News

The Australian Institute of Animal Management have developed an information resource for Local Government in regards to the new dog disease, Ehrlichiosis. 

The resource can be viewed here. 

AIAM members can also view the webinar on the topic, presented by Dr Bonny Cumming of AMRRIC, on demand, on the webinars page. 

The AIAM Committee have provided a submission to the recent review held by the Victorian Government on the Animal Welfare Act.

You can read the submission here.

The AIAM Committee have provided a submission to the recent review held by the Victorian Government on reuniting lost pets.

You can read the submission here.

Due to the cancellation of the 2020 AIAM Workshop we have designed a series of free, member only webinar offerings.

The first webinar in the series is being delivered on 20/8/20 at 2.30pm AEST.

Come and join us for Quick and Dirty Dog Behaviour presented by AIAM Committee Member, Dr Diana Rayment. 

Come and learn how to quickly assess and respond to canine behaviour while working with unfamiliar dogs in the field. Keep safe while improving your ability to get dogs calmly where you need them to be. 

Dr Diana Rayment has over 15 years experience working with companion animals in both applied and academic settings. Starting out as a nurse at a large urban animal shelter and dog trainer in the early 2000s, she then went on to spend 10 years in the university and TAFE sectors teaching a variety of subjects across the animal sciences,  while completing a PhD in canine behaviour assessments in applied environments. For the last 3.5 years, Diana has been working with retired racing greyhounds, improving assessment methods for dogs exiting the racing industry and developing a successful remedial socialisation and rehabilitation program for greyhounds displaying dog-dog predation.

Go to the events page to find out more and to register.

The Australian Institute of Animal Management recently provided a submission to the Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy’s inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats in Australia. 

You can read the submission here.

The Australian Institute of Animal Management are happy to support the joint National Animal Care & Control Association and Best Friends Animal Society Community-supported sheltering policy platform for State and Local Governments.

COVID-19 has provided us, the sector as a whole, and the entire community, the opportunity to do things differently.

This policy platform outlines policy and legislative changes to maintain and enhance the gains made during the pandemic and rethink animal management and sheltering in a post-COVID world.

We encourage you to read the document and let us know what changes you will be implementing, or keeping, as we move forward into the future.

https://network.bestfriends.org/…/a…/shelter-policy-platform

It’s time to look to the future!

It’s clear that COVID-19 has shaken things up, in our working and private lives, to an unprecedented level. 

It has brought with it fear, suffering and death, SO many changes and uncertainty as to what the future will look like once restrictions are lifted. What will “normal” be?

Along with all of the tragic, negative impacts of this disease, there have been some positives. We are all operating today in a way that we NEVER thought was possible. Lots of things are working how we NEVER thought was possible. Some of this change has upsides, and some of it has the opportunity to provide positives moving forward into post C-19 times. 

We have people at home spending more time with family members and their pets (so many people out walking their dogs!). We have clearer air and less time spent travelling to and from work. It appears that we have reduced our intake, of surrendered and lost pets, significantly. We have empty, or close to empty, facilities and pets in homes on a foster basis. We have SO many (more!) free resources to help us do our jobs in the best way possible. We have found workarounds to many of the barriers that have stood in the way of companion animal management and sheltering solutions. Keeping people and their pets together, implementing supportive services remotely, working with the community to be the best pet owners they can be.

What of these new changes would you like to see continued into the future? How much of what has happened over the last few months will impact on your operations long term? 

We have been given a great opportunity to turn around a truly awful situation and make something good come out of it at the other end. Who is going to grab it with both hands and run with it?

We would love to hear your responses to the questions posed above, and your opinions on the issue as a whole.

The Australian Institute of Animal Management have joined RSPCA Australia in lobbying the Federal Government Health Department to ensure that veterinary, animal management and animal sheltering and care services are classified as essential services, meaning that they would be exempt from COVID-19 related shutdowns. 

In the submission made to Government, AIAM President, Brenton Thomass, said that it was vital to recognise frontline animal welfare and management services such as Local Government animal management departments and facilities, not for profit animal shelter and care centres, and veterinary clinics as essential services in the event the Government moves to implement community lockdown measures in response to COVID-19. 

"The Australian Institute of Animal Management believes that Government and not for profit animal shelters/impounding facilities and animal management officers are essential entities that are relied upon to provide for the safety and well-being of animals and people in communities. Many organisations provide lifesaving medical care for homeless and owned animals while providing foster and adoption services completing families during this time of crisis. For most of our citizens animals are considered part of the family. With the support of animal welfare and animal management organisations and departments for animal-related issues, human services agencies can maintain focus on human-specific concerns." 

AIAM have released a statement to encourage animal management and sheltering operations to reduce non-essential shelter/pound intake and prioritise operations that return pets in the field (prior to intake) or increase returns to owners once admitted to a facility. The statement also provides other advice regarding implementing strategies to reduce intake and support the community. You can view the statement here.

The Committee of the Australian Institute of Animal Management have prepared the following statement and advice to assist Local Government Animal Management and Local Laws departments in this current state of world and national affairs.

Links to expert and official information can be found at the bottom of this document.

1.      Animal management and sheltering is an essential service and wherever possible should not experience any disruption of service provision to the community. It is advised, however, to reduce non-essential shelter/pound intake and prioritise operations that return pets in the field (prior to intake) or increase returns to owners once admitted to a facility.

• Any non-emergency type surrenders should be postponed (or other solutions identified) wherever possible.

• Any animals that are in (or might be an) immediate danger or injured/sick should still be admitted.

• Animal Management staff are encouraged to work with pet owners and the community remotely, to assist them in finding alternate solutions to their problem. Information on intake diversion can be found here.

