by naca-web | Apr 5, 2022 | Blog, Humane Highlights
Sam Torres
St. Clair County Animal Control
This month NACA is proud to feature member Sam Torres! Sam started volunteering at St. Clair County Animal Control when she first moved to Michigan. She immediately fell in love with the animals, though she is a dog person she loves all animals! As soon as a position opened for hire, she knew this was the right job for her and applied right away. Sam says “I get so much satisfaction when the animals find homes! I now help to network the animals for my facility and volunteer my photography skills at other facilities to help get animals adopted faster.” Last January, Sam successfully received her ACO certification, although I am still working as an animal care tech, she has amazing plans for the future of her career and animal welfare!
Sam noted “being a NACA member means having access to training and opportunities to help better myself in this field. I love learning more and bettering myself.”
Thank you, Sam, for your hard work, dedication, and compassion for the animals and everyone around you! You are a superstar, and we are proud to honor you as the April 2022 NACA Humane Highlight!
by naca-web | Mar 29, 2022 | Announcements, Blog
NACA is so excited to share with you that we have updated and streamlined the process for NACA certification holders to upload and track required CEUs.
MEMBERS
We have enabled a CEU tracking feature available in the member portal dashboard – simply log in, upload, and submit! An easy way for you to track, print transcripts, and ensure you are meeting the requirements for recertification!
NON-MEMBERS
The process will remain very similar, the biggest change is that NACA has created a CEU tracking form for you to download and use to track your CEUs. Simply download, fill out the CEU form, and submit via email prior to expiration.
Q: I have never seen the CEU requirements, is this new?
A: No, NACA previously required CEU submission every 3 years to maintain certification in good standing. This change only affects the submission process.
Q: What if I have already submitted my CEUs through the existing website?
A: Any submitted CEUs prior to (3/28/2022) will be automatically added for you, you will not need to re-submit. Non-Members will need to submit the full report upon expiration of the 3-year certification cycle.
Q: What if I have taken but not submitted my CEUS in a few years? Do I have to recertify?
A: No. If you have a record of all your CEUs and submit them via the new process, NACA will offer a 1-year grace period for you to submit your backdated CEUs.
Q: Why a new process, what was wrong with the old process?
A: The new process is streamlined and supports easier tracking for the certificate holder. In addition, this process ensures that Nationally Certified ACOs have the ability to self-report all CEUs and be able to easily access their own personal records.
Q: I need a place to track other CEUs as well (for other NON-NACA certifications), can I use this same tracking feature?
A: YES! This tracking feature is an added benefit for NACA Members and can be used to track all CEU certifications. From this feature, you can export your transcripts and use them however you need.
Q: I am not a member of NACA, can I use the tracking feature as well?
A: No, the tracking feature is only available for members with an active account. The process for non-NACA members will remain very similar to how it is now, with the submission being emailed. Non-NACA members can access the excel template from our website in which to track CEUs and will be required to submit via email.
Q: What if I have never completed any CEUs, is my certification still valid?
A: No, NACA previously required CEU submission every 3 years to maintain certification in good standing. If you have no record of any CEUs you will need to recertify. Email us if you have questions or want to talk about your specific situation, we are happy to connect!
Q: My department doesn’t have the budget for travel currently so I may not be able to meet the requirements, how will I get my CEUs?
A: The limits posted in the policy are the maximum limits allowed in any one area and there is no requirement that the training be in person. There is not a minimum and the CEUs can be a mixture of items to equal 30 total, 10 per year. In addition, the core competency areas were added to expand the types of training that an officer can do that would count as an approved CEU. An example is below.
Year 1: 10 CEUs webinar
Year2: 5 other, 5 online
Year 3: 5 webinars, 5 other, or any combination thereof
Have additional questions? Feel free to reach out to us! We thank you for your commitment to continuing to set the standard and lead the way in animal care and control!
by naca-web | Mar 21, 2022 | Announcements, Blog, News, Shelter Operations
As the chaos and unrest in Ukraine continues, we anticipate more families with pets will flee to safety here in the United States. Just yesterday, we learned a European airline flight landed in a major US city with a Ukrainian refugee and their dog. Airline personnel were unaware of which agency to contact, or the protocols involved with bringing a Ukrainian pet into the country. Ukraine is one of the countries listed as High Risk for Rabies by the Center for Disease Control.
