Animal Welfare Professionals

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

Hello! I'm curious about how different organizations manage intake inquiries for animals. Do you use a traditional waiting list system? How is it managed effectively? And when someone reaches out, how do you respond? Do you notify them if they're denied or removed from the list? Plus, do you provide resources if you can't take in an animal? I'd love to hear about your experiences and best practices! Thanks!

#AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)

We maintain a waiting list log book for all non-urgent surrender requests. 3 ring binders for are kept at  front desk. We  out our standard surrender request sheet  for the waiting list log. (it is the same form as what we use for admissions). We triage based on urgency when calling waiting list  clients for intake appointments We make contact with  clients every 4- 6 weeks for updates and document this on the surrender sheet.If we have to leave a message,we leave as standardized message. Particularly, that if we do not get a response within 48 hours we will pull the request. Request sheets that are pulled for whatever reason get entered into our database before disposal. We offer names and numbers of other resources to try when they go on the waiting list. We have written guidelines.

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Rochelle Hamp
Executive Director
Headwaters Animal Shelter
MN
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We maintain a waiting list and provide them with a list of other possible shelters. We do offer assistance in other ways if we can-such as food to help them provide for the animal, free spay/neuter...depending on what the issue is, we will provide help if we can. We also tell them if the situation becomes an emergency to call us as we will do our best to get them in sooner. We check back in every week and a half to two weeks to update them on where they stand. If we are not at maximum capacity, we sometimes will just schedule surrenders out a week or so. 

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Cheryl Koenig
Volunteer Executive Director
Sullivan County Humane Society
NH
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Yes we do the same( scheduling out the surrenders) if not completely full.

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Rochelle Hamp
Executive Director
Headwaters Animal Shelter
MN
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2024 04:11 PM
From: Cheryl Koenig
Subject: Intake inquiries

We maintain a waiting list and provide them with a list of other possible shelters. We do offer assistance in other ways if we can-such as food to help them provide for the animal, free spay/neuter...depending on what the issue is, we will provide help if we can. We also tell them if the situation becomes an emergency to call us as we will do our best to get them in sooner. We check back in every week and a half to two weeks to update them on where they stand. If we are not at maximum capacity, we sometimes will just schedule surrenders out a week or so. 

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Cheryl Koenig
Volunteer Executive Director
Sullivan County Humane Society
NH
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

We use Google Forms / Sheets to maintain our waiting list for surrender. When someone comes to surrender and we have reached our capacity for care, we give them 4 options:

1) Hold on to the animal until we have space in shelter / animal goes on the waiting list

2) As a family or friend to hold on to the animal until we have space in shelter / animal goes on the waiting list

3) Ask one of the other shelters

4) We give the absolutely last resort option of humane euthanasia. 

Ideally, we would have another one before euthanasia, which is go into our foster care program, but we just don't have enough foster family homes.

We maintain a waiting list as well. Additionally we offer food/supplies through our pet food bank and offer to create a courtesy post on our social media pages to help them find their pet a home. 

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Lisa Burn
Co-founder/VP
Farmhouse Animal & Nature Sanctuary
Myakka City, FL
https://farmhousesanctuary.org
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We keep it simple. Maintain a list by date of call.  When we have space we call them back. If no answer, we move onto the next person on the list. If no answer after three attempts, we remove them from the list. We also help with food if requested. We provide options to post on local and other pages to self place rather than surrender. 

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Renee Milner
Nonprofit Board Member
Animal Shelter Alliance of Rhea
TN
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