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PHAbymom: Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us tonight! Before we begin, a couple of reminders about how guest chats work. First I will introduce our guest, and then invite him to open with a few remarks about Maddie's Fund. If at any point during the chat you have a question or comment, please type ? or ! And wait to be called on - do not talk openly in the room during the guest chat.

PHAbymom: I'd ask that both chatters and guests remember to type "ga" for "go ahead" at the end of their questions or responses, so that we know they are finished. This will help the chat move more quickly. Also, please try to have your questions pre-typed so you can enter them as soon as you are called on. With all that out of the way... here we go!

PHAbymom: On behalf of all of us at RescueNetwork.org and PetHobbyist.com, I'm very pleased to welcome Maddie's Fund President Rich Avanzino as our guest tonight.

PHAbymom: Widely recognized as a visionary and "outside the box" thinker, Rich Avanzino has had a major influence on the nation's animal welfare movement. As President of The San Francisco SPCA from 1976-1999, Avanzino led San Francisco to become the first City and County in the nation to offer an adoption guarantee for every healthy shelter cat and dog. During his twenty-two year tenure as President of The SF/SPCA, he brought euthanasia rates down to the lowest of any urban center in the nation. He also created adoption, animal behavior, feral cat, and spay/neuter programs that have become models for the nation.

PHAbymom: Rich's demonstrated leadership prompted Maddie's Fund founders, Dave and Cheryl Duffield, to hire him as the foundation's first President in 1999. The family foundation is helping to fund the creation of a no-kill nation. Welcome, Rich! Thank you for being here tonight!

RichAvanzino: Thank you. I'm delighted to participate, and thrilled to be asked.

RichAvanzino: Maddie's Fund is an exciting organization named after a four-legged friend who gave much joy and love to her caregivers

RichAvanzino: During their time with Maddie, they promised that if they ever became financially able to they would gift back to her and her kind, making a promise to Maddie that they would give financial resources to improve the status and well-being of companion animals

RichAvanzino: They did that with an initial donation of $200 million; they have added tens of millions since that time

RichAvanzino: We've been in existence for about five years, and in that time have given away $30 million

RichAvanzino: We had a board meeting just last month and it turns out, we still have $270 million in the bank to create a no kill nation

Midask9: !

RichAvanzino: We do that by gifting to collaborations of animal agencies working together in a defined community. Rescue groups, animal control, and shelters have to work together to create no kill communities over a ten-year period

RichAvanzino: We also invest in shelter medicine programs to improve the manpower pool of vets who are trained to handle the requirements of shelter practice

RichAvanzino: We also invest in spay-neuter programs and engage private practice veterinarians, all reducing the volume of pets born and making it easier to adopt animals out to loving homes, eliminating the problem of too many animals, not enough homes

RichAvanzino: We think we can achieve the no kill nation objective within ten years

RichAvanzino: we have a lot of evidence that supports that belief and that objective, and now I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. GA

PHCatByte: wiscats, you're first!

faustcorpus: ?

Wiscats: i was honored to hear you in Chicago at a No More Homeless Pets conference. I volunteer for a small rescue organization which has recently taken on running the city shelter. Does Maddie's Fund prohibit groups such as ours from having grants because of our (small) city budget? ga

RichAvanzino: Maddie's Fund investments are usually county based

RichAvanzino: the organizations that we directly provide financial assistance to are the rescue groups. We do not provide economic assistance directly to municipal shelters or animal control programs, but

RichAvanzino: they too need to participate and are helped in several different ways.

RichAvanzino: one, because of aggressive spay neuter, we reduce the number of animals being born

RichAvanzino: which results in fewer animals coming into animal control

RichAvanzino: and we do community-wide promotions that encourage adoptions from animal control AND rescue

RichAvanzino: and the rescue groups are paid to take the animals from traditional and animal control programs when those programs are unable to find the animals a home

RichAvanzino: the end result is that these groups and agencies no longer have to kill animals, which obviously takes the pain and the cost of euthanasia off the shoulder of municipal programs

RichAvanzino: we don't give grants directly to any one organization. We invest in community collaborations which involves ALL the organizations working together

RichAvanzino: the organizations that participate get the money we grant, based upon the number of adoptions that they do for their community

RichAvanzino: so there is a sharing of the wealth based on their contribution to reducing the amount of killing and saving lives

RichAvanzino: ga

Wiscats: Thank you. I appreciate the information very much. ga

PHCatByte: Midas, you have a question?

