RECORD KEEPING AND MOTOR VEHICLES

Record Keeping

1.  Paperwork should be prepared for every animal who enters the shelter. Paperwork should include the animal's description and any available information about his background. The records also should include notes on any veterinary or other special care the animal has received and a record of the animal's final disposition.

2.  Each record should be numbered and filed so that shelter staff can easily retrieve the information and easily identify animals for adoption, reclamation, or euthanasia.

3.  A cage card should accompany each animal throughout her stay at the shelter. The cage card should include the animal's record number, description, and other relevant information such as behavioural characteristics, and observations about health and temperament. Each animal should wear a collar or a collar-tag combination which includes the record number.

4.  All animals should be counted at the start and at the end of each day, with the numbers recorded by species in a permanent journal. Each day, these totals should be balanced against the card records. A daily log should be kept to record animals received, adopted, euthanized, or returned to owner. In the records, animals should be classified according to species, sex, and age. (For example, separate adults from those under four months of age.)

5.  Receipts for all fees (such as donations, impoundment fees, and adoption fees) should be kept by number and recorded daily, to be balanced against weekly bank deposits. (An inexpensive cash register that can be locked is a good investment.) Daily balances (including incoming and outgoing transactions) should be maintained.
 

Motor Vehicles

1.  Each shelter should have an adequate number of vehicles for picking up animals, depending on the size of the community.

2.  The vehicle(s) should provide the animals with safety, security, protection from the elements, adequate ventilation, and temperature control. Each animal must have a separate enclosure. Special enclosures should be available for sick or injured animals; these animals require special care and handling as well. There should be a separate compartment for dead animals if a separate vehicle is not available.

3.  The vehicles serve as the agency's "field representation" and therefore should be a) clean and well-marked with the agency's name and phone number; b) operated safely at all times; and c) driven courteously.

4.  Vehicles should be designed to make it as easy and humane as possible for animals to be loaded and unloaded.

5.  Vehicles should be equipped with at least the following animal rescue equipment: dog and cat control poles; a net; leashes; a ladder; wire or fibreglass cages; portable cat carriers; a halter; head-and-tie ropes and slings for livestock; a stretcher; a tool kit; an axe; a shovel; a hammer; a crowbar; a flashlight; dog and cat food; muzzles; humane dog and cat traps; and first aid kits for both people and animals.

6.  Vehicle drivers should be trained and prepared to give emergency care to injured or ill animals. Euthanasia should not be administered in the field unless an animal is suffering to such a degree that she is in need of immediate relief by euthanasia. In these cases, the vehicle driver should call a veterinarian to the scene when necessary. The HSUS considers killing by gunshot to be inhumane, except when it is performed properly as a method of field euthanasia in an emergency situation where safe, humane transport of the animal is not possible. A complete report to document the need for euthanasia should be prepared. As part of their job training, drivers should be guided by shelter policies, including guidelines from a veterinarian on how to make field euthanasia decisions.

Source: Animalsheltering.org