Chenango SPCA: The Approaching Crisis
Winnie is available for adoption at CSPCA. (Submitted photo)
By Patrick McLaughlin,
SPCA Executive Director
NORWICH – I'm not only nerdy about numbers and graphs. I also really enjoy foreign languages. That's why I can say with such confidence that the Chenango SPCA is heading toward a crisis.
You may be used to the word "crisis" meaning "disaster" or "catastrophe," but the people who invented the word, the Greeks, used it in a different way: For them, "crisis" was the turning point in an illness, when it becomes clear that the patient is either definitely going to pull through, or definitely going to die.
With that cleared up, in what way is the Chenango SPCA approaching a "crisis"? Over the past few months, I've written a number of email updates about how things in the animal welfare field are changing, and we'll have to change with them. I've talked about the new Companion Animal Care Standards Act. I've mentioned that we are constantly full. The Evening Sun and WBNG even ran stories about it. I've compared us to a private school operating in a community that doesn't have a public school.
This has been building to an unavoidable conclusion: In the next two years, the Chenango SPCA will either make the changes needed to carry our mission into the future, or we won't.
Why two years? The Care Standards Act goes into effect on December 15, 2025. That's 809 days away. We have 809 days to make a lot of changes. What changes? I'm glad you asked!
Rather than list the changes that we need to make, I want to share with you the paradigm shift behind it all: the Five Domains. When the Association of Shelter Veterinarians published their first set of animal care guidelines, they were based on a framework called the "Five Freedoms." They said that every animal is entitled to a life free from hunger and thirst; free fromdiscomfort; free from pain, injury, or disease; free to express normal behavior; and free fromfear and distress. Four of those Five Freedoms are freedoms from something negative.
The Five Domains model is focused on providing positives. For example, animals are entitled to more than "freedom from hunger." They're entitled to the positive experience of food that is tasty, healthy, appropriate to their stage of life, and comes with enough variety to be interesting. In the Five Freedoms model, a shelter has "done enough" when it's protected the animals in its care from the harmful experiences listed. In the Five Domains model, there is no such thing as "enough." The welfare of an animal can always be improved.
Operating an animal welfare organization on that model is no small task, especially when it's privately funded (as we are). If we take the Five Domains seriously, we need to be constantly on the lookout for what more we can do. And that doesn't stop at the walls of the shelter. What more can we do for stray animals in our community? What more can we do for owned pets in our community? What more can we do for pet owners in our community? And once all the needs of our community are met, what more can we do for the communities that surround us?
Where is our Trap-Neuter-Release program? Where is our community veterinary access program? Where is our behavioral support for owned pets? Where are our vaccination or microchipping clinics? What will it take to turn those dreams into plans, and those plans into accomplishments? For that last question, I have an answer: It will take bold people like you, passionate about animal welfare in our community, willing to take risks to make it happen.
Make it happen!
SPCA Executive Director
NORWICH – I'm not only nerdy about numbers and graphs. I also really enjoy foreign languages. That's why I can say with such confidence that the Chenango SPCA is heading toward a crisis.
You may be used to the word "crisis" meaning "disaster" or "catastrophe," but the people who invented the word, the Greeks, used it in a different way: For them, "crisis" was the turning point in an illness, when it becomes clear that the patient is either definitely going to pull through, or definitely going to die.
With that cleared up, in what way is the Chenango SPCA approaching a "crisis"? Over the past few months, I've written a number of email updates about how things in the animal welfare field are changing, and we'll have to change with them. I've talked about the new Companion Animal Care Standards Act. I've mentioned that we are constantly full. The Evening Sun and WBNG even ran stories about it. I've compared us to a private school operating in a community that doesn't have a public school.
This has been building to an unavoidable conclusion: In the next two years, the Chenango SPCA will either make the changes needed to carry our mission into the future, or we won't.
Why two years? The Care Standards Act goes into effect on December 15, 2025. That's 809 days away. We have 809 days to make a lot of changes. What changes? I'm glad you asked!
Rather than list the changes that we need to make, I want to share with you the paradigm shift behind it all: the Five Domains. When the Association of Shelter Veterinarians published their first set of animal care guidelines, they were based on a framework called the "Five Freedoms." They said that every animal is entitled to a life free from hunger and thirst; free fromdiscomfort; free from pain, injury, or disease; free to express normal behavior; and free fromfear and distress. Four of those Five Freedoms are freedoms from something negative.
The Five Domains model is focused on providing positives. For example, animals are entitled to more than "freedom from hunger." They're entitled to the positive experience of food that is tasty, healthy, appropriate to their stage of life, and comes with enough variety to be interesting. In the Five Freedoms model, a shelter has "done enough" when it's protected the animals in its care from the harmful experiences listed. In the Five Domains model, there is no such thing as "enough." The welfare of an animal can always be improved.
Operating an animal welfare organization on that model is no small task, especially when it's privately funded (as we are). If we take the Five Domains seriously, we need to be constantly on the lookout for what more we can do. And that doesn't stop at the walls of the shelter. What more can we do for stray animals in our community? What more can we do for owned pets in our community? What more can we do for pet owners in our community? And once all the needs of our community are met, what more can we do for the communities that surround us?
Where is our Trap-Neuter-Release program? Where is our community veterinary access program? Where is our behavioral support for owned pets? Where are our vaccination or microchipping clinics? What will it take to turn those dreams into plans, and those plans into accomplishments? For that last question, I have an answer: It will take bold people like you, passionate about animal welfare in our community, willing to take risks to make it happen.
Make it happen!
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