In just two years, Whitney Boswell has redefined the small animal program at OAS, leading to remarkable improvements. In her letter, she shares the dedication and vision that have driven these changes and made a profound impact on the lives of all small animals.
The Small Animal Program at OAS has historically been a volunteer-led program, with no staff members dedicated to running it. Through the hard work of these incredible volunteers over the years, countless animals have been saved from euthanasia and the program has been able to manage quite a large number of rabbits and other small animals whilst having a very small foster and adoption program. Volunteers historically managed the daily care of the animals, with cleaning assistance from the Animal Care Attendants, as well as adoption and foster programs. They also worked tirelessly to network with rescues and encourage them to take these animals into their programs, with the help of our amazing Transfer Coordinator. With such a high level of intakes and no staff members, the Small Animal Program has often been overlooked and more under-resourced than other programs.
When I came on board as head of the program, I was so excited to be able to give the program the time and attention it needed and deserved. I had been a small animal volunteer for about a year at that point, and had come to understand the challenges that the program was facing, and I knew that I wanted to help.
One of the biggest priorities I had when I first started was ramping up our foster program. Not only recruiting new fosters but attending to those applications that had not been followed up on, and setting up a foster program structure that allowed for an efficient and easy set-up for new fosters. As time went on, I also partnered with our social media team to put out calls for fosters, which generated tons of new applications. As the foster program really began to take shape, I also worked on building a rapport with fosters in order to make them feel supported and prioritized, which really increased our retention rate.
Another important piece was ensuring we had a solid volunteer base who was well-trained in adoption counseling and able to spearhead that effort during open adoption hours. With the help of our amazing Volunteer Coordinator, Delphina, we were able to grow the Small Animal volunteer base quite a bit, while also improving upon our adoptions process, resulting in a huge increase in adoptions.
The final piece to my puzzle was to build a program that prioritizes ALL small animals, and gives them the love and attention they all deserve. This included educating our staff and volunteers about the care of guinea pigs, pigeons, reptiles, farm animals, and so many more, in order to ensure we are able to properly care for all of the animals we see come through the shelter. We also began creating social media content, hosting educational pop-ups with rescues, and creating tangible resources that cover the wide range of species that we have in our care.
It has been a joy and an honor to take on this role at OAS, and I couldn’t be more proud to see how far this program has come in the last year and a half. We have more transfers, fosters, and adoptions than ever before, and things are only going to continue to get better. I am excited to continue growing the program, so we can keep helping more animals, and more community members along the way. Increasing access to adoptions and providing continuing support to small animals owners in our community is a huge priority for this upcoming year, and I feel hopeful and excited at the prospect of where the OAS Small Animal Program will go from here.
Thank you to our volunteers, staff, fosters, and adopters for all of your incredible support, we truly could not have done it without you!
Best,
Whitney Boswell
Small Animal Program Coordinator at Oakland Animal Services
The small animal program is supported by funding from Friends of Oakland Animal Services.