FKSPCA Update About Our Facilities During Coronavirus Outbreak
| Update About Our Facilities During Coronavirus Outbreak Dear FKSPCA Community, The health and safety of our pets, the community, our staff, and volunteers is our top priority and we are closely monitoring the situation regarding the spread of COVID-19. If we cannot keep our staff and volunteers healthy, we cannot care for the 150+ animals currently housed at our two facilities. We are taking steps to minimize face-to-face interactions, as everyone is going to need to keep practicing social distancing for the foreseeable future. Here’s what that looks like here at the FKSPCA: Effective March 17th, 2020: We prefer to process incoming animals, adoptions, reclaims, and other business by appointment. Please call 305-294-4857 in Key West or 305-743-4800 in Marathon or email info@fkspca.org for assistance. In order to assist our team with more stringent cleaning protocols, the FKSPCA will have reduced hours through March 30th, 2020. The Key West Campus will be open: Monday to Friday: Noon to 4PM Saturday: Noon to 2PM Sunday: CLOSED The Marathon Campus will be open: Tuesday to Friday: Noon to 4PM Saturday & Sunday: Noon to 2PM Monday: CLOSED All of our public events (including Wellness clinics, Kids Club and lectures) have been postponed. For more accurate information regarding specific events please check our website: https://fkspca.org/humane-education-events/upcoming-events/ In order to keep our staff and volunteers safe and in the interest of practicing social distancing, we are asking individuals who are visiting to just look at the animals but are not serious in adopting, to please come back when COVID-19 is over. If you have no real business at the FKSPCA, please refrain from visiting at this time. If you have a question that can be handled by phone or email please use these modes of communication rather then visiting the shelter at this time. To keep our team safe so that they can continue to care for the animals; if you are feeling ill or have had contact with anyone that has or might have Coronavirus, please do not visit our facilities. If you have recently traveled outside of the country, please follow the CDC’s recommendations on self-quarantine after travel and please do not visit our facilities. All non-essential personnel in our organization will be allowed to work remotely. That means we may have minimal staff working at the shelter right now, ensuring that pets are fed, walked and kennels are clean. Due to unexpected high intake of pets or short staff because team members are not able to report to work due to illness, foster homes may be needed to care for animals. We are looking for emergency foster homes that can keep pets for four to six weeks. The goal is to increase our foster base by 50% in case we are forced to close. If you’re interested in fostering a pet, please contact Lindsey in Key West lindsey@fkspca.org or 305-294-4857 or Tara in Marathon tara@fkspca.org or 305-743-4800. If you find a lost pet, please contact us at 305-294-4857 so that we can file a found report. Please consider attempting to get the pet back to its owners through posting flyers and using Lost and Found pages on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/358476147620862/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/LostandFoundPetsFloridaKeys/ Animal Control Officers will only be responding to Priority One calls at this time which include: *Animals in distress or injured *Acts of Animal Cruelty complaints *Bite Reports (Information may be taken over the phone and owner of animal will be required to bring pet to shelter for quarantine if necessary) *Requests for assistance from KWPD or MCSO *Stray animal in custody and finder wishes to have animal picked up as opposed to filing a found report. Animal Control Officers will not be responding to barking complaints or nuisance animal complaints in person as these cases may be handled over the phone. Please call Key West (305-294-4857) or Marathon (305-743-4800) should you have one of these concerns. If possible, in order to help our team in a time of high intake and short staff, pet owners should wait to surrender their pet and attempt to rehome pets to friends and family if they’re able to do so. As a standard best practice, we ask that all pets have proper ID tags with contact information and that their microchip is up to date. This will help your neighbors get your pet back to you in the event they go missing, and will prevent them from having to enter the shelter. We recommend everyone prepare by enabling yourselves to quarantine at home for up to 14 days, which for most of us would include the ability to care for pets during that time. This means you should stock up on pet food, pet medications and supplies for your pet. The FKSPCA relies heavily on revenue from community events throughout the spring and summer to support our lifesaving mission. With the postponement of Spring Social and other events, the FKSPCA will be losing valuable revenue that supports the FKSPCA in its work to shelter, care for and treat medically the animals we serve. If you would like to make a gift to support the FKSPCA and the animals during this difficult time please donate at https://fkspca.org/donate/ or mail to 5711 College Rd. Key West FL 33040. Please mark your gift as emergency funding 2020. We have increased our daily cleaning routine, particularly in common areas and frequently used surfaces. We have made sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer available. We understand that the situation with Coronavirus continues to evolve. As stated, we are monitoring the situation and continue to follow recommendations provided by the Florida Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the State Veterinarian. We will update you as plans change due to situational needs. If you have questions, please email us at info@fkspca.org or call us at 305-294-4857 in Key West and 305-743-4800 in Marathon. With gratitude for your continued support, Tammy Fox Executive Director |