Free-roaming and surrendered dogs and cats submitted to a humane shelter in wellington, New Zealand, 1999–2006

Abstract

Aims: To describe submissions of dogs and cats to an animal welfare shelter over a 6-year period, and to evaluate the association between the numbers of dogs and cats submitted per square kilometre, human population density, and standardised measures of socioeconomic deprivation. Methods: Details of free-roaming and surrendered dogs and cats presented to the Wellington shelter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for the period 01 July 1999 to 28 February 2006 were recorded in a relational database. Data were plotted as counts of animals presented to the shelter each month as a function of calendar time. Kernel-smoothing techniques were used to describe the spatial ..