Be The Solution Inc. - ASPCA Partnership with Tallahassee

Be The Solution ASPCA Update

Since the Austin trip BTS and all the Community Partners have been busy working to fulfill our 2012 mission.

Monthly meetings are held with all Partners and our ASPCA Liaison to make sure we are all on track and check in on how much progress is being made toward our mission. BTS was awarded several grants this year from the ASPCA to assist in completing our Community Partnership goals.
Since BTS set a goal in Austin of completing 2,000 vouchers in 2012, the ASPCA awarded a grant to fund the additional 1,300 targeted Leon County spay and neuter vouchers that exceed the 700 vouchers that BTS currently completes. These vouchers include a $5 rabies voucher (if needed) and are targeted to high risk shelter intake areas and low income pet owners in Leon County. BTS is working hard to distribute these vouchers by adding a third voucher day at the BTS storefront and going out into the community several days a month to distribute vouchers.

BTS was also awarded an IMARK tag engraving machine as part of the ID me campaign to help increase the number of animals being returned to their owners. This amazing machine can engrave tags for pet owners with pet's name and owner's information, in hopes that they will be returned to their owners before being taken to the shelter.
The machine was used at this year's Top Dog-vs-City Kitty event to put tags on almost 100 animals and is being used at Animal Aid and the Shelter at Tag Your Pet Days.

Also awarded to BTS was a grant to fund a veterinary engagement dinner. The dinner will take place in August 2012 and will bring all our local veterinarians together to learn more about early spay and neuter and the importance of spay and neuter to reduce overpopulation. BTS hopes this dinner will help engage all our local vets on this important message and maybe add a few more participating vets to our program.

2012 is going to be a busy year for BTS and the rest of the Community Partners, but we are all so excited about increasing the live release rate at the shelter. We are
so thankful Tallahassee was chosen as an ASPCA Community Partner and would not be able to complete all these things without the help, knowledge and support of the ASPCA.

Partners back from Austin

The Tallahassee Community Partners traveled to Austin, Texas to develop a plan to increase the live release rate from the current 50% to 62.5% in 2012.
The three objectives to reach this goal:
1) Increase live outcome at shelter by 16%
2) Decrease intake at shelter by 3% or 300 animals
3) Increase spay and neuter by 175% with 1,300 additional animals fixed.

Video produced by WCOT-13

The ASPCA� (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) has named Tallahassee to be its newest ASPCA Partner Community -- one of 10 communities nationwide currently working with the ASPCA to provide positive outcomes for at-risk and homeless pets. Be The Solution, Inc. is proud to join locally with the Tallahassee-Leon Community Animal Services Center, Leon County Humane Society, Leon County Animal Control Division and along with the ASPCA in this joint venture to benefit local animals. The ASPCA community partnership duration lasts from one to five years, depending on our community's needs and resourcefulness. The ASPCA will facilitate cooperation between the local organizations, with the goal to increase the number of animals leaving our local shelter alive. Each organization brings to the partnership its own area of expertise, which in combination with the other partners will create an effective team. Be the Solution, Inc. will focus on providing Spay and Neuter financial assistance, to reduce the number of unwanted animals born, that would end up at our local Shelter.

The ASPCA president Ed Sayres and his staff were in Tallahassee September 14th - 15th, 2011 to make the formal announcement and have a community planning session about the Community Partnership grant awarded to these Tallahassee organizations.

On the morning of September 14th, the partners met with the ASPCA to begin planning our communities approach to increasing the live release rate to 75% in Tallahassee. We will take this broad stroke plan with us to Austin Texas in October, where we will create the specific plans to get the job done. After lunch we invited several guests from our community, including City Commissioner Nancy Miller and Chuck Mitchell to join in the meeting and help us come up with suggestions on how we can increase the live release rate. This meeting was very successful and we look for to the October Planning session in Austin and coming back with a great plan.

On September 15, we held a Morning Press Release at City Hall. The Partners and their closest followers joined us for this exciting announcement. The ASPCA President Ed Sayres spoke about what this partnership meant for Tallahassee and called each organizations head to the podium to thank them for their hard work. Special guests speakers city commissioner Gil Ziffer, County Commissioner Akin Akinyemi, Director of Parks and Rec. Dee Crumpler also took the stage to show support for this exciting partnership and how it will change Tallahassee's pet overpopulation problem.

We are very excited about being a part of this amazing opportunity and will keep you posted on the outcome of Octobers Planning session.

PHOTO: Austin Planning Session