Posts tagged "animal"

Shelters are the true salvation of many homeless and abused animals. More and more of these facilities are going green to improve the environment, as well as the health of their animals, staff and guests.

Eco Shelters
Here are a few of the rescue organizations that are leading the way.

Dallas, Texas: The city of Dallas opened its eco-friendly animal shelter in 2007. The kennel area sports a ventilation system that minimizes disease and odors by drawing clean air from outdoors. Glass windows let in natural light to cut down on electricity costs. And a waste-water-filtering system reclaims water for kennel wash-downs, the Dallas News reported. The $16.3-million shelter has twice as much space for animals as the city's old shelter.

Middletown, R.I.: The Potter League for Animals was the first animal shelter in the United States to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Gold rating for its energy-efficient facility that opened in 2008. But the Potter League isn't hugging trees at the expense of the pets. Last year, the shelter found adoptive homes for 91 percent of the animals it took in.

Patricia Heller, Director of Development and Outreach at Potter League tells Paw Nation, "One of the biggest benefits to the Potter League's new 'green' shelter is that green buildings are designed to be healthy places for both people and animals. And our green building is a far healthier place for homeless animals. They've seen a reduction in disease in their animals, thanks to their efficient ventilation system and other stress-reducing improvements such as soundproofing and increased natural light.

Milpitas, Calif.: In 2009, Humane Society Silicon Valley opened its sparkling new Animal Community Center, where cats, dogs, rabbits, and other creatures live in sunny, cage-free spaces. With solar panels, a reflective "cool roof," and water-saving synthetic turf in the outdoor dog runs, the shelter is scoring points for pets and the planet.

Laura Fulda, VP, Marketing and Communications for HSSV tells Paw Nation that one of the biggest changes they've noticed is a major reduction in upper respiratory infection in their cats. "Before, there were 30–40 cats in one room. If one of them got sick, they all did," she says. "Now, we have maybe three cats in the sick room at a time." And while they haven't done any scientific studies on this, she says they can see their animals feel better and are happier due to the 100 percent air exchange and natural light, not to mention the soundproof condos for the cats and areas for walks and playtime for the dogs.

Plenty of parents and teachers would swear that service dogs are lifesavers for autistic kids, but in scientific circles, anecdotal evidence doesn't go very far. For that reason, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is offering grants worth $500,000 per year to researchers studying the impact of animals on children's health and development, reports the New York Times. The program is a partnership between the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Development and the Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition, a division of the Mars candy and pet-food company.

It has long been known that the presence of a pooch has a calming influence on many people, according to Pris Taylor, the director of Autism Service Dogs of America (ASDA). "Children with autism have difficulty with emotional relationships. The kids relate better to dogs. The children learn empathy," Taylor told Paw Nation. "We find kids don't have as many tantrums and meltdowns. Anecdotally, speech has increased with the presence of the dog." An autistic child may talk more not only to the dog itself, but also to other people, often about the dog. For a disease characterized by social isolation, that's huge.