Colorado 2021 PACFA Statistics Analysis

History of Improvement

To put it simply: those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.  Since 2011 when No Kill Colorado was formed we pushed the envelope because we knew what was possible, and still do.  What the past decade has shown us is traditional, often regressive shelters, will argue we ask too much.  But then with pressure from No Kill Colorado and the Colorado community at large, we improve each year. 

You can’t say it’s impossible if it exists.  And it exists in small scrappy organizations across the state saving every healthy and treatable life with less resources than many of the naysayers.

The time has passed for Colorado to be No Kill.  We have more adopters (not even including fosters) than animals entering our shelter locally. 

The graph below depicts a telling story

• The green bar shows all intakes of ALL animals MINUS the transfers from other states. 110,062

• The blue bar shows all our adoptions. 108,199

• The orange bar shows all intake of Dogs and Cats minus the out-of-state transfers. 98,146

• Yellow further decreases that number by removing all animals Returned to Owner (RTO). 75,046

• The last red graph is the number of animals that were killed, stolen, or missing in our shelter system. 9,119

Simple Conclusion

What that graph tells us is have 75,046 homeless pets that entered our shelter system in Colorado we needed to find homes for.  But we have 108,199 adopters to get that done.  And somehow, almost 10,000 animals died, were stolen or missing in our system in 2021.

There were 33,153 more adopters for local pets that adopted. 

Assuming some of those animals were truly suffering and euthanasia was the right thing to do, we still have over 4,000 that died for the simple lack of a home.  But there was no lack of homes.

We Can Do Better

Not only can we do better, we could be a No Kill state overnight.  We have 7 times the adopters needed to save every healthy and treatable pet entering our shelter system locally that is currently not getting out alive.

Unfortunately, we also know that healthy and treatable animals are losing their lives in our shelter system every year.  And that does not need to happen.

With more than 100,000 adoptions most years and a few thousand healthy and treatable pets dying we know that Colorado can be a No Kill state overnight.  We know this because we transport in tens of thousands of animals from our neighboring states.

To put it simply:

• We transfer into Colorado from other states over 44,000 homeless pets in 2021.

• Over 9000 died in our shelter system.

• If we assume half of these pets were healthy or treatable we needed to save 5000.

• By this measure we can assume we had 7x the adopters we needed to save every pet entering the COlorado system that did not leave alive.

• We could be a No Kill state overnight.

  
  
  

Introduction

PACFA releases statistics every year for rescue and shelter activity.  They are usually released by mid-year.  2021 statistics were released in June 2022.  2022 statewide stats will not be available until the middle of 2023.

With over 350 licensees (shelters, sanctuaries, and rescues) reporting, PACFA statistics has given us a clear view of the state of homeless pet outcomes in the state for 2021.  Although PACFA also tracks other species, this document will mostly address cats and dogs for 2021 in the graphical analysis throughout.  The term shelter system refers to all organizations whether physical shelters or not as they provide the combined effort on saving homeless pets.

PACFA statistics in Colorado are best measurement of shelter and rescue lifesaving performance from an annual view as well from an overall state view.

They are not perfect.  Shelters and rescues have some difficulty getting to the precise numbers of animals entering and leaving the shelter.  Although these statistics are generally accurate statewide, accuracy of individual organizations vary.  But the statewide statistics have an estimated +/-1% variance on accuracy.  For individual organizations, it can be higher.  Most organizations have good to perfect accuracy.

Also, there are multiple ways to crunch these numbers and methods vary on how to do so.  By default, we use our own method and publish those methods here through out so you can discern the data we present. 

The Good News

We started looking at these annual statistics as far back as 2013.  Just a decade ago tens of thousands of animals were dying in the Colorado shelter system.  In 2021, that number was reduced to under 10,000.  In addition, we know some of these animals were untreatable with poor or grave prognosis for a life without unremitting pain.  This subset of animals were candidates for euthanasia, but many were not.

In the past decade our adoptions in the state have increased dramatically.  The past four years we are near or above 100,000 adoptions annually.  Colorado residents have a lifesaving culture, perhaps the best in the nation, that supports our shelter system.  We have more adopters than pets entering our shelter system!

