kennel to prevent exposure, and adoptions of exposed cats were suspended until the health of the cats stabilized. Unfortunately, this time frame coincided with the Hampstead rescue involving 92 cats removed from a private home. Our Cat Coordinator developed and implemented a creative way to assist by holding special weekend Adopt-a-thons in the new trailer to keep these cats isolated from exposure and sustain some level of adoptions of these healthy cats. Any Hampstead cats not adopted during these special weekends were returned to Edgefield since we had no services or permits to utilize the new trailer for permanent animal sheltering. A procedure was also implemented to inoculate all incoming strays 3 days prior to transfer into Kitty City.

Although we were able to weather these periods of illness, the potential of recurrence is possible until such time as we are able to have true "isolation facilities" for incoming strays and owner-surrenders.

We received many requests for assistance from neighboring ACO's and shelters who value the reputation of SARL's dedication to placement of strays and rescues. 60% of incoming dogs and puppies were accepted from ACO's and other shelters this year. 42% of those came directly from the Salem ACO and 16% came from other ACO's and shelters in New Hampshire towns. We continue to foster a relationship with our neighboring ACO's to the south of New Hampshire and accepted 42% of our stray and rescued dogs and puppies from those pounds. Owner surrendered dogs represented 40% of the total dogs accepted to the shelter.
30% of our total incoming cats and kittens were unclaimed stray cats and rescued felines from ACO's and other local shelters. This represents a significant increase in the number of stray/rescued cats and kittens accepted from both Salem and other local communities ACO's. 29% of total cats accepted to the shelter were Citizen Strays, 36% were surrendered by owners, and 5% were born in

Our volunteer base continues to grow and our Executive Committee has begun to develop several new programs to continue this trend throughout 2004. The Volunteer Recruitment process is being revamped to include more rigorous initial screening and more specialized training of our members to better prepare us for the future expansion of our shelter in the next several years. Our status as an all-volunteer shelter remains a high priority in our mission.

We continue to publish our Newsletter, SARL Tails, twice a year as a means of educating and informing the public of our shelter's work. Our monthly Open House is another on-going event which draws many people to our shelter allowing us to educate and inform the public about the responsibilities of pet ownership, as well as provide additional fundraising revenue through the sale of pet and craft items donated to our shelter.

We participate at the monthly Pet Adoption Day in Pelham, New Hampshire. This collaborative is sponsored by Animal Rescue Network of New England (ARNNE) to provide the public a showcase of area shelters and rescue groups promoting pet education, providing pet-related information, and increasing awareness of pets available for adoption locally.

All of our shelter dogs now sport customized embroidered vests when at various public venues in order to promote their status as adoptable pets. These vests are similar to those worn by service dogs and are also inscribed with personalized information of the individual or group who subsidized their purchase.

We offer tours for local children's scouting groups to provide an outlet for their participation in volunteer efforts which do not directly involve animal care. These groups are supportive of fundraising, public relations, events, and offer such services as landscaping and general cleanup of our shelter property.

Other on-going relationships we continue to foster are with the local Salem Walmart store and the American Humane Association in their "Very Best Pet Network" program, and with Aminda Daviduk who owns four Dunkin Donuts franchises locally and is an avid supporter of our shelter through donations of her companies and their customers.

The first anniversary of production for "Time for Animals" was in November 2003. This monthly educational Cable Television program is developed in conjunction with Windham Cable TV and continues to provide information for pet owners and other animal lovers covering variety of topics in each program. The program is made available to all local access Cable TV stations in southern New Hampshire and bordering Massachusetts towns.

Capital Improvements

In 2003, we realized a significant expansion of our physical operation by the donation of a trailer which was previously owned by the local amateur theater group, The Town and Country Players. This group also gave a monetary donation to help restore the unit to usable condition. This trailer, now dubbed "The DogHouse", is located adjacent to the current Kitty City and, through the efforts of our volunteers and various youth groups, has been refurbished and attractively landscaped to provide an additional 700 square feet of space for a retail area and meeting room. Once all interior work is completed, future use is also planned for introducing adoptive dogs to prospective owners in a private, secure area offering more pleasant surroundings than the dog pound we share with the Town of Salem.

Events and Fundraising

A variety of successful fundraisers, events, and matching fund opportunities were realized in 2003. These represent a substantial investment of time and energy by our Community Development Coordinator and all of our other volunteers who worked tirelessly to support these efforts.

• To continue expansion of our current volunteer base through further development of recruitment/training/retention programs. These programs will attract future qualified persons to support animal care and adoptions and specialized committees for fundraising, education, and grant applications to increase revenues and community exposure.
• Restructuring of Executive Committee, other volunteer personnel, and development of job descriptions to facilitate a reorganization more attuned to future needs.
• Recruitment of additional Directors to SARL's Board to broaden the base of outreach to the community and add support structure for upcoming relocation/expansion plans.
• To develop a Capital Campaign strategy for future relocation of our shelter and creation of an Adoption/Education Center.
• To expand our foster home system to better provide for those animals who cannot be housed at the shelter for reasons of age or treatable medical conditions requiring more supervision than can be provided in a shelter environment.
• To expand the program of micro-chipping pets at our shelter prior to adoption.
• To continue development of relationships with other local animal rescue organizations for the mutual benefit of the humane organizations and the dogs and cats needing safe and responsible rehoming.
• To continue to expand our community presence through interactions with local community services and businesses to promote public education and to foster relationships to benefit the welfare of companion animals in our local and neighboring towns.