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How Delaware Created a Statewide Office of Animal Welfare- A Model for Advocates · The Animal Advocate

0:00
Welcome back to the Animal Advocate. Over the past decade,
0:04
Delaware has sterilized more than 40,000 pets and
0:08
vaccinated over 31,000 animals against rabies. Through a
0:12
single coordinated program, They've achieved a
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90% save rate across their shelter system. How?
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By doing something most states haven't done, creating a
0:23
centralized office of Animal Welfare that coordinates
0:27
everything from lost pets to cruelty investigations to
0:31
subsidized spay neuter programs.
0:37
Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal
0:41
lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become
0:44
effective advocates. I'm your host, Penny Ellison,
0:48
and I've taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania
0:52
since 2006. If you've ever thought
0:56
someone should do something about that, I'm here to guide you on
0:59
your journey to being that someone. You can find
1:03
us on the web@animaladvocacyacademy.com
1:07
and that's where you'll find show notes and resources, and you can
1:11
send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you'd like
1:15
to hear on future shows. So on to today's
1:18
topic.
1:25
Today I'm joined by two leaders from Delaware's Office of Animal
1:29
Welfare, Joanna Miller, who serves as Deputy Director and
1:33
is a licensed veterinary technician, and Melody Purdy, the
1:36
spay and neuter program Coordinator. Delaware
1:40
established its Office of animal welfare in 2013
1:44
to consolidate and coordinate all companion animal programs
1:47
in the state. Instead of having animal services scattered
1:51
across multiple agencies and jurisdictions, and everything
1:55
operates under one coordinated office. Lost
1:59
pets, animal control, cruelty investigations,
2:02
and subsidized spay neuter programs all work together.
2:07
Delaware's model of centralizing all companion animal programs at the
2:11
state level under the Division of Public Health
2:14
remains relatively unique. What makes
2:18
Delaware's approach particularly effective is that subsidized spay
2:22
neuter program. The program serves both low income
2:25
pet owners who might otherwise be unable to afford these services
2:29
and provides grants to shelters and rescues to subsidize
2:33
spay neuter for homeless animals, including trap neuter return
2:37
programs for community cats. This two pronged approach,
2:41
helping people keep their pets while also addressing shelter
2:45
populations, is exactly the kind of upstream thinking we've been
2:49
talking about on this podcast. Joanna and Melody are going to
2:52
walk us through how this system works, what challenges they
2:56
faced, and most importantly, how advocates in other states
3:00
can learn from Delaware's model to push for similar programs in
3:03
their own communities. So let's get started.
3:07
Welcome Joanna and Melody to the Animal Advocate. Thanks for having us here
3:11
today. I am excited to talk to you guys about the Delaware
3:14
Office of Animal welfare, because most states don't have one. I don't think
3:18
Pennsylvania certainly doesn't. But I just connected with a woman in Vermont
3:22
who's there first director of Animal Welfare. So I'm hoping that it's a
3:25
growing trend. So can you tell me why Delaware
3:29
established an office of Animal Welfare? Like what concerns were they trying to address?
3:33
Yeah, so back in early 2013,
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there were some concerns about how animals were being treated in
3:40
shelters. So a lot of the stakeholders in the area put their
3:44
heads together and said, you know, how can we fix this problem? So the
3:47
General assembly actually formed a stakeholder or a task
3:51
force and they were able to develop legislation and create our
3:55
office. So a 2013 is, is when our office actually was
3:58
created. Can you tell me what, what animal welfare was like in
4:02
Delaware before they formed that task force and what really motivated
4:06
them? Absolutely, Ken. I was working in the veterinary
4:09
field. So I was in and out of shelters back then teaching some
4:13
classes. And you could really see the difference from now and
4:17
then. You know, animals, when they came into the shelters, they
4:20
weren't treated the same as they are now. They didn't receive the veterinary care that
4:24
they receive now. And it was a little bit more biased. Anything with a
4:28
blocky head really wasn't making it to that adoption floor. So we
4:31
weren't seeing, you know, the chance that they're given today the behavioral
4:35
advantages that they have now. They were euthanizing most of the dogs
4:39
that looked like bit mixes. Yes. And not all the shelters, not
4:43
all of them. But they were concerned about euthanasia rates. Correct. This was
4:46
before no kill was around. So can you tell me
4:50
what all functions now are grouped within the Office of Animal Welfare?
