Unfortunately, modern people are rarely distinguished by responsibility and kindness, so the streets are gradually filled with abandoned and stray animals. Given such unpleasant circumstances, there are still citizens who show sympathy for the lost or abandoned pets. Each individual person can help several cats or dogs, but for a larger project, you need to study in detail the question of how to open a shelter for homeless animals.
Kind of activity
Before you open a shelter for animals, you should decide what kind of services it will provide. Since the shelter itself practically does not make a profit and is maintained at the expense of caring citizens and sponsors, the possibility of own earnings will not be superfluous.
On the basis of the shelter you can open:
- veterinary clinic;
- hotel for animals;
- dog training courses;
- grooming and so on.
All commercial activities must be carried out in parallel with the direct responsibilities of the organization, which includes providing animals:
- housing;
- food;
- treatment
- vaccinations;
- sterilization;
- host search.
If desired, as, for example, many animal shelters in Moscow do, you can also organize stray pets.
Search for funds
With any option for choosing the activities of the shelter, a starting amount is required for its opening, and rather big. At the construction and organization stages, ordinary citizens rarely donate their money, complaining about the dishonesty of others. You can start construction on your own if you have enough money at your disposal, or you can attract famous personalities, local politicians or other wealthy citizens to the problem as sponsors of charity.
Many are interested in how to open an animal shelter with state support. It is easy to do this by contacting local authorities with a corresponding request, but the option of a municipal shelter will always be far from ideal content. The fact is that the source of its financing is the state, which allocates too few funds for the normal maintenance of animals.
Team Matching
Before you open a shelter for animals, even if you already have money for this, you need to select the future staff of the organization. In any case, one person will not be able to cope with all duties, and for animals it is important that they be loved and understood, especially for those who have already survived the betrayal. All employees of the shelter should be warm to their wards, regardless of their position.
Usually the staff of the shelter always has:
- manager;
- veterinarian;
- veterinarian assistants;
- daily animal care staff;
- people cleaning rooms after animals;
- night watchmen.
Also, depending on the expansion of activities in the state, there may be a dog handler, a driver, a person catching animals from the street, and so on.
Registration of activities
So, how to open an animal shelter, where to start, what documents to collect and who to contact? The first step is to visit the local department of public organizations of the city or region and register. You can choose several options for this.
Disinterested option
For a municipal shelter, a non-profit form is best suited.It implies a ban on commercial activities on the territory of the organization, but at the same time expands the possibilities for obtaining various benefits from the state. Animal shelters in Moscow operating under this system receive subsidies, pay taxes at reduced rates, and receive additional funding from charitable donations. Unfortunately, this form of organization will pay for itself only after a dozen years, given that incoming funds should be spent exclusively on the needs of the shelter by 80%.
Extra profit
How to open an animal shelter that will bring money or at least pay back its investments in a short time? For this, it is legally necessary to immediately formalize the organization as a commercial one. This form allows the provision of additional paid services in the territory of the shelter. The list of such services is not limited by anything, since the amount for the payment of wages to employees does not have a clear framework.
Such a shelter can provide for itself by receiving money:
- from providing veterinary care to pets;
- cosmetic procedures for animals;
- conducting dog training courses and so on.
At the same time, commercial organizations do not receive funding from the state and do not have any benefits.
In fact, the question of how to open an animal shelter in Russia is very complex, and without legal assistance from a specialist in the proper design of the organization and its further maintenance, few will cope. If there is a desire to really help our smaller brothers and keep the shelter for many years, you should have a personal legal consultant who is able in any situation to defend the interests of a charity.
Choosing the right place
The main rule that you should know before opening an animal shelter is that it should be no closer than 300 meters from the nearest apartment building. Attention should also be paid to the area of the territory, which ideally should be at least a hectare of land with the ability to organize walking for animals. Given this, it is best to choose a place outside the city or in the wasteland, within the village. Land outside the city will cost an order of magnitude cheaper when buying or renting.