Midask9: Actually a comment. I just want to personally thank you and Maddie's Fund. You are assisting the shelter I work at with helping to provide our " 'Maddie's Fund' Spay Days" to those who cannot afford services at a regular vet, and also for helping us with to launch "Feral Fix Days". I hope the organization can continue to help so many animals.

NYC_NYIfan: !

RichAvanzino: We are delighted, because that's the way the wealth and financial assistance is to be spent

RichAvanzino: to support the good works and the agencies that are making a life saving difference

RichAvanzino: we are glad that we can be of assistance

RichAvanzino: ga

Midask9: ty ga

PHCatByte: faust, you're up!

faustcorpus: What is the level of determination of No-Kill as set by Maddies fund. Working in rescue as well as now being a shelter employee, I know euthanasia as a necessary evil. However of all 4 organizations in the rescue/humane world, I work actively with, we do not euthanize any healthy, adoptable animal. However unstable tempermented, severely ill animals get euthanized.

RichAvanzino: The Maddie's Fund definition for "no kill" is a community that basically guarantees that all the healthy and all the treatable pets are given a loving home

RichAvanzino: Euthanasia in such a community is reserved only for dangerous animals that are a public health safety hazard, and pets who have incurable conditions and painful situations that necessitate a humane death

RichAvanzino: did that cover your question, faustcorpus?

faustcorpus: Much thanks... I have had experience with some no kill shelters in my area that make my skin crawl with dying sick animals. As well as severely agressive. So hearing the word No-Kill does scare me.

faustcorpus: GA

PHCatByte: nyc, you had a comment?

NYC_NYIfan: I am a NYC cat lover and I want to thank you for your help to the NYC CACC to help it move to no-kill!

faustcorpus: ?

RichAvanzino: Maddie's Fund objective is to create no-kill communities that guarantee healthy and treatable animals a home

RichAvanzino: we think that the agenda is for all shelters to achieve that status, not just individual organizations

RichAvanzino: there is no question that there are individuals and groups who go beyond our objective and try to save animals that are determined to be unhealthy and untreatable

RichAvanzino: but that is not part of our objective

RichAvanzino: NYC, we're delighted to be there!

NYC_NYIfan: yes, but they are the city's "pound"

RichAvanzino: ga

RichAvanzino: NYC, that was a follow up to faustcorpus' question, not yours :)

NYC_NYIfan: thanks, ga

NYC_NYIfan: no prob, I figured that :)

RichAvanzino: my comment to you, NYC, is that we are delighted to be there at NYC CACC

RichAvanzino: GA

PHCatByte: faust, your turn again!

faustcorpus: My shelter is looking at expanding our spay/neuter program here. We would like to expand to include rescue groups as well as low cost for the public. Who exactly does a shelter go about getting involved with Maddies fund. We are also looking to create spay days, much as Midas' shelter...

faustcorpus: In fact we are a close cousin shelter to hers. :)

Midask9: :)

RichAvanzino: We invest in collaborative efforts, and one of the components of the coalition has to involve the veterinary medical association and the private practice vets

RichAvanzino: who we encourage by paying for the surgeries.

RichAvanzino: We don't provide direct assistance to not for profit clinics, because we are trying to engage and involve doctors in private practice.

RichAvanzino: anyone can make an application for our funds, but it has to come from all the groups working together. So someone has to bring all the various organizations in there area together.

faustcorpus: Ahhh we actually work with a vet here that no longer has a practice. She is a traveling shelter vet.

RichAvanzino: The application is on our website at maddiesfund.org, and it lays out what is necessary to provide the paperwork that will bring about us investing in a community

RichAvanzino: as far as who to start with, you'd want to reach out the various rescue groups, animal control agencies, and find out if everyone wants to work together

RichAvanzino: to do more surgeries and increase the number of adoptions

Midask9: ?

RichAvanzino: and if the Maddie's Fund program is a good fit for their area of interest

RichAvanzino: Maddie's Fund grants are not right for everyone nor are they easy to get

RichAvanzino: the good news is that when you get them, they are usually millions of dollars in scope

OneLittleRugRat: ?

RichAvanzino: given out over a 7-year period to encourage each of the agencies in the community as a whole to create a no-kill situation

RichAvanzino: ga

PHCatByte: midas?