4:54
Sure, I'd be happy to. So one of the main things that we do is
4:57
we regulate the shelters in the state. So we have a law
5:01
called the shelter standards law that every shelter needs to
5:05
follow. We do annual shelter inspections. We do
5:08
inspections. If there's any, you know, complaints from
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constituents, we'll follow up on them. We run a pretty
5:16
big healthy spay neuter program, as you know. We also
5:19
have Delaware Animal Rescue, which if case we have any
5:23
natural disasters that come into our state, we're prepared to handle them
5:27
by setting up shelter. Those are co located shelters with people
5:31
and pets. We also have a rabies remittance
5:34
program which Mel will talk about, which is part of our spayneater program.
5:38
Those are some examples that we have within our animal welfare program.
5:42
Okay. And I'm not sure you mentioned this, but do you also Enforce the animal
5:45
cruelty laws? We do, yes. So that would be our Delaware
5:49
Animal Services. Okay, that's. I wasn't sure of that. So animal
5:53
control is also under you? It is in the Office of Animal Welfare. Yes.
5:57
Because that's sort of the big difference is all of those services in
6:00
Pennsylvania, and I think probably most states, they're
6:03
fragmented and municipalities do animal control. And
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if you witness cruelty, you might be able to call your police, but
6:11
they'll probably refer you to, in Pennsylvania a Humane Society
6:14
police officer that's sworn in your county that might work for, for any
6:18
one of a number of nonprofits. So I think from the public
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perspective, it's not always clear where to go to get help for all of these
6:26
issues. So that's why I think that's such a great advantage to have one place
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to say, let me call the Office of Animal Welfare and see what I'm supposed
6:32
to do in this situation. Yeah, and I'm actually glad you said that because
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that was One big problem 10 years ago is no
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one knew where to call. I've lost my pet or I'm seeing
6:44
animal cruelty. They didn't know where to go. That has really
6:47
improved in our state because if you have a stray pet, pet, everybody knows
6:51
where they need to go to look for them. If they need a report, we
6:53
have a dispatch center you can call. We'll give you any information.
6:57
Stray pet, lost pet, animal cruelty. So it's a one
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stop shop now. So people know where to go in the state, which has been
7:04
a huge advantage. That's amazing. I bet that results in a lot
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more returns to owner. Absolutely. So you mentioned spayneuter, which
7:12
is of course one of my areas of interest is trying to get more accessible
7:15
spay neuter services to try to lift the burden off
7:18
shelters. Because it's my perception, and you can correct me if
7:22
I'm wrong, that there is a lot of need and interest
7:26
out there for people that would be willing to spay or neuter their
7:30
pet, but they either financially or transportation wise or
7:33
some other. Some. They have some barrier to accessing those services. So.
7:37
So tell me how that spay neuter program works in
7:40
Delaware and how you reach low income people. So the program
7:44
was designed to make spay neuter accessible for pet
7:48
owners who otherwise could not afford it, and then also to support
7:51
rescues working with homeless animals. So when the Office of Animal
7:55
Welfare was established in 2013, one of its key
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responsibilities became managing this program. The program actually had already
8:02
existed and was handled by Department of Agriculture before then. It Was
8:06
small, but it was transferred over to Office of Animal Welfare. The program, it
8:10
works by funding the surgeries for dogs and
8:13
cats. And we focus on owned and low
8:17
income Delaware residents and homeless animals taken in by
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local shelters and rescues and also committed to cats through TNR
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programs as well. Everything you guys are saying is telling me
8:28
that Delaware pays for a lot of things that other
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states don't pay for, like enforcement of the cruelty laws. You know, in
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Pennsylvania, those officers are employed by nonprofit organizations
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that have to raise the money to pay them and buy the vehicles and all
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of that stuff. And in Delaware, that's all part of your office and
8:47
that's taken care of. There's data employees. And when you just said about spay
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neuter. So the state is also taking on the responsibility to provide
8:54
spay neuter services to owned animals and
8:58
to shelters so that they don't have to incur that expense to
9:02
spay and neuter the animals that they take in. That's amazing. Tell me
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how many pets that you're. You're serving through that program and
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has it been increasing lately? I know that shelter intake has been
9:13
increasing. With the economic factors that are out there now. Do you see a lot
9:16
of demand for the services? Yes, we do. So we've
9:20
had an increase in revenue in the past few years because the
9:23
Spaniater fund, it's funded through three components.
