As of October 2008, the outcome category RELEASED will be included in monthly reports published online by LAAS.
Question: What are "Released" animals and why is this category now being included in the statistical reports?
Dept. Response: "Because nearly all use of the outcome type RELEASED has been as an alternative for New Hope adoptions, especially with litters, animals with the RELEASED outcome type have been rolled into the New Hope Placements. During the Marek-Sesnon fires, however we released the animals impounded due to the fires using this outcome type because it does not have a charge attached, as does REDEEMED, and we do not charge for animals held in a disaster evacuation to save their lives.
In running detailed reports Dara discovered that as in the recent fires, not everything outcomed as RELEASED was necessarily going to New Hopes--and with some fire or other evacuation nearly every year, along with other reasons for release, that makes sense. For accuracy's sake, Dara split RELEASED into those that went to rescue groups and those that went elsewhere. Thus RELEASED now shows up as an outcome type in the monthly reports. The specific subtypes for RELEASED are: NONE, AT PVT VET, FIELD, OTHER AGCY, OWNER and RESCUE GRP. It was a minor fix that does not alter the totals of animals out."
Summary: So, if we are to understand this correctly,
- Totals for RELEASED do not reflect all animals RELEASED; those animals RELEASED to New Hope Partners are counted as New Hope Adoptions and not RELEASED.
- RELEASED animals are those released to owners, private vets, the field or to some other agency but not to New Hope Partners.
- Excluding dogs, most of the animals released still go to New Hope Partners (most of the dogs you release are going back to their owners).
- And previous stats published over-reported the total number of New Hope Adoptions (by about 100 animals a month).
Dept. Response: "Yes to 1-3, #4 varies from month to month but for the last three years the difference seemed to be about 600-800 a year at the most. In a disaster month, it could be 100 or more, in a regular month, it could be much lower."