Midask9: Both Wis and Faust's shelters are in Wisconsin with the shelter I work at and your organization supports. Might there be any interest in Maddie's Fund assisting us to provide a statewide or multiple county Spay Day once or twice a year? (Our shelter has them bi-monthly)

RichAvanzino: The scope of the proposal is determined by the applicant

RichAvanzino: the applicant decides if it's one county, ten counties, a region or an entire state

RichAvanzino: we are investing in the state of Utah in a No More Homeless pets Utah,

FurriePrincess: ?

RichAvanzino: involving about 50 animal control agencies, 28 rescue groups, and one traditional shelter, and is statewide.

RichAvanzino: but the effort is a daily one, because we have to save all the lives not based on what we do on a special day, but every day

RichAvanzino: so the investments that we're making, like in Utah it’s a twelve million dollar project over seven years.

faustcorpus: ?

RichAvanzino: the goals are achieved on a daily, weekly, monthly, annual basis

RichAvanzino: we don't invest in one-day efforts like a Spay Day

RichAvanzino: Every day is a day to do the surgeries

RichAvanzino: The organizations can, in putting together their proposal about how they will reach the goal, they can have special events

RichAvanzino: spay days, adoption events, etc

RichAvanzino: there are a handful of communities where we have invested in a single program or event

RichAvanzino: but that is not a common occurrence with Maddie's Fund grants

RichAvanzino: ga

Midask9: Thank you

RichAvanzino: thank you!

RichAvanzino: ga

PHCatByte: onelittlerugrat, you have a question?

OneLittleRugRat: We have a lot of SATO dogs here in the NE, would shelters or areas who currently at this time have only the Puerto Rico dogs , can they be able to apply for such assistance or funds?

RichAvanzino: SATO?

OneLittleRugRat: Puerto Rican dogs

RichAvanzino: We only invest in saving all the dogs and all the cats in a community, we don't segment the problem into breeds or conditions

RichAvanzino: we are interested in saving all cats, whether they are feral or not

RichAvanzino: we are interested in saving all dogs, whether they are pit bills or rottweilers or SATO dogs. All should find a home.

RichAvanzino: ga

PHCatByte: ?

OneLittleRugRat: ga

PHCatByte: furrie, your question?

FurriePrincess: Does Maddie's Fund do any broad based education to enlighten the average citizen to the critical situation in the need for spay/neuter and a no-kill nation? Or is it all done through the local programs and grants?

RichAvanzino: at this point it's all done through local programs

RichAvanzino: the emphasis is on saving the lives in jeopardy

RichAvanzino: and the criterion is based on the reduction in deaths that occur on a daily basis

RichAvanzino: we believe in education and we are considering an educational component for grant giving

RichAvanzino: but first we are trying to create this adoption guarantee, spay neuter, and saving lives that already exist

RichAvanzino: which keeps most of the communities pretty busy

RichAvanzino: ga

FurriePrincess: Thank you, ga

PHCatByte: faust?

faustcorpus: Beyond Spay/Neuter programs, what other projects/programs does maddies fund offer or promote?

RichAvanzino: We are investing in veterinary college programs that are building what we call Shelter Medicine Focus for new graduates to help in shelter environments

RichAvanzino: because up until very recently, before we started giving these university grants, most vets working in shelters were dog and cat doctors who were good at handling individual cases, but didn't understand the issues associated with having a large volume of animals in a single space

RichAvanzino: in some situations overcrowded

RichAvanzino: and what that does to disease dissemination and control

RichAvanzino: so we are trying to educate veterinarians for the future

RichAvanzino: because we think all shelters should have a medical program to stop the spread of contagion

RichAvanzino: to cure the animals that are there

RichAvanzino: and create a healthy environment for all incoming and outgoing pets

RichAvanzino: our primary focus in many of the communities is adoptions.

faustcorpus: do you offer this material to shelters with existing veterinary staff?

RichAvanzino: we are basically trying to work on prevention, but also save those at risk today

RichAvanzino: so a tremendous amount of resources go to seeing that healthy animals get homes

RichAvanzino: these animals die in many places for lack of homes

RichAvanzino: we also want to save the sick, injured, and poorly behaved

RichAvanzino: these animals need curative care before being placed

RichAvanzino: but they too deserve a guaranteed loving home

RichAvanzino: actually, one of the expanded programs we're launching in a couple of weeks involves investing in shelter medicine libraries

NYC_NYIfan: ?