To help your agency plan for potential refugees and their pets entering your community, the National Animal Care & Control Association, The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement, and the University of Wisconsin Shelter Medicine Program, are recommending Animal Care and Control agencies across the country prepare for the possibility of refugee families with pets seeking emergency entry into the United States traveling through international airports or borders.
Your agency might be required to help pets owned by Ukrainian refugees in this situation, most traveling from a European country that might have relaxed pet vaccination requirements. As animal welfare professionals we strive to provide service and safety to the public and animals. By being prepared with local, state, and federal procedures to assist with transportation, animal housing, supplies, and veterinary care, your agency can lessen the impact on families and help keep pets with their people.
Recommendations:
- Review and update your Preparedness Plan
- Connect with local government agencies within your area to stay informed of protocol changes
- Contact Customs with the international airport(s) in your jurisdiction as well as Border Patrol to ensure relationships are established, policies are clear, and contact information is accurate
- Please know that the CDC is making exceptions to the current ban on a case by case basis for family pets and individuals can reach out to cdcanimalimports@cdc.gov for information on allowing their dog into the US.
- Ask your shelter veterinarian to attend National Shelter Rounds on Tuesday, March 22 at 4 pm Eastern/ 3 pm Central/ 1 pm Pacific to learn more about how veterinarians should respond
Together, we can help ease the suffering and stress of Ukrainian refugees seeking sanctuary in the United States by helping them keep their pets and out of shelters.
by naca-web | Mar 9, 2022 | Blog, Humane Highlights
Lorien Clemens
PetHub, Inc
Lorien Clemens is the co-founder and CEO at PetHub, Inc. She joined PetHub in June of 2011 as the start-up was in its beginning stages. She has guided PetHub to its wins of multiple pet industry awards, including two Dog Fancy Magazine Editors’ Choice Awards, the PetAGE Magazine Retailer Silver Select Award, and two Pet Business Magazine Product of the Year Awards for its unique digital ID tags and online services. Most recently, PetHub was named one of Business Insider Magazine’s 50 Coolest New Businesses in America. Individually, Lorien was honored by PetAge Magazine as one of the pet industry’s Women of Influence. She was also named the Pet Industry Network’s 2014 Pet Industry Woman of the Year and was a keynote speaker at their national conference. Nestled in the woods outside of the tech-mecca of Seattle, Washington, Lorien lives with a Boston Terrier, two cats and her husband, a true nerd in his own right and 2 year-old son. An avid fan of science fiction and die hard technophile, she loves investigating new, exciting tech trends and all things geeky and pet related.
For PetHub, we deeply value our membership with NACA and the relationships we’ve built there. As we continue to improve our product and build ancillary support products and systems, the connection with the network of animal control officers has been tremendous. They allow us to better understand challenges faced in the field, and explore solutions on how we can help them overcome those challenges. NACA has also been a great resource that helps us keep a pulse on RTH and animal welfare trends, and the content collaborations we’ve had with NACA and their members for lost pet prevention, recovery and emergency preparedness have been awesome!
by naca-web | Feb 12, 2022 | Announcements, News
Animal Care Expo 2022! NACA Members get a $25 registration discount which you can use when registering for the in-person full conference. Simply login to your NACA membership area to retrieve the code!
This year’s conference offers 11 tracks, over 80 professional sessions and will bring together animal welfare professionals from across the globe. Animal Care Expo brings innovative ideas, ground-breaking content, and networking opportunities to animal welfare colleagues.
