If your shelter or rescue is involved in TNR or Community Cat programs, Shelterluv's map-based Field Services product can be very useful for you. Our general user guide for the Field Services product can be found here. Below are a few pointers for how to use this functionality for your TNR purposes specifically:
Tracking Colonies
- A case can be created for each of your colonies. (Learn more about creating a case.)
- There is a dedicated case type called "Wildlife," with a subtype for "Trapped."
- The colony caretaker can be recorded as an "Associated Person" on that case. For the person role, you can use "Colony Caretaker." (Learn more about associated people.)
- The case can be assigned to the colony caretaker (if they are a Shelterluv user) or a staff member / volunteer that is helping manage that colony.
- Each trapping effort can be recorded as an associated activity with that case (see below for more details on this). This way, you can look at that one case (the colony) and see all the associated activities (all the times you've trapped there) in one place. (Learn more about using cases vs. activities.)
Tracking Trapping Activities
- An activity can be created for each time trapping occurs. (Learn more about creating an activity.)
- There is a dedicated activity type called "Community Cat Program," with a few different subtype options to choose from: Trap, Clinic Drop-Off, Clinic Pick-Up, Release.
- When you create the trapping activity, you can associate it with that colony's existing case.
- You can assign that activity to the person who is doing the trapping.
- You can include a memo on the activity to record details about the trapping, like information on the spay/neuter clinic the trapped cats are headed to and who is transporting them. (Learn more about using memos.)
- If you're working with a clinic, you can add the clinic as an "Associated Partner" on the trapping activity.
- You can also create an activity for each call you receive from community members.
Creating Animal Records / Intaking Animals
If you're going to be intaking these animals in your main Shelterluv account, we recommend creating/linking the Associated Person to the case/activity first without creating any animal records until they have been trapped. The Associated Person might be the colony caretaker or the generic "Unknown Person" record that comes with your Shelterluv account.
Once the trapping is done and the animals are in your custody, you can create the animal records from your main Shelterluv account as Feral / Wildlife intakes under the Associated Person. Once this is done, you can go back to the Field Services case/activity and link these Associated Animals; they should automatically show up for you to quickly select since they were created under the Associated Person. (Learn more about creating and intaking animals.)
Note: For Feral / Wildlife intakes, we recommend creating the animal records from your main Shelterluv account instead of from the Field Services side. When you create animal records through Field Services, they show up as a "Previously Owned Animal" with limited options for intake (service, owner surrender, stray).
Using Dispatch View
You can see all of your cases (colonies) and activities (trappings) on a map using the Dispatch View. (Learn more about using the Dispatch View.)
Using Statuses
Both cases and activities have several "status" options. (Learn more about these statuses.)
- "New" status can be used for colonies/trapping activities where the work hasn't been started yet.
- "Open" status can be used to indicate which colonies/trapping activities are in progress or ongoing.
- "Completed" and "Closed" statuses can be used to indicate when a single trapping activity is completed and when trapping in that colony is mostly (or totally) complete.
- Please note that "Closed" activities can be re-opened but "Closed" cases cannot. If there is a chance that you will be revisiting a colony in the future, we recommend keeping their case as "Completed" instead of closing it out completely.
Using Priority Levels
Priority levels for each case and activity can be used to indicate to your team where to focus their efforts first. (Learn more about priority levels.)
- The highest priority levels (P1 and P2) can be used to indicate the colonies that are highest risk, most active, and/or have no caretaker.
- Lower priority levels (P3, P4, and P5) can be used for colonies that are smaller and/or well-managed.