APA Celebrates Its Own STL 250

Last December, the APA embarked on an ambitious project to help reduce euthanasia in our area by transferring pets to our own Adoption Center.

When the APA started the Pet Transfer Program last December, we knew there was a need for greater collaboration among the various types of animal welfare groups: government (animal control), private shelters (such as the APA), and smaller rescue groups that operate primarily on a foster-based system. However, we also understood that with these groups come different philosophies regarding animal welfare. Sometimes these differing viewpoints butt heads, and that can make collaboration tricky.

Nonetheless, we believed that the objectives of the Pet Transfer Program – alleviating overcrowding at area animal control agencies and offering rescue groups a place for their animals when foster homes are filled – would show that the program’s end result was something on which we could all agree: saving companion animals’ lives.

In 2013, the APA transferred in a total of 34 animals to our shelter, a paltry number in comparison to what we aim to do in 2014. At the beginning of the year, we set the bar high, and we intend to bring in 300 animals by December 31.

When we totaled our numbers at the end of August, we found that we had already transferred in 250 pets, a number that equates more than 1 animal per day! We are well on track to reach the 300 mark before the year’s end, and we are thrilled by the progress we’ve made. The Pet Transfer Program has a 94% success rate, a number which is particularly impressive for us, given that the APA is, and always will be, an open-admission shelter. We take in any animal that comes through our doors, and we never turn away an animal in need.

We are thrilled that we are able to find homes for such a high percentage of the animals we receive, and we are grateful to our partners in the Pet Transfer Program for helping make this possible. At the start of this program, we worked with 1 animal control facility in the area. We currently have 6 partners from a variety of areas surrounding St. Louis. We look forward to forming even more partnerships with our industry peers, and we are especially excited to meet the next 250 transferred pets!