9:27
You know, revenue. Talk about that. Yes. But I want to make sure that advocates
9:31
know, like, where does this money come from and how might we do it in
9:34
our state? Because that kind of really reflects where the numbers have gone in the
9:37
past few years. We receive a rabies vaccination
9:41
surcharge. It's a $3 surcharge that's applied to
9:45
rabies vaccinations that are administered to cats and dogs in Delaware.
9:49
So any vet that gives a rabies shot then sends the $3 to the
9:53
spay neuter fund. Yep. So each month, any. Any rabies
9:57
that's given those are collected each month and they're turned into our
10:00
offices. That's great because you have to keep track of rabies vaccines
10:04
anyway for public health purposes. Yep. So we get the reporting for
10:07
that and then we get their surcharge fees in addition to. And
10:11
I would just add to that. That cost is actually coming from the client.
10:15
The veterinarian is not paying that $3. That $3 is
10:19
added to their rabies vaccine. And then the veterinarian collects that
10:22
money at the end of the month and sends it in. So the veterinarian's not
10:26
paying that themselves. So it's pet owners and pet lovers who are helping
10:30
finance this spay neuter services for people who can't afford it. That makes
10:34
it a little bit easier for them when they want to know why. Yeah, and
10:38
it is nice. I mean, they do have the administrative burden of sending in that
10:41
money, but they can, you know, they just run a report, total those up, and
10:44
then send them in each month. So we also receive pet food registration
10:48
fees. So which companies that are selling pet food in Delaware, they
10:52
have to pay a fee on each brand of food distributed within the state
10:56
each year. So that's our new source of funding, Joe. I
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think it's about three years ago now. We've run about our third year of funding,
11:04
and it's been increasing each year. Do you know how much they
11:07
pay per brand now? It's a hundred dollars, right? Per brand.
11:11
So, yeah. So each year they pay $100 per brand. That
11:15
doesn't seem terribly burdensome. That. Yeah, money's collected by our
11:18
Department of Agriculture, and they give us a portion of that.
11:22
So of the dog and cat food sales comes to us. So
11:26
that contributes a majority of our funding at this time for the
11:29
Spay Neater program is through that. And then thirdly, we have
11:33
an animal welfare license plate that we sell, and then we. We receive a
11:37
portion of those funds each month as well. So before pet food
11:41
fees were collected, our revenue was steady at about
11:44
$350,000 a year. But over the last three years, our revenue
11:48
has increased each year. So we've grown to around $1.5 million
11:52
annually, which is new for us. So of that, we
11:56
typically set aside $350,000 for owned pet vouchers
12:00
only because that's what we're seeing the demand is right now.
12:03
But owned pets, our number one priority. So we can shift
12:07
additional funds over that way if increase in demand
12:10
grows. So the program's always. That part of the program is a top
12:14
priority. Then we look at what's left, and then we decide how much are we
12:18
going to give to nonprofits. So let's go. Let's break that down. So you're saying
12:21
your number one priority is owned pets, and that's done through
12:25
a voucher program. So if I live in Delaware, how do I go about
12:28
getting a voucher for own pets? The funding comes from in the form of
12:32
vouchers, and these can be used at participating providers across the state of
12:35
Delaware. Providers accept the vouchers and perform the surgeries, and then they're
12:39
reimbursed by the program. So if you're a resident that's interested in the program,
12:44
you would either reach out to our department. We have a website,
12:46
spainunitedelaware.com and all the information that you would need
12:50
is on there if you needed to contact us by phone. If you're ready to
12:53
complete an application, there's eligibility information on the website
12:57
and you can apply right there. It's just a quick embedded form on the website
13:01
asking for your name, your information eligibility, which is just
13:05
your assistance program that, that you belong to. If
13:09
you can select one of those that make you eligible, then you get
13:12
moved forward and you get approved for that voucher. You can apply up to five
13:16
pets and then within 30 days it's approved.
