Correspondence - #52 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Comparison of the Number of Transfers Dogs Cats Published Shelter Statistics PRA Published Shelter Statistics PRA YEAR Adult Juvenile Total Total I DIFF III Adult Juvenile Total Total 2021 I 522_�_ 54 ' 576 582 I61 361 1,084 1,445 1,451 2022 516 90 606 582 I 24 1 329 1,115 1,444 1,441 - Is there an off -the -books population of animals that come and go? DIFF Is OCAC just unable to keep good data on its animals - and doesn't even know how many it has? - Does nobody at OCAC or OCCR even look at these statistics? This is just another instance of OCAC's casual indifference to maintaining good data, OCCR's lack of oversight, and the inability of OCAC/OCCR to even understand statistics, not even their own. It's no surprise that they've shown an unwillingness to engage with, or respond to, additional analysis offered to them. Another Run, a Different Result Why should we trust the intake and outcome categorizations, inherently trickier, when the more straightforward initial and final counts are grossly erroneous? In fact, there is additional evidence that we shouldn't. PRA 23-462 obtained the monthly and annual numbers of transfers (animals going to rescues or other agencies). We can compare these to the numbers of transfers in the statistics. The Table "Comparison of the Number of Transfers" shows that the numbers don't match. Both sets of numbers are derived from same database. Why should we believe the number published in the statistics is more reliable than the number disclosed in the PRA? What happened to those 24 dogs that are classified as a Transfer in the statistics but not on the PRA? Is it possible - indeed, likely - that other types of intakes and outcomes are misclassified? Might even the total intakes and outcomes be incorrect? No easy excuses A bit of slicing and dicing reveals some likely causes for the discrepancies. Some large discrepancies in the numbers of kittens may be due to fostered kittens not being included in the initial and final counts - but being included in outcomes. It's not clear how they are handled in intake counts. This violates Industry Standards, both Asilomar and Shelter Animals Count. The shelter should be counting all animals that are its responsibility, even if they are temporarily off the premises, whether in foster or for some other reason. Some discrepancies appear to be caused from copying a row in the table from the same row in a previous table, except that it's the wrong previous table. That's an erroneous procedure. The shelter should have a good, clean way to generate these numbers. A comparison to a previous table is an extra sanity -check to do at the end, not a substitute for deriving the right inventory number from the database (or from a walk-through). Again, Industry Standards clearly refer to counting the animals, not just copying a number from somewhere else. A -3 Animal Counts - Page 4 of 6