• Moving to a managed intake policy will assist in reducing the potential for overcrowding and euthanising for space. Further information on Managed Intake can be found here.

• Increasing Return to Owner information can be found here.
  

2.      Priority should be placed on reducing the current facility population via adoption, transfer to another organisation or placement in foster care, wherever possible.

• These functions can occur by utilising disease transmission risk reduction procedures such as operating in outside spaces, implementing the recommended personal space, PPE and hygiene measures and scheduling attendance on site to reduce numbers of people at any one time.

• The potential for overcrowding and euthanising for space can be avoided if advice is followed.

• People working from and isolating in, home environments, have more capacity to help now, than ever before. Engage the community now, and place as many animals into foster, rescue and adoption placements as possible. If your facility or organisation does not have a foster program in place, contact your rescue partners ASAP and find out how you can assist them to find foster homes for your animals in care. Also see the links provided below on how to make the most of the community’s support and compassion during this time.

• More information on emergency foster protocols can be found here.
  

3.      The implementation of protocols and procedures to reduce the need for the community to come to the facility, and the numbers of community members on site at any one time will also serve to reduce the risk of transmission.

• Ask the community:
  

o    If they or an immediate family member travelled outside of Australia in the last 4 weeks?

o    Have they travelled interstate within the last 2 weeks?

o    Have they come in to contact with any person showing cough, cold or flu symptoms within the last 2 weeks?

• Anybody who has, should be asked to stay away until they can answer ‘No’ to all of the above questions. 

• If staff do have to engage directly with the public, ensure that strict,no contact and hygiene practices are in place (no sharing of pens etc. physical separation at all times etc.)

• Developing a scheduling system may also assist to reduce risk and maintain operational efficiency.
  

4.      The implementation of a priority response system would be a useful strategy that will ensure community safety whilst reducing risk of potential transmission from exposure to novel people.

• Nonpriority response could include regular street and dog park patrols, animal local law complaints such as barking dogs and wandering cats and trapping, transporting and intake of unowned cats.
  

5.      Hoarding situations should be assessed on an individual basis, to determine the urgency of need of variables such as caretaker’s health, state of environment, and health and welfare of the animals present.

• Managing any required intake may be a reasonable response, as might sheltering in place at the home, if appropriate for the safety of all involved. (Managed intake refers to a thoughtful process where admission to the shelter is either diverted completely or to a later time (i.e. scheduled) based on the shelter’s capacity to provide care and in some cases, assure a live outcome for each animal admitted. While it might be expected that diverting or scheduling intake would lead animals to be abandoned or suffer worse harm in the community than would be incurred by admission to a crowded shelter, in practice these fears have not been borne out. Further information on Managed Intake can be found here.
  

6.      All Local Government staff need to take extra measures to protect themselves, and to reduce their role in transmitting the COVID-19 virus. The use of appropriate PPE and adherence to personal and workplace hygiene measures has never been more important. 

• In the event that staff do have to engage with the community there should be protocols in place that include strict no contact and hygiene practices (i.e. no sharing of pens or other equipment, 1.5 – 2 metres physical separation at all times etc.)

• Where possible, separating staff into rotating teams to minimise contact between key staff members, will assist in ensuring that unaffected staff are available for essential duties in the event a staff member may not be able to attend work.
  

7.      Cleaning protocols should be reviewed to ensure that vehicles, equipment, facilities and public spaces are being dealt with according to current recommendations.

•  Cleaning methods, as well as products used, should be reviewed and updated where necessary.
  

8.      It is imperative that the community is kept up to date with any changes to services and any current advice around the disease and their pets. The existing advice is that pets do not pose a risk to caretakers by direct transmission of the COVID19 virus.

Thank you for all that you do. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance with any of the above during this current challenging situation.

Links to expert and official information – in no particular order

Australian:

1. Australian Government Department of Health -https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert 

2. Australian Veterinary Association -  https://www.ava.com.au/coronavirus/

International:

1. University of Florida Shelter Medicine program -  http://bit.ly/UFCovid

2. National Animal Care & Control Association - https://www.nacanet.org/covid19/

3. American Pets Alive! - http://bit.ly/AMPACovid

4. World Health Organisation -  https://www.who.int/emergen…/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

5. World Organisation for Animal Health - http://bit.ly/3OIECovid

6. HeARTspeak - http://bit.ly/HeARTspeakCovid

7. UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program - http://bit.ly/KoretCovid19

8. Humane Society of the United States - https://www.animalsheltering.org/COVID19

9. Association for Animal Welfare Advancement - http://bit.ly/AAWACOVID19

10.  https://www.avma.org/res…/animal-health-and-welfare/covid-19 

The information for the above statement was sourced from the above organisation’s resources and links.

Domestic Cat Management Survey – Call for participants

RSPCA Australia released a report titled ‘Identifying best practice domestic cat management in Australia’ in May last year. Given the ongoing focus on domestic cat management, RSPCA Australia will be hosting a Feline Futures 2020 seminar in April this year in Melbourne, which is intended to bring together diverse stakeholders from government, industry, animal welfare, academia, cat owners/carers and the wider community to share knowledge and experiences to identify key challenges and opportunities to achieve more humane management of domestic cats.

As part of the Feline Futures 2020 seminar, the RSPCA has invited AIAM - Australian Institute of Animal Management Inc. to provide a short presentation on local government strategies for the management of domestic cats. This survey aims to collect relevant data which will be essential in providing an overview.

It is hoped that by sharing this information at the seminar, key priority areas will be identified for future collaborative work. The contribution by local government officers is greatly valued.

Please take the time to complete this survey - the results will be fascinating, incredibly useful and will provide important information for all stakeholders.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S5DVTK6