13:20
And then you receive that by mail or by email, whatever you
13:24
choose. And then you get that, take that voucher, you get an approval letter
13:27
with instructions in the mail or by email, take that to a participating
13:31
vet and then that's it. That's your transaction right there. As long as you have
13:35
that in hand, you can get your services. And what that covers
13:38
is going to be your surgery and your, you know, we cover
13:42
specific complications that can be invoiced. It covers a rabies vaccination.
13:46
Right. And yeah, I was hoping for just painkillers. It covers complications
13:50
too. So it's also painkillers. Yeah,
13:54
that's great. So you said you have, at this point you have
13:57
350,000 set aside for this owned program. You have
14:01
to be a participant in some federal or state program in order to
14:04
qualify for that. But then you get a list of participating vets and you
14:08
go to. That's, that's amazing. You also mentioned. So you do that
14:12
first and then you see what's left over that you can assist
14:15
shelters with. And then how does the shelter assistance work? Do
14:19
they apply for grants? So we have a grant program
14:23
that is an annual grant. So each year nonprofit animal
14:27
welfare groups can apply through a competitive grant
14:30
process. Interested applicants can apply every year
14:34
for these grants up to $125,000 worth of spay neuter
14:38
surgeries right now at this time. And that, that is for their animals,
14:42
their in house animals, or also to do it for the community. That's for homeless
14:45
pets only. So you know which, which we do focus on
14:48
outdoor cats, community cats. We meet with different
14:52
shelters and rescues throughout the year just to collect feedback on where
14:56
the focus needs to be, where the demand is. And you know, cats are
14:59
community cats, tnr, feral cats, you know, have been a
15:03
main focus for the past few years. So we've really dedicated a
15:07
majority of the grant funding towards those purposes, but also
15:11
just high impact clinics that can, that can do more, can
15:15
use a lot more funding. So. And you keep track of the impact
15:19
that those programs are having in terms of the number of surgeries that you're
15:22
funding? Yes, we do. So each year we have to
15:26
create a report based on the previous year that just showcases what we've
15:30
done for the year. And we also, over the years we've had to
15:34
accommodate providers that participate in the program. So you may
15:37
see differences in numbers because we've raised reimbursement rates one
15:41
year or we've added additional services per animal. You know, we
15:45
decided for homeless, for outdoor cats, community cats to cover, we
15:48
might cover not only rabies, but also, you know, other vaccines
15:52
and flea tick and things like that. So it's the quality of care
15:56
as well that really makes an impact for the rescues.
16:00
And you know, that's money that they're not having to pay for out of their
16:03
own pocket. 100%. That's what I keep thinking about while you're talking is
16:07
that everything you're talking about is something that in most other states
16:10
has to be fundraised for and it impacts the care that you can provide
16:14
if you have to raise every single dollar. And certainly having
16:18
more pets spayed and neutered helps the state,
16:22
it helps the community, it helps the burden on
16:26
the police and the shelters and everyone else. So I can see how you could
16:29
make that case that it makes sense to have them fund it. Yeah, it
16:33
does. And it's a community effort for sure. And we all,
16:36
even, you know, the nonprofits have been great and you know,
16:40
being the office of animal welfare and we may have Delaware animal services
16:44
officers in the field and if there's a situation that comes
16:47
up where there are there, you know, it's a community cat, neighborhood issue, things
16:51
like that. You know, we have rescues that are
16:55
small, volunteer based rescues that step up and will, they'll work
16:59
with us because they've been granted money. And we kind of team up and make
17:03
sure that we can all do something to help these communities or
17:06
people that are calling in for help. Well, that's, that's another reason to
17:10
have this central office of animal welfare, because in other places
17:14
all of the shelters and rescues tend to be like islands and
17:18
there's not as much cooperation like that. So having this central
17:21
point of contact makes, makes all that cooperation possible. And then
17:25
you can accomplish so much more when you're efficient like that like the,
17:29
you have the officers, but maybe they have the foster home to take in that
17:32
cat and then you put your resources together and you can solve more problems.
17:36
Yeah, exactly. So besides the spayneuter program, do
17:40
you have other favorite parts of your office that you're super proud of?
17:43
Jo? I mean, I'm super excited to tell you
17:47
about our new dog license plate that came out this year. That is pretty
17:51
exciting. I could send you a picture of that if you'd like to see it.
17:53
We gave it a makeover this year. We were very excited about that.
