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Your elected officials need to know your real life experience with local animal services. The most powerful catalyst for change is the truth. Please share in the form below:
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Danville Dogs Deserve Better. Danville Cats Deserve Better. Danville Deserves Better.
Danville Deserves Better (DDB) is a locally focused, community-driven initiative with the express goal of engaging the community to build a groundswell of support for lifesaving change at the Danville animal shelter.
DDB is spearheaded by Best Friends Animal Society — a leading national nonprofit animal welfare organization with a mission to achieve no-kill in every shelter across the country by 2025.
Our mission is simple: to save the lives of more Danville cats and dogs!
Danville’s animal shelter currently saves only 17% of the dogs and cats that enter its facility. [ii]
The average save rate for shelters in the state of Virginia is over 83%... Danville deserves better! [iii]
Other shelters across the state have made changes that have enhanced lifesaving and we can bring those same best practices and programs to Danville.
Danville Deserves Better is a community campaign focused on educating and engaging with the residents of Danville, VA in a positive way to help them understand that the shelter needs their help and support in order to succeed. We also engage in a positive manner with elected officials in order to achieve changes.
We do not protest, bully, make negative public comments, or issue threats of any nature whatsoever towards individuals or organizations, including DAHS shelter leadership, their staff, or elected officials. Our objective is to support these individuals and organizations so that they may better support the animals of Danville, and creating an atmosphere of hostility is neither kind nor supportive.
Based on data from the state of Virginia, last year Danville Area Humane took in 3,381 animals, but just 588 left alive. [iv]
Note: Save Rates Calculated from Virginia Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services Data. [v]
To achieve no-kill, we need to save 6.6 more animals per day. It is our opinion that Danville can do this if the community makes lifesaving a priority.
Note: Number of Dogs & Cats Needed to be saved per year to reach the standard for no kill calculated from Virginia Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services Data [vi]
While the killing numbers may seem too big to grasp, we promise you that there are proven lifesaving changes that can radically reduce the number of animals being killed in Danville.
What is a community cat program and TNVR? These programs safely trap outdoor cats, take them to a veterinarian where they are examined, neutered/spayed, vaccinated, and then returned to where they were found.
Studies show community cat programs reduce outdoor cat populations. Additional outcomes include a managed cat population, healthier outdoor cats, and decreased euthanasia rates in shelters. [vii]
It is our opinion if impounding and killing worked, we wouldn’t have any outdoor cats left in Danville.
No-kill is a community philosophy and commitment to saving every life that can be saved.
However, no-kill is not and has never been “no euthanasia.” In instances where a companion animal (dog or cat) is suffering from irreparable illness or injury, or is too aggressive to be rehabilitated, euthanasia is the only humane option for the animal and the best option for the community.
There is a strong distinction in the no-kill movement between “killing” and “euthanizing” companion animals. The term “killing” is used when a potentially healthy or treatable companion animal’s life is unnecessarily ended, while euthanasia is a merciful act of compassion for a severely sick, injured, or dangerous dog or cat.
We have not found any valid correlation between the number of animals that a shelter intake, or impounds, and the save rate the shelter can achieve. Our experience tells us different.
Save rates come down to shelter programming and the shelter’s and community’s commitment to lifesaving.
Danville Area Humane took in 3,381 dogs and cats last year year and only had a 17% save rate. Meanwhile, two hours away at the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA, they took in 4,320 dogs and cats and achieved a 96% save rate.
The difference was simple: programs and commitment.
Please consider sending a pre-written letter to your Danville City Council and Mayor encouraging them to consider implementing a community cat program that will dramatically increase lifesaving, reduce shelter killing, and satisfy the needs of the community!
Danville City Leaders:
I am a concerned resident of the City of Danville writing to you today to encourage and implore you to take action to transform our local animal shelter from one of the highest killing shelters in the nation to a model of lifesaving!
Based on available data from the state of Virginia, the animal shelter in Danville impounded 3,381 cats and dogs last year, but only 588 left the shelter alive.(1) This is an abysmal 17% save rate for animals in our local shelter system while the statewide average save rate for Virginia is over 83%!(2)
Danville Deserves Better (DDB) is a locally focused, community-driven initiative with the express goal of engaging the community to build a groundswell of support for lifesaving change at the Danville animal shelter. It is the opinion of the shelter experts working with Danville Deserves Better that the main driver of these statistics is our shelter’s impounding of healthy, outdoor cats.
I am hopeful that you will support the implementation of a robust community cat program to humanely trap, neuter/spay, vaccinate, and return these outdoor cats to their homes. It is the opinion of shelter experts that if simply impounding and killing these animals worked, Danville would have no outdoor cats.
These humane programs have been shown to reduce the outdoor cat population over time, address nuisance behaviors, and prevent unnecessary killing of healthy, well-adjusted animals.(3)
Thank you for your consideration. As a citizen of Danville, I look forward to seeing our community start moving in the same direction as the rest of Virginia.
Your elected officials need to know your real life experience with local animal services. The most powerful catalyst for change is the truth. Please share in the form below:
Have a question or want to get involved? We’d love to hear from you! Fill out the form below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!