by naca-web | Feb 1, 2022 | Blog, Humane Highlights
Jenn Rauzan
Peoria Police Department Animal Control
I served as a Communications Specialist (911 operator/police dispatcher) for the Peoria (AZ) Police Department for ten (10) years before becoming the department’s Police Community Services Supervisor in 2018. As a Community Services Supervisor, my section manages animal care and control, crime prevention and educational programs offered by the department, and the volunteer program. In addition to Community Services, I serve on the departments Crisis Negotiations Team. Animal control is staffed with five full-time Animal Control Officers. The unit responds to calls of animals disturbing, loose animals, animal cruelty cases, injured animals, and a host of other situations involving domesticated and wild animals. Peoria’s Animal Control Officers are civilian employees authorized to investigate and enforce the Peoria City Codes and ARS pertaining to animals. Our Animal Control Officers are dedicated to providing humane treatment for all animals in their care, and each Officer receives specialized training by the National Animal Control Association in animal safety, handling, first aid, apprehension techniques, and capture equipment. Their shifts are seven days a week in addition to emergency on call after hours. They also host animal wellness clinics for the residents of Peoria with the generous support of Fix.Adpot.Save. . I am privileged to work with Stephen, Samantha, Samuel, Megan, and Brittany five of the most amazing hard-working individuals. Their dedication to the profession and department, customer service, and passion for the job is humbling and I am honored to work with them each day.
I most enjoy the NACA trainings that are offered and personalized for the animal control profession.
by naca-web | Jan 7, 2022 | Announcements, Blog, Humane Highlights
Name: Corey Price
Agency: Irving Animal Services
Corey Price is the Animal Services Manager for the City of Irving, Texas. She has been serving people and animals in Irving since 2014 and she says it’s the most rewarding and impactful job she has ever had. Prior to working in Irving, Corey spent more than 20 years working for non-profit animal welfare organizations including the Helen Woodward Animal Center in California, the Dumb Friends League in Colorado, and the SPCA of Texas.
While working at the SPCA of Texas, Corey assisted with several large-scale animal cruelty seizures, including the US Global Exotics case in 2009, which is still the largest seizure of animals in US History – more than 26,400 animals. These cases became a passion that led her to seek a job in the government sector where she could be more directly involved in field work.
Corey has been a leader in developing collaborative strategies to improve animal welfare across Texas, and nationwide. She coordinates an informal network of government animal services managers across North Texas who meet regularly, conduct region wide events, and help each other with urgent needs. Corey was a founding board member of Texas Unites for Animals and helped create one of the nation’s largest regional animal welfare conferences, which brings together non-profit shelters and rescue groups, and governmental shelters, to tackle animal issues from all angles. She also serves as a board member for the Association for Animal Welfare advancement, as a voice for governmental animal welfare organizations. Corey’s collaborative approach also launched the nation’s largest pet adoption event, Clear the Shelters, in partnership with NBCUniversal and Telemundo television stations. In 2022, Clear the Shelters will be in its 8th year, and to date, the event has resulted in more than 750,000 adoptions.
Corey has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Colorado State University. She shares her home with her husband and a geriatric Boston Terrier named Jack. She is also a proud mother of two adult sons who both live locally.
Being a member of NACA is about having access to training specifically designed for field work. It is also about networking with other animal services professionals and camaraderie.
by naca-web | Jan 5, 2022 | Announcements, News
by naca-web | Jan 4, 2022 | Announcements
Members are encouraged to join the monthly membership meetings 2nd Thursday
of each month 8am PST / 11a EST Log into your member portal for the zoom link!
by naca-web | Jan 3, 2022 | Blog, Field Services, Position Statements, Shelter Operations
!! NACA Alert !!
Across the U.S., Animal Services Agencies Face Unprecedented Hardships
We know you feel it, we feel it too! All across the U.S., animal services agencies are facing unprecedented hardships like short staffing, full shelters, and high emotions. If we have learned anything these past few COVID years, it’s that life can be unpredictable and no matter how hard we prepare, we are likely to experience the stress of it all.
From hospitals to child welfare agencies to airports, from homelessness services to restaurants, virtually every industry and sector are facing service disruptions and huge challenges due to the impacts of the COVID pandemic. Animal services organizations are no exception. Animal services and animal control organizations across the U.S. are experiencing short-staffing as well as higher-than-usual animal inventories, along with record-reported levels of stress and burnout among workers. Some of the specific challenges facing animal services agencies are:
- National animal shelter software data shows that while intake has not yet reached 2019 pre-pandemic levels, animal shelters are full. The data further shows that this is due to pet adoptions and transports slowing dramatically, and both cats and dogs are spending up to twice the number of days (from an average of 40 days to 80 days) in animal services custody.
