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Comcast Publishes Results of Pet Adoption Trends Survey

 
Submitted on Jan 19, 2010 (Original item from 2009) | | |
by Comcast Pet Adoptions
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Short Description:
The results of Comcast's annual animal shelter survey found that the current economic recession has both impacted adoption rates and tightened the standards of shelters for potential adopters.

Abstract:

Among the results of this survey of local animal shelter directors, Comcast found that:

  • Half of shelters now exercise higher standards for adoption approvals during the holiday season, because of the recession.
  • As the result of the recession, shelters have had a higher intake of animals, while two-thirds have also noticed a drop in adoptions.
  • Fewer people are adopting over the holiday season; two-thirds of shelters saw holiday adoptions decrease by one-fifth.
  • Cats are less expensive to maintain, but they are harder to place than dogs.
  • Factors that shelters look for in adopters include lifelong commitment to pet care (44%), responsibility (28%), and lifestyle match (28%).
  • 60% of the animals placed were adults; 40% were puppies or kittens.
  • The best predictor of people who are going to adopt is previous experience. Three-quarters of those who adopt had taken home shelter animals before.
  • Slightly more than half of all adoptions are family decisions, about a third are made by moms alone, and kids and dads have a say about 5% of the time.
http://www.oregonlive.com/pets/index.ssf/2009/12/comcast_pub...

Spot Check Number: 1270
Sponsor: Comcast Pet Adoptions
Researcher/Author: Comcast Pet Adoptions
Animal Type: Dogs, Cats, Companion Animals
Record Type: News Article
Research Method: Unknown or Not Applicable
Geographic Region: United States National
Number of Participants: 25
Population Descriptors: Shelter directors
Year Conducted: 2009
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The 25 participants

Submitted by Kmunsell on Mon, 2011-01-10 08:03.
The 25 participants mentioned in this citation actually refers to the number of cities from which participating shelters were surveyed, so from the underlying reference piece, it's difficult to tell exactly how many shelters were included in this research. In addition, if the underlying reference does not include specific information such as research methodology, we cite it as "unknown" in our summary. We make our best effort to locate the details of each research piece cited, but in some cases, these details are not always available. However, it is our objective to present as much info as possible about these items, as well as to point out the existence of such research itself so that users will at least be aware of existing research to the fullest extent possible. Thanks for your comment.
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25 participants out of

Submitted by mehaight on Sun, 2011-01-09 15:28.
25 participants out of thousands? What areas of the US were they from? Sounds rather unreliable as a data point to cite,and what's with the unknown research method? Even if the research was focused on one group of shelters, like the city run ACCs, or only on shelters who had x number of animals coming through their doors per annum, or only on shelters who had budgets of x, asking salient questions as qualifiers: Do you lease or own the place where you conduct business; are you the shelter or adoption director for the shelter and how long have you held this position; what are your annual adoption rates and kill (euthanasia if you must) rates of adoptable animals; are you a licensed facility with a 501c3 not for profit tax certificate? The responses may as well have been anecdotal, not taken from actual records. This is something I would expect to see in USA Today, not here. Perhaps I'm being harsh, but this is something I could do on my own as a blogger and look to orgs like yours for actual data and generally accepted standards of research. Casual news I can get from Reuters or the aforementioned paper, and this seems more like a feel good press release for what good guys Comcast are.
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