RichAvanzino: in various animal rescue, animal control, traditional shelters

RichAvanzino: to help them be current on all the information

RichAvanzino: we also ask people to check our website and many of the existing shelter medicine programs

faustcorpus: Wonderful... We only have a Vet Tech paid on staff, but we are working hard to reduce the level of kennel cough and URIs that go thru

RichAvanzino: such as at UC Davis, Cornell, Iowa State

RichAvanzino: and there are others

RichAvanzino: if you go to the websites, you'll see the research that's being done to help shelters deal with parvo, kennel cough, and URI outbreaks

Deerhounds: ?

RichAvanzino: ga

faustcorpus: ga

PHCatByte: i'm sort of afraid to ask, but do you consider FIV and FeLV healthy and adoptable?

RichAvanzino: animals that need medical care, we consider treatable

RichAvanzino: that means the animals given medical attention can be cured

RichAvanzino: and once rehabilitated, should be guaranteed a loving home

RichAvanzino: to us, what is treatable, healthy, untreatable is laid out in the Asilomar Accords

RichAvanzino: the Asilomar Accords are on our website at maddiesfund.org, or at asilomaraccords.org

RichAvanzino: it defines the various conditions

RichAvanzino: we consider chronic conditions to be "treatable"

RichAvanzino: such as heart conditions or epilepsy that need to be managed

RichAvanzino: those animals we think deserve a loving home

RichAvanzino: they have medical conditions but are treatable with medical or behavioral assistance

RichAvanzino: ga

PHCatByte: great, thanks! i'll check it out.... ga

PHCatByte: nyc, you're up!

NYC_NYIfan: what about dogs like pitbulls, rotties, and others who have been badly trained before ending up in a shelter? How hard is it for them to be evaluated accurately to see if they are potential pets?

RichAvanzino: one of the efforts that Maddie's Fund is making is to try to come up with a standard

RichAvanzino: right now it's best expressed in the Asilomar Accords

RichAvanzino: so there is common treatment across the land

RichAvanzino: behavior for dogs is a serious issue

RichAvanzino: unfortunately, some people consider misbehavior a death sentence while others consider animals that are vicious to be placeable

RichAvanzino: so we believe communities need to develop a community standard, based on the Asilomar Accords

RichAvanzino: to basically find a cure for the problem and save the animals

NYC_NYIfan: and these standards can be found through your website?

RichAvanzino: ga

NYC_NYIfan: thanks, ga

PHCatByte: deerhounds, your turn

RichAvanzino: yes, they are on our website and at asilomaraccords.org

Deerhounds: have you worked with or approached the Veterinary Information Network in Davis about working with you on your shelter medicine efforts?

faustcorpus: ?

RichAvanzino: they have expressed an interest in being helpful

RichAvanzino: we're hopeful of being able to work and create a synergy with the groups

Deerhounds: my thought was, so much of the library stuff you were talking about, they could help with... such as membership in VIN and access to its library and database for shelter vet programs

RichAvanzino: that would be fantastic

RichAvanzino: ga

PHCatByte: faust?

faustcorpus: Do you or are you working towards in the future more public oriented educational campaigns? Such as the importance of Microchipping, importance of training..... etc... Sorry that I have a million and one questions this evening

Midask9: ?

RichAvanzino: we are really investing in community-based solutions

RichAvanzino: we don't want to top-down force the issues we think individual areas should address and in what order

RichAvanzino: we believe that we want to empower the various agencies working together in their county or area to define what are the primary problems

RichAvanzino: what are the solutions that will address those problems

RichAvanzino: and how can Maddie's Fund money fund those solutions?

RichAvanzino: but we're not trying to dictate how that is done

RichAvanzino: it's up to the community to find the answers

RichAvanzino: we don't have the answers, but if we did, they'd be on our website, which does talk about the successes and disappointments of each area's efforts

RichAvanzino: you'll get the most enthusiastic embracing of solutions if they come from within, not from without.

RichAvanzino: ga

PHCatByte: midas?

PHCatByte: ?

