Publications

Reports

Canadian Animal Shelter Statistics
Humane Canada gathers data on the number of animals entering humane society and SPCA shelters and the numbers adopted, returned to their owners or euthanized. This information provides a national picture of the important role shelters play in their communities.

Canadian Standards of Care in Animal Shelters
In 2013, Humane Canada brought together animal shelter thought leaders and stakeholders from across the country to establish Canadian shelter standards. The group accepted the principles of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ (ASV) Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters as a foundational document and contextualized the document for use in Canada. Note that the Canadian document must always be read as a companion to the ASV Shelter Standards.

Cats in Canada 2017
In 2017, Humane Canada reconvened the National Cat Overpopulation Task Force and completed a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder report on cat overpopulation, which acts as a five-year update of our ground-breaking 2012 analysis of cat welfare in Canada – the first report of its kind.

Humane Societies and SPCAs in Canada: A Comprehensive Look at the Sector
This report, available for download in both French and English, provides the first comprehensive analysis of Canada’s sector of humane societies and SPCAs. Using data from a cross-Canada survey and the Canada Revenue Agency’s Registered Charity Information Returns, we look at the sector’s contributions to Canadian society, the volunteer and financial support it receives and some of the challenges it faces.

Case Studies

Capacity for Care Case Studies
Capacity for Care (C4C) is an operations and 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. Read about our three-year pilot project (2014-2017), in which we implemented C4C in six animal shelters across Canada, by downloading our final report for the program.

Toolkits

Accessible Spay/Neuter Toolkit
The Humane Canada report, The Case for Accessible Spay/Neuter in Canada, lays out the evidence for the benefits and savings of implementing spay/neuter programs and provides examples of successful initiatives that can be modelled in other communities. The report also makes recommendations for animal welfare organizations, the veterinary community, and governments to advance accessible spay/neuter. The extensive toolkit that accompanies the report includes educational webinars, additional case studies, implementation tools, funding guidance, advocacy advice and examples of promotional videos on spay/neuter initiatives.