We do not have any mechanism for tracking fosters, but our foster system is robust.

What does success look like?

You will hear in the shelter community a lot of talk about saving 90% of the animals entering a shelter .  this is considered the low watermark in No Kill.  Years ago it was a goal, but once the movement added more shelters and communities saving 95, 96, even 99% of animals we knew No Kill is saving every healthy and treatable homeless pet entering the shelter system

Colorado appears to have surpassed the 90& threshold statewide for the first time when including ALL rescues and shelters.  But individual shelters and communities perform differently and we know we are not No kill statewide as some communities boost the rate up while other communities still have work to do.

Our Maps tell a story of what is happening across the state and where we can find communities to provide greater support so they can become truly No Kill.

4 year trend Intake vs. Adoption

There has been a lot of chatter about intake and adoption numbers. Last four years show a break in 2020, clearly pandemic related with a drop in intakes and adoptions. But intake and adoption in 2021 were about the same as 2018.

OREs (Owner Requested Euthanasia)

PACFA ceased asking for OREs and now that number is not discernible from Owner Relinquishments, or perhaps not counted at all.

Method:

When using our method, we look at all outcomes as the total number of animals handled by the organization in different ways for different reasons.  You will see some data that says “state” vs. “individual for some shelter stats.  This generally is because for statewide statistics we do not county transfers within the state (more about this below) and for individual shelters we do.

State Wide LRR (live Release Rate)

In 2021, there were 155,799 total outcomes (positive and negative) for cats and dogs.  Of these 137,787 (93.68%) of ALL dogs and cats entering the shelters system had positive outcomes.  That is fortunately slightly up from previous years - 2016 was 89.32% and has been generally rising incrementally.

When looking at statewide LRR we do not include transfers within the state.  That would create the false appearance of lives saved multiple time as a dog transferred from one organization to another and then adopted would count as 2 live releases (1 transfer out, 1 adoption).  We do count transfers when looking at individual shelters.[i]

Colorado Live Release Rate Statewide

Colorado Positive Outcomes

This is only looking at Cats and Dogs

These include:

• Adoption

• Returned to Owner (RTO)

• Other Live Outcome

• Transfer to Out of State

• Transfers to another organization in state[ii]

With 155,799 outcomes the state produced 14137,787 positive outcomes.  A save rate of (93.68%), the highest to date

With 85,072 total dog outcomes the state produced 81,251 positive outcomes.  A save rate of (94.40%), the highest to date

With 61,787 total cat outcomes the state produced 56,536 positive outcomes.  A save rate of (91.38%), the highest to date.

Shelter Statistics and Data

Everyone needs to understand the statistics of the shelter they are holding accountable to fully prepare for any resistance to the request they save EVERY healthy and treatable pet.

This is how we come by these numbers. We want you to understand how we get to them even if you do not do this yourself.

PACFA tracks Dogs (Juvenile and Adult), Cats (Juvenile and Adult), Small Mammals, Reptiles, Rabbits, Birds and “Other”.

For this document we mostly analyze Dogs and Cats.  Dogs and Cats make up more than 95% of the volume of animals PACFA says came into the Colorado shelter system.

 The Data

For each type of animal, PACFA publishes the following:

1. In possession

   1. In Shelter on first day of year

   2. In Foster on first day of year

   3. In Shelter on last day of year

   4. In Foster on last day of year   

2. Intake

   1. Stray   

   2. Owner Relinquished   

   3. Transfer in from another Colorado organization          

   4. Transfer in from Out of State organization       

   5. Other: TNR / Protective Custody / Returns / Disaster Relief    

3. Outcomes

   1. Positive

      1. Adoption         

      2. Returned To Owner (RTO)     

      3. Transfer or Rescue out to another Colorado organization       

      4. Transfer or Rescue out to an out of State organization

      5. Other live outcomes (ie: tnr/snr)          

   2. Negative

      1. Died    

      2. Missing / Stolen          

      3. Euthanasia      

Data Integrity

It would be great if intake and outcome numbers match.  But they don’t necessarily do that.  For every animal that enters the shelter, whether they leave alive or not (or are still in the care of the shelter), they should be recorded.  To many shelters’ and rescues’ credit, Colorado numbers are considered accurate for what is asked.

