Shelters Reflect but Cannot Solve Underlying Problems with Relinquished and Stray Animals—A Retrospective Study of Dogs and Cats Entering and Leaving Shelters in Denmark from 2004 to 2017

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Large numbers of dogs and cats end up as stray and homeless animals, and they are often viewed as a problem. Animal protection non-governmental organizations (NGOs), particularly in the Western world, have established shelters to deal with this issue. Their ideal goal is to rehome stray and abandoned dogs and cats to avoid them living difficult lives as strays or being euthanised. The current study assessed the number of cats and dogs entering and leaving shelters in Denmark over a 14-year period and aimed to determine how well this goal has been achieved. Denmark is interesting because there are no stray dogs, while cats to a large extent roam freely. In the case of dogs, there was a relatively low and slight decreasing intake and a low euthanasia rate during the period. From the start there was a higher intake and a higher euthanasia rate for cats, and during the period shelters had a 250% increase in the intake of cats. Although a larger number of cats were adopted, the proportion of shelter cats that were euthanised increased from 15% to 29%. Increased shelter capacity by itself cannot solve the problem with stray cats. ABSTRACT: Data covering about 90% of the estimated intake of dogs and cats to Danish shelters from 2004 to 2017 were used to study the effects of tight control of dogs and of efforts to increase shelter services for unwanted or stray cats. During the period, there was a low and decreasing intake of dogs, while the annual proportion of euthanised dogs increased from 6% to 10%. The number of cats entering shelters increased by about 250%, while the annual proportion of euthanised cats increased from 15% to about 29%. At the same time, there seemed to be a decrease in the population of stray cats. The major increase in cat intake may be due to animal protection non-governmental organizations (NGOs) making it easier to relinquish cats into shelters. Dog shelters can successfully handle surplus animals because dogs are well controlled by owners and are tightly regulated. Cats are more difficult to confine, are often allowed to roam freely and are less regulated. Therefore, cat shelters cannot solve the problem of surplus cats on their own. It is argued that an economic analysis may serve as a point of departure for a discussion on better policy making for NGOs in charge of shelters.