17:57
So that is, I think, talk of the town and people are really
18:01
purchasing that plate. I'm seeing it in the wild when I'm driving down the
18:04
highway now, which is really exciting. And I try to take
18:08
pictures when I see them out in the wild too, but that has been really
18:12
exciting. The plate represents our state in a unique way.
18:15
If you can picture this, it's a, basically a dog park.
18:19
There's a tree in the background, there's a golden retriever. That's
18:23
our second favorite or most popular dog in Delaware.
18:27
We have our blocky headed dog also representing
18:31
a cat and bunny, of course, one of my favorite
18:34
animals. So they're all on that plate and it just came out really nice and
18:38
we're really super proud of it. Great. We'll definitely send it so we can, we
18:41
can put it up on the, in the show. Ned. Yeah,
18:45
it's great. And honestly, the office and everything that we do, it's a
18:48
combination of so many people coming together that makes this program
18:52
amazing. I'm not saying it doesn't have flaws or, you know, things that need to
18:56
be updated, but when you, you step back and you look at the whole picture,
18:59
I mean, it's a community trying to help one another. We have, you know, vet
19:03
staff, shelters, rescue volunteers, animal services officers,
19:07
neighbors in Delaware just concerned with one another. And everybody's
19:10
investing, you know, in one thing and that's animal welfare in our state. You know,
19:13
we get calls, we get emails, text messages from individuals trying to
19:17
help somebody by using the program. You know, vets call in because
19:21
they are pulling strings, trying to get somebody that's in front of them the assistance
19:24
that they need. Shelter staff do the same because there's so many people
19:28
that can't afford these surgeries. And we work over the phone to
19:32
get them their information process asap. Rescues, like I said, that
19:36
step in when we need solutions to cat issues and everybody
19:39
provides a helping hand. And I mean, that is success. So
19:43
we've Achieved it, I think, far behind, beyond in my eyes.
19:47
And the rest is just figuring out the logistics. But I mean, if you have
19:50
the need and the want and support in the community, I
19:54
think, you know, anybody can do these types of programs. I couldn't agree
19:58
more. That is so amazing. If you are an animal lover
20:01
in another state now that doesn't have this kind of centralized services,
20:05
I mean, you see the social media posts all the time. What am I supposed
20:08
to do about this? Where do I report it? I can't. You know, it's just,
20:11
it would just, I think, change the world for animals and
20:15
communities. Like you say, they're all pulling together behind this and
20:19
they understand it and it just would, it would change the world for
20:22
animals, I think. So. Thank you guys both for joining me. Keep up the
20:26
good work.
20:29
Joanna, Melody, thank you so much for sharing Delaware's story
20:33
with us. What you've built is truly a model for the rest of the country
20:37
and for everyone listening. I want you to know that both Joanna and
20:41
Melody have generously offered to talk with advocates and who want to
20:45
learn more about bringing a program like Delaware's to their own
20:48
state. They understand that systemic change
20:52
requires sharing what works, and they talked to other people when
20:55
they were getting their program started and they're committed now to helping
20:59
other communities succeed. If you have questions about how
21:03
Delaware structured their office, how they secured funding, how
21:06
they coordinate across different agencies, or any other aspect of
21:10
their model, send those questions to
21:12
us@podcastnimaladvocacyacademy.com
21:17
I'll put a link in the show notes to the laws, especially the ones
21:20
around creating the funding for the spay neuter services. We're
21:24
going to get your questions answered and we might even bring Joanna and
21:28
Melody back for a Q and A segment where they can provide specific guidance.
21:32
You need to spearhead this effort in your state,
21:35
because that's what this podcast is all about, giving you the tools
21:39
and the knowledge to move from compassion into action.
21:44
Delaware has shown us that comprehensive, coordinated animal
21:47
welfare programs aren't just possible. They work.
21:51
They reduce euthanasia, they keep families together with their
21:55
pets, they address animal cruelty more effectively,
21:59
they unite communities, and they create a more humane
22:02
society for everyone. If you're ready to bring this model
22:06
to your state, make sure you're subscribed to the show so you don't
22:10
miss. When we release our special private podcast series called
22:14
the Four Cs of Legislative Advocacy for Animals,
22:18
it's going to be your roadmap for transforming your ideas
22:21
into laws.
22:28
That's it for today. The Animal Advocate Podcast Podcast is brought
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And remember, compassion is great, but
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