Cost of required facilities
For the accelerated installation process of buildings, you can use frame construction, but even without special finishing this stage will take several million rubles, because heating, water supply, drainage, electricity wiring and much more will be required. An important condition for shelters is a solid floor covering in the premises and throughout the organization, in order to keep cleanliness easier. This leads to the need for asphalting or concreting, and, therefore, additional costs. Also, the shelter should have a perimeter fence with a minimum height of 2.5 meters.
Internal separation
Most often, dogs and cats turn out to be stray, so most rooms should be oriented to them. For hamsters, rats, mice, parrots, turtles and other small pets, it is enough to purchase one rack, designed for ten individuals. It will be filled in case of bringing the animals by unscrupulous owners themselves.
So how to open an animal shelter from scratch? The construction of the building should take into account the need for separation of premises:
- for newly arrived pets;
- sick animals;
- healthy cats;
- healthy dogs;
- feed storage;
- staff.
Other premises:
- manager's office;
- veterinary office;
- shower for animals;
- crematorium or morgue.
In addition, all sick animals must be sorted by disease and kept separately. New inhabitants are necessarily divided into single cells, from which they are transferred to the rest only after bathing, vaccination, treatment against fleas and helminths.
In case of feeding animals with non-dry food, additional kitchen equipment will be required. Excessive consumption of dry food can cause kidney and urethra diseases.
Showers are required for regular animal hygiene, because in an attractive, clean form they are more likely to find a new home. In addition, it is desirable that there are detergents for pets.
External premises
Premises for healthy animals are designed for puppies, kittens and cats. Adult dogs are kept outdoors, in booths or aviaries, in groups. Only the aggressive ones who gave birth to mothers with puppies or the lost pets picked up on the street are separated separately. Since dogs are quite active, the area of enclosures should be at least three squares per one large individual. If a hotel is organized at the shelter, then such premises should be organized separately from keeping homeless animals, preferably on the opposite side of the territory. And most importantly, all pens should have a ceiling of at least a metal mesh, so that the pets could not get out and escape.
Cats can also be kept outdoors in groups, but in special houses. Separately, cats with kittens and aggressive individuals sit down.
Veterinary Office
The equipment of this room requires an investment of several million rubles, so solving the problem of how to open a shelter for animals, where to get money and hire decent employees is not an easy task. The veterinary room should accept all new arrivals, provide assistance to already living pets and, possibly, third-party clients.
For high-quality and full-fledged work of a qualified doctor, a hospital should be equipped here in which animals will be under anesthesia and in the subsequent postoperative period or seriously ill. An operating table, a couch for examination, cabinets for medicines, equipment, disinfection and other things must be mandatory.
Purchase of additional equipment
This includes special cages for cats and dogs. As a rule, shelters contain several dozen animals, so the purchase of cages should take into account the ability to place each animal separately. Finished products cost about 100 thousand rubles for 4 small cages, which are suitable for both cats and dogs of small breeds. Large individuals should be kept in small enclosures, the cost of which is within 60 thousand. It is possible to save on the acquisition of a sufficient number of cells if you purchase them in bulk or hire a caring craftsman for their manufacture.
Cost calculation
So how much does it cost to open an animal shelter? The total amount is poured into millions, given the hiring of a lawyer, promotions, the purchase of feed and other supplies. The largest costs are for the rental of premises and land or their purchase. The construction of a new building, the purchase of equipment and various medicines are also tangible in terms of money.
In addition, one should take into account the need to pay employees monthly salaries, the fund of which averages 100 thousand. You will also need to pay utility bills, taxes, purchase animal feed, upgrade medicines, consumables, and so on.
Opening a shelter for animals, one should not rely on high profits, sometimes such organizations barely keep afloat and operate at a loss only thanks to the love and sympathy of the organizers for animals. If additional paid services are organized on the territory of the shelter, its payback period can be reduced to two years, but at the same time, it will not be possible to count on help from the state during the absence of clients. Do not be indifferent, if you yourself cannot organize an animal shelter, then try to help existing ones.
