Capacity for Care (C4C) is a management model that helps shelters better meet the needs of the animals in their facility. It creates the conditions necessary to provide shelter animals with the Five Freedoms, thereby improving the welfare of individual animals.

Through a generous grant from the Summerlee Foundation, Humane Canada (also known as the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies) brought together the C4C Expert Team from the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program to implement this innovative, ground-breaking program in Canadian shelters.

Below, you will find our final report on the pilot program, which showcases the results from our six pilot sites across Canada. Humane Canada member organizations Prince Edward Island Humane Society, Guelph Humane Society, Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society, SPCA Montreal, Calgary Humane Society and Edmonton Humane Society have each implemented C4C in their shelters, and what they’ve been able to achieve is inspiring.

The case studies below describe the experience of each pilot shelter in putting the new model in place.

Click on the English or French image below to download the document in your language of choice:

To learn more about the installation and use of portals in animal shelters, please go here and search the term “portal”.