- Short staffing in all positions, especially forward-facing staff, animal control officers, veterinarians, and customer service representatives due to comparably low salaries, difficulty, and stress of working conditions and environment, and slow hiring processes. The recent COVID variants are compounding short-staffing and bringing many organizations to critical staffing shortages.
- A nationwide veterinarian shortage means many shelters are unable to hire or retain veterinarians and, in some communities, this shortage causes a reduction in care for owned pets.
- An increasing number of animals are being surrendered due to the financial impacts of COVID and a high number of animal control calls related to evictions, abandonment, and poverty-based neglect.
- The stress of the pandemic has increased the number of emotionally charged instances and officers and shelter staff report a higher-than-usual number of negative interactions with the public, including people experiencing mental health crises and residents who are combative with shelter and animal control staff and volunteers.
The National Animal Care & Control Association recommends animal services agencies address these challenges in the following ways:
- Move into essential services status as needed. This protocol, released by NACA during the first months of the COVID pandemic, advises animal services agencies on essential and non-essential services during crisis periods. Organizations should consider moving into essential services status for 30-day increments as necessary due to shelters being at or above capacity and low staffing levels. Here is more information on what it means to provide essential animal services to your community.
- Provide emergency field services. If your animal control or field services unit faces temporary staffing shortages, here is NACA’s guideline on what animal services should be prioritized.
- Implement an appointment-based intake system for non-emergency intakes.
- Keep as many pets in their homes and communities as possible. Animal control officers should check found pets for any identification (including microchips) and return pets in the field without impounding them unless those pets truly need sheltering. For pets that have been found by a Good Samaritan, ask pet finders to upload found reports online, hold healthy and friendly pets in their homes, and help get lost pets back home without them having to come to the shelter. Animal control officers should transport impounded animal’s home when possible if their owners or caregivers do not have access to reliable transportation.
- Encourage supported self-rehoming. Ask people who need to surrender their pets to utilize a supported self-rehoming platform, like Rehome by Adopt-a-Pet or Home-to-Home instead of bringing those pets to the shelter.
- Provide pet support services. Offer food, supplies, shelter, and fencing assistance to pet owners in lieu of impoundment. Create local pet resource guides to help people find access to services and locate pet-inclusive housing options, as well as behavior and medical support for their pets.
- Help staff cope. Provide support for field and shelter staff and ensure staff have access to and are aware of mental health support services. Consider providing crisis intervention training to forward-facing staff and check-in to keep tabs on what staff is experiencing when engaging with the public. Make teamwork and communication a part of every day.
- Focus on keeping great staff. Assess whether your salaries and benefits are comparable to other similar jobs in the public and private sector. Conduct exit surveys to find out why staff leave and address the most common issues leading to high staff turnover. Ensure staff does not have to work mandatory overtime and when possible, pair up animal control officers.
- Work differently. Today, 98% of people report that pets are important family members, yet the challenges facing pet owners have never been more daunting. Consider changing operations to focus more on addressing the root causes that lead to citations, impoundment, and the separation of people and pets. If you’re not already doing it, allocate people power and funding to keep pets in their homes and communities and out of the shelter system. The shelter is a critically important resource for some pets, including those that are sick or injured, in immediate danger, or pose a threat to public safety. For many pets who do not fall into one of these categories, there are usually safe housing options in the community that are more humane, more cost-effective, and better for animals and people.
- Talk to your community. Communicate frequently with community members and explain to them why you are doing a particular program or following a certain policy. Explaining the why often helps the community get behind you and encourages them to be part of the solution too!
We realize that every agency and community is different, and each has its own unique set of nuisances. Our recommendations are to be used a guide to support you, your agencies and your communities in helping to get through these unprecedented hardships we are all feeling and experiencing.
Do you have other ideas or want to share what’s working for you? Let us know, we want to hear from you. Stay Safe!
NACA Staff and Board of Directors
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