The first change we make to using the PACFA statistics for LRR is to ignore intake and instead look at total outcomes.  This gives us a one to one relationship on positive and negative outcomes.  On an annual basis, this is an accurate measure and beginning and end counts work out on a year to year basis.

Calculating  Save Rates

There are multiple methods for calculating save rates.  Here we will show you the first two slightly different ways to calculate save rates.

This chart is a comparison between Asilomar statistics (the standard Live Release Rate used in most shelters) and the (RAW) method for basic analysis which includes OREs (Owner Requested Euthanasia) numbers as well as lost, stolen, missing and “Other” negative outcomes (Asilomar lets shelters ignore OREs).

(RAW) Method

Save Rate for State:

We calculated this by a subset of ALL the data mentioned above of PACFA Statistics as follows:

1. Total Outcomes

   1. Positive Outcome

   2. Negative Outcomes    

2. POSTIVE Outcomes

   1. Adoption         

   2. Returned To Owner (RTO)     

   3. Transfer or Rescue out to an Out of State organization           

   4. Other live outcomes (ie: tnr/snr)

3. NEGATIVE Outcomes

   1. Deaths

   2. Missing / Stolen

   3. Shelter Euthanasia

RAW Outcomes

For RAW outcomes , we look at all outcomes, positive and negative to get a baseline for save rate numbers.  RAW statistics would include ORE (Owner Requested Euthanasia).  As PACFA stopped asking for these numbers in annual reports, we assume save rates are higher than they truly are.  OREs might result in euthanasia, but we shelters should not end the life of any healthy or treatable animal.  Without these numbers included, we must assume that healthy and treatable pets’ life ended unjustifiably.  Previous years of this tracking bears this out.

Total Outcomes of cats and dogs in Colorado for 2021 was 155,799

• 61,787 Cats

• 85,072 Dogs

For cats

• 56,536 Positive Outcomes

• 5,251 Negative Outcomes

For Dogs

• 81,251 Positive Outcomes

• 3,868 Negative Outcomes

Strays

Strays make up a large portion of animals entering the shelter.  The redemption of stray animals to their family is, or should be, a primary goal of all shelters.

53,089 stray cats and dogs entered shelters in 2021 in the state of Colorado.

• 23,884 Cats

• 29,205 Dogs

 Returns to owner are a good indication of a shelter’s commitment to the community.  If for no other reason, there will always be a need for shelters because of lost animals.  The return rate is an important metric to judge a shelter’s productivity in serving the community.  As a state, Colorado is performing well by comparative analysis with other states.

As we can see from the chart a small percentage of cats (13.85%) are returned to owners.  A dog’s chance of being returned is about 67.76%.  It should be noted both these numbers are higher than the national average, but microchip events and education are in order especially for cats.

 19,792 stray cats and dogs were returned to owners in 2021 in the state of Colorado.

• 3,308 Cats

• 19,792 Dogs

43.51% of stray cats and dogs were returned to owners in 2021 in the state of Colorado.

• 13.85% of Cats

• 67.76%  Dogs

Transfers

From out of state

Transfers from out of state to Colorado dwarf transfers from Colorado out to other states.

The transfer of animals is a useful lifesaving tool.  Transferring within the state has proven useful to give people an opportunity in one part of the state to get a pet they want from another.  Shelters and rescues do this daily across the state. 

Considering Colorado has capacity to house and adopt out pets greater than the intake of the shelter system, we should help neighboring states in lifesaving activities like transfer in state from out of state. 

At the same time, transferring over 44,406 homeless pets into Colorado in 2021 tells us we should save every healthy or treatable pet in our state shelter system, and we can still help our neighbor states save tens of thousands of homeless pets. This is down from 2020 which saw over 50,000.  There was a lull in 2021 as the COVID pandemic slowed transfers from out of state.

Transfer of cats and dogs to Colorado from other states for 2017 compared to 2021