2010 Summit Speaker Series Part III

The International Summit For Urban Animal Strategies Presents:

Homing Practices in Calgary 
Speaker: Patricia Cameron

The Calgary Humane Society has two homing goals:

1) Ending euthanasias based on time and space constraints, and
2) Finding responsible homes for all adoptable animals in the City of Calgary.

This presentation briefly reviews the development of the Calgary Humane Society’s homing philosophies and approaches, then discusses the important role collaborations play in the success of homing efforts, and then outlines some recent innovations in homing practices that have increased the number of animals adopted. 

2009 Summit ReCap: Cats Our Biggest Opportunity

Highlights from the Panel Discussion at the 2009 Summit

The panel discussion on the last day of the National Alumni Summit For Urban Animal Strategies always provides opportunity for lively discussion and information sharing. In effort to remind alumni of the importance of this dialogue -- and to keep these topics top of mind -- here are a few powerful quotes excerpted from the session:

On the issue of cat licensing:

"It is an urban myth that cats can't wear collars and tags. This often comes up in community discussions about municipal cat licensing. It shouldn't be a factor [in whether or not a licensing program should be mandated]. In Calgary, [for example], if a cat is tattooed or micro-chipped they don't have wear the cat license... but they do have to be licensed.
"

Bill Bruce ~ City of Calgary

On the issue of restricting the number of cats/dogs per household:

“The reason we don’t do this [in Calgary] is that if you are a responsible pet owner [how many pets you have] is none of the government’s business. Some municipalities do this because they think it will alleviate hoarding. This does not work.”
Bill Bruce ~ City of Calgary Animal and Bylaw Services


“We also grappled with this. Our response was that to impose a limit [on the number of owned animals] shows that we don’t believe that our responsible pet ownership programs work. Instead, we emphasize that if someone is responsible, they could have 15 pets and no one would know it! What has to be factored into this equation is that hoarding is a psychological issue, not a compliance issue.”

James Wilke ~ City of Saskatoon Animal Services

For more information on Cats: Our Biggest Opportunity, NASUAS alumni are encouraged to log onto the 'Members only' section of tsuas.com.

Summit Presentation Synopsis #4

Licensing Cats in Calgary

Presenter: Bill Bruce, City of Calgary Animal & Bylaw Service Manager

Trying to legislate cat licensing in your community? Here's hope... and help!

After years of effort, on January 1, 2007, The City of Calgary began licensing cats. The program has been a resounding success.

"To date, over 48,000 responsible cat owners have licensed their cat(s)," explains Bill Bruce. "Within the first two years of the program, return to owners statistics for cats at the City’s shelter has increased to 56% and there has been a reduction of cat euthanasias to 18%."

Bruce's presentation will look at the process of implementing cat licensing with a high degree of public acceptance, working with partnerships on managing cats in the community and future steps to increase the level of responsible pet ownership with cat owners and reduce the number of unwanted cats in shelters across the City.

Cat Licensing - A Business Case from Calgary, Alberta

Imagine you manage Animal Control and Bylaw Services for a city of more than one million people. A city that has the best compliance record for dogs in North America. And yet a city where cats are second class citizens. Imagine for a moment that you decide to embark on providing cats with the same services and privileges that dogs have. That is exactly what Bill Bruce and his colleagues in the City of Calgary set out to do.

This business case will present a multifaceted, multi-year approach to how the bylaw was changed, how the service providers were brought together into one collaborative group and how cat licensing became a reality.

Bill Bruce joined the City of Calgary in 1981 in the Traffic Engineering Department where a great deal of his work was focused on traffic safety, regulations as well as truck and dangerous goods movement/regulation. Bill also served a two year term as assistant to the City Commissioners office before joining Animal and Bylaw Services in 2000.

Bill's approach to delivering services and compliance through partnerships with community members, business groups, other agencies and city departments has brought him a win that is highly recognized.

Bill has presented the Calgary experience across North America where the achievements of this community and the levels of collaboration are highly respected.