{"id":2005,"date":"2018-12-21T18:00:19","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T18:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/?p=2005"},"modified":"2019-01-02T17:53:25","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T17:53:25","slug":"the-healthiest-way-to-serve-vegetables-and-rata-raw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/?p=2005","title":{"rendered":"The Healthiest Way to Serve Vegetables and Data: Raw"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We approach the time of year when animal welfare organizations start sharing their annual animal data.  That means it\u2019s the time of year when I start getting frustrated and annoyed when shelters don\u2019t share their raw<\/em> data.  Raw data is exactly that, it means getting the numbers without them being \u201ccooked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As shelters we may operate and report our numbers as we\nchoose, as long as we can continue to get the support we need to keep the doors\nopen.  We all define terms like \u201csave\nrates\u201d and \u201cpositive outcomes\u201d in different ways.  For example, when we say we \u201csave\u201d 90% or\nmore of our animals, we qualify that as treatable animals.  We exclude some animals from those we\nconsider treatable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We exclude animals that came to us dead (duh).  We exclude animals that came to us for end of\nlife services, (owner requested euthanasia). \nWe exclude animals who fall under rabies law protocols due to\nbites.  So, we do sympathize with those\nwho want to put their best foot, and best outcomes, forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we also report our raw numbers.  We show every single animal entering and leaving our shelters, regardless of how.  We also post a detailed description of every term we use, so you know what we mean when we save \u201ctreatable,\u201d \u201cuntreatable,\u201d or \u201cpositive outcome.\u201d  You and the rest of the public can analyze both our raw data and our contextual data and reach your own conclusions.  Some states, but not Pennsylvania, require this.  We\u2019ve been doing this for 15 years and was among the first in PA to post these numbers online.  It is the only honest way to report numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some organizations only report their \u201csave rates\u201d with no numeric values at all.  That\u2019s not only meaningless, it\u2019s dishonest.  There, I said.  It\u2019s dishonest and deceptive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saying nothing but \u201c90% Saved!\u201d without defining what saved means, or noting how many came in or went out, tells us nothing.  Were 9 out of 10 saved or 900 out of 1,000?  Both are 90%.  Did we include every animal or just those that are savable<\/em>?  That would be like a store having a 50% off sale without telling you the price.  Maybe it\u2019s a good deal.  Or maybe they just always charge a lot and 50% off is still worse than the store next door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pennsylvania should mandate<\/strong>\nconsistent, transparent, and complete reporting.  Until it does, we should demand it, of ourselves\nand of other organizations.  I\u2019m not\nsaying organizations intend to be dishonest, but some do.  I\u2019m not saying it means we put up numbers we\nare not always happy with, we do. I\u2019m not saying reporting it\u2019s not a major\npain in the butt, it is.  Heck, I always\nrun later in posting than I want to because we have to pull together all the\ndata, double and triple check all the numbers, convert the files, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if a dummy like me can do it, so can everyone else. We deal with lives and the public deserves to know the reality behind the work we do on their behalf and with their money.  If we don\u2019t deliver that transparency, we deserve their mistrust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We approach the time of year when animal welfare organizations start sharing their annual animal data.  That means it\u2019s the time of year when I start getting frustrated and annoyed when shelters don\u2019t share their raw data.  Raw data is exactly that, it means getting the numbers without them being \u201ccooked.\u201d As shelters we may …
Read more →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/misleading-data.jpg-large.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2020,"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005\/revisions\/2020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}