News Alert: December 17, 2010

1. Funding Animal Welfare Work Nationwide

Though the ASPCA is headquartered in New York City, our work doesn’t stop there—far from it. Awarding grants is one of the important ways we support programs large and small in every single state. In 2010, the ASPCA was able to help more than 1 million animals through grants, and by the end of the year, we will award over $6 million to animal welfare organizations all around the country.

This year, ASPCA grants went to help organizations bolster spay/neuter programs, cope with natural disasters, care for animals rescued from abusive situations and combat animal cruelty, among many other efforts. Here are just a few of the hundreds of grants that we were able to give this year thanks to the contributions of our dedicated supporters.

• $100,000 to the Louisiana SPCA for the Gulf Coast Companion Animal Relief Program in response to the BP Oil Spill. The program assists families whose livelihoods were affected by the spill with free veterinary care and spay/neuter surgery and provides short-term pet care support.
  
  
• $12,000 to Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue of Lancaster, CA, for veterinary and farrier care for 166 wild horses. Lifesavers rescued the equines from a Nevada livestock auction.
  
  
• $353,000 to New York City Animal Care & Control to help pay for medical care.
  
  
• $4,500 to the Cat Spay/Neuter Connection of Omaha, NE, for a program that helps increase spaying/neutering among pets of low-income families. The program aims to reduce the number of cats and kittens entering local shelters.
  
  
• $3,000 for Shelter from the Storm Rescue in Madison, WI, for a spay/neuter initiative targeting Pit Bulls.
  
  
• $5,000 to the Houston Humane Society in Houston, TX, for care of the 87 dogs and six kittens the Society’s cruelty officers seized from a Tehana County puppy mill in February.

2. Fighting Animal Cruelty

This year, the ASPCA brought relief to animal victims of cruelty and natural disasters across the country. In New York City, our Humane Law Enforcement Department fielded 34,000 cruelty inquiries from the public, resulting in 4,000 investigations, 54 arrests and 175 animals taken into custody in 2010.

Further afield, the ASPCA’s nationally respected Field Investigations and Response Team was constantly in action assisting more than 3,500 animals from both natural and man-made disasters, including dog fighting operations, floods and animal hoarding situations. Our members’ contributions were vital to the team’s hands-on work in animal cruelty emergencies, which in 2010 has spanned nine states.

This year’s deployments included:

• Dog Hoarding Rescue: Pope County, AR
  
  

  On November 23, ASPCA Field Investigations and Response Team members headed to Arkansas to rescue 120 dogs living in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. The team helped remove the medium-sized and large dogs from a so-called sanctuary and get them much-needed veterinary care.
• Cockfighting Bust: Lee County, FL
  
  

  On September 7, the ASPCA assisted in removing 650 fighting roosters, hens and chicks from two properties in Fort Myers. The ASPCA helped with the removal and sheltering of the birds, and led the effort to collect forensic evidence for a criminal investigation. The cockfighting bust is thought to be one of the largest in Florida history.
• Search and Rescue: Tennessee
  
  

  On May 4, two days after severe thunderstorms brought devastating floods to Nashville, the ASPCA team was deployed at the request of the Dyersberg-Dyer County Humane Society, located about 80 miles north of Memphis. The ASPCA set up a temporary shelter behind the humane society to house rescued animals. The ASPCA also worked with local authorities to implement a water rescue team, with volunteers navigating some areas in small motor boats to access abandoned pets.
• Puppy Mill Raid: Holly Springs, MS
  
  

  On February 5, the ASPCA helped rescue more than 95 dogs, including small breeds such as Shih Tzus, Lhasa Apsos, Pugs, Yorkshire Terriers, Corgis and Chihuahuas, as well as one cat. The animals seized from the property were severely underweight, housed in feces-encrusted pens and suffering from neglect. Thirty-four of the dogs headed to the ASPCA in Manhattan, and the remaining dogs were sent to partner organizations around the country.
• Trial of “Gothic Kitty” Creator: Luzerne County, PA
  
  

  Expert testimony from the ASPCA’s leading forensic veterinarian, Dr. Melinda Merck, helped convict Holly Crawford, who pierced the ears, necks and tails of three kittens with a 14-gauge needle and then attempted to sell them on the Internet. Dr. Merck’s testimony helped convict Crawford of animal cruelty on February 3, and Crawford was sentenced to six months’ house arrest.

3. Increasing Pet Adoptions

The ASPCA continued to work throughout 2010 to create a country of humane communities and end unnecessary euthanasia of adoptable animals. With the support of our members, the ASPCA Adoption Center helped place more than 3,500 animals in loving forever homes this year, in addition to the tens of thousands of adoptions we assisted in our Partner Communities.

Here are a few of the ways that we were able to help more companion animals find their way home.

• $100K Challenge to Save More Lives: This year we launched an exciting and massively successful new contest aimed at driving up adoption numbers around the country. We challenged shelters to think creatively and engage their communities to save at least 300 more animals during August, September and October 2010 than they did over the same three months in 2009.
  
  The 50 participating shelters used fresh ideas and loads of elbow grease to place more pets in forever homes, and their efforts proved fruitful: overall, the participating shelters saved a total of 48,779 animals during the three-month period, an increase of 7,362 lives saved over the same period in 2009. The Humane Society of Boulder Valley in Boulder, CO, took home the $100,000 grand prize after saving a total of 2,640 animals—an increase of 968 lives saved over the same three months in 2009.
  
  The contest also helped the ASPCA identify and tap into the most successful strategies for increasing adoptions. We awarded $25,000 to the winner of the Community Engagement Award, Florida’s Tallahassee-Leon Community Animal Service Center, for increasing awareness and galvanizing its community through an innovative campaign.
  
  
• Partner Communities: We were very pleased to add a new Partner Community, Miami-Dade County, in April. Miami is the 10th ASPCA Partner Community, joining Austin, TX; Buncombe County, NC; Charleston, SC; Cleveland, OH; Oklahoma City, OK; Sacramento, CA; Shelby County, AL; Spokane, WA; and Hillsborough County, FL. Partner Communities receive the ASPCA’s support—financial, training and otherwise—to increase adoption in participating partner shelters.
  
  
• Mobile Adoptions: In New York City, our mobile adoptions unit just keeps growing. Mobile adoptions expanded April-October adoption events from four per week to six and added five new businesses across three boroughs to the roster of hosts. Those and other new initiatives are paying off: the unit’s year-to-date adoptions total 255, compared to 175 in 2009.
  
  
• Elk County Raid Adoptions: After the Field Investigations and Response Team helped rescue nearly 400 cats from a hoarding situation in Elk County, PA, the ASPCA partnered with the Elk County Humane Society for a massively successful adoption event. Many of the cats tested positive for FIV and FeLV, but that didn’t stop nearly 500 people who showed up to the two-day event over the Fourth of July weekend, which resulted in 139 adoptions. The remaining cats were placed with ASPCA partner agencies across the country.

Thank you for a wonderful year of animal welfare successes. We know with your support we can accomplish even more in 2011.