Mark Hall

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• Mark Hall
• CS 410
• Janet Brunelle
• 02/09/10

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Outline

1. Societal problem
2. Why is this a problem?
3. Solution
4. How it works
5. Market
6. Competition
7. Pros
8. Cons

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(No Transcript)
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What is the problem?
Lost and Unwanted Animals More specifically, the
problem is overcrowding in animal shelters.
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Why is this a problem?

• Every year, four to six million dogs and cats
  alone are euthanized (Pet Overpopulation).
• Estimated percentage of lost animals reunited
  with their owners by U.S. animal shelters each
  year 4 percent cats to 14 percent dogs
  (www.arlep.com).
• There are approximately 5000 animal shelters
  within the United States (Watson).

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Other Reasons

• More than half of all Americans are pet owners.
  With more than 72 million dogs and 81 million
  cats in the United States, some 37 percent of
  households include a dog and 32 percent have at
  least one cat (McWhinney).
• Only 15 percent of dogs and 2 percent of cats
  that enter animal shelters are reunited with
  their owners (AHA).
• 56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats that
  enter animal shelters are euthanized (AHA).

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Solution

• Implement a relocation system for the animals
  based on collected data.

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How does it work?

• Each participating animal shelter nationwide gets
  a computer.
• All computers are networked to a central
  database.
• The database organizes all data based on certain
  criteria.
• Emails are sent to the appropriate (relatively
  local) rescue groups.

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Who will want this?

• All the animal shelters across the nation would
  be interested in this product.

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Competition

• The closest competition is an organization called
  the International Species Information System
  (ISIS).

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Solution Benefits

• The main benefit of this solution will be the
  saving of lives of many animals.
• The cost of disposing of the animal corpses and
  the materials used for euthanization will be
  lowered.

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Possible Solution Problems

• Animal transportation costs
• Constant updates on databases
• Operator training and error
• Equipment costs for computers and initial setup
• Getting started with all the shelters nationwide

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Final Thoughts

• Not all animals can be saved. The best that can
  be done is to try and save as many as possible.
  This idea will be a great aide in achieving this
  goal.

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• Questions?

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Sources

• Animal Shelter Euthanasia. American Humane
  Association. 1 Feb. 2010. lthttp//www.americanhuma
  ne.org/about-us/newsroom/fact-sheets/animal-shelte
  r-euthanasia.htmlgt. 2010.
• Horn, Ralph. Mathews County Animal Control
  Officer. Personal Interview. 1 Feb. 2010.
• McWhinney, James E. The Economics of Pet
  Ownership. Investopedia. 31 Jan. 2010.
  lthttp//www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/06/peteco
  nomics.aspgt. 2010.
• Pet Overpopulation. The Humane Society of the
  United States. 31 Jan. 2010. lthttp//www.humanesoc
  iety.org/issues/
• pet_overpopulation/gt. 2010.
• Watson, Stephanie. "How Animal Shelters Work."
  How Stuff Works. lthttp//animals.howstuffworks.com
  /pets/
• animal-shelters.htmgt. 2010.