Midask9: Back when Maddie's Fund was a wee vision, did Dave and Cheryl ever think it would become the large and fruitful organization as it has indeed become? (We are all in awe, are they as well??)ga

RichAvanzino: I think they are excited about the progress, but we still have a distance to go

RichAvanzino: I don't think they'll be satisfied until every dog and cat in America that needs a home, has a home

RichAvanzino: they are very generous people and we are all so thankful and appreciative of their tremendous generosity

Fuzygupy: ?

RichAvanzino: they've already donated more money to this cause than any other individual in the history of our movement, throughout the world, and are continuing to give

RichAvanzino: all the want back is that the spirit of Maddie be remembered in lives being saved

RichAvanzino: ga

Midask9: ty, I wish them continued luck, and I hope they reallize that while the progress may be slow at times, each life saved or changed has made a huge difference.

Midask9: ga

PHCatByte: so an educational component could be part of an area's project, based on their own evaluation of needs?

RichAvanzino: absolutely MidasK9

RichAvanzino: PHCatByte, yes, as long as it has a direct and measurable result in reducing the number of animals killed each day

RichAvanzino: every effort has to be evaluated as to how it saved a life

RichAvanzino: if it has a way to be measured, we're all in favor of trying new approaches. But we need to have a result

RichAvanzino: if another animal dies without having a chance, then we have failed.

RichAvanzino: ga

faustcorpus: ?

PHCatByte: thanks. ga.

PHCatByte: fuzy, you have a question?

Fuzygupy: What is Maddie;s foundation view on *responsible* breeders. That is breeders who sell their kittens under a spay/neuter contract and are willing to take back any of their cats if/when ever the need arises?

RichAvanzino: We look at the world of animal lovers regardless of where they fit into the various categories and ask for everyone's help to save the animals at risk today

RichAvanzino: we want to have breeders and pet shops and rescue groups and animal control agencies and traditional shelters and the various focus groups that are working with feral cats and pit bulls and all related issues, to get together in a united cause to stop the killing

RichAvanzino: that should be the tie that binds

RichAvanzino: because nobody wants to see this tragedy continue a day longer

RichAvanzino: but it's not going to end unless we work together

RichAvanzino: ga

Fuzygupy: Thank you ga

PHCatByte: faust, your question?

faustcorpus: One last question... What about breed education? I know many shelters in the area will instantly euthanize dogs based on their breed. Is there a chance down the road that Maddies fund may take that idea on? I also know of reptiles that suffer same fate (if I dont have room for them). I work with two of the most blighted rescues... Run a reptile and sit on the board of a bull breed rescue.

faustcorpus: and then I want to thank you for your time and patience... Third time was a charm.

RichAvanzino: I think while we all have our sense of what will be the cure

RichAvanzino: and what we would want to do if we were operating a community effort

RichAvanzino: we sort of hold those feelings back because we really want to invest in the local approach

RichAvanzino: and to the extent that people are listening to us and accepting all points of view and are working together to save lives

RichAvanzino: and are choosing paths that they think will work for them, we hold back and let the people at the grassroots level prove to themselves and the animals they are there to save, whether their ideas will work or not

RichAvanzino: as it relates to bashing and trashing certain breeds and animal interests, we think that is counterproductive

RichAvanzino: and our grants are contingent on an open mindedness at a community level

RichAvanzino: if people insist in putting down groups that want to help, they jeopardize their funding

RichAvanzino: because we don't invest in efforts that don't leverage the good will of everyone who is trying to help animals

RichAvanzino: because without that leveraging, animals die

RichAvanzino: ga

PHAbymom: ?

PHCatByte: abymom?

Fuzygupy: !

PHAbymom: What about those states that are legislating on the state level to outlaw breeds and not working at the community level?

RichAvanzino: The objective is to save all the animals

RichAvanzino: if the state is going to mandate that animals cannot be saved and will not let rescue groups do their good work, then we will not invest

RichAvanzino: for many legislators that do not have the resources to provide funding to help animals, they change their legislative philosophy when faced with the fact that they wont' get our money unless we can save all the animals in need

RichAvanzino: we will not invest in those communities unless the legislative arena will permit the groups to do their work in saving lives

RichAvanzino: and the creation of a safety net

RichAvanzino: as an anecdote, we have not had a legislature that has not modified their position, when we've made it a condition of grant-giving

RichAvanzino: ga

RichAvanzino: we're talking about saving lives

RichAvanzino: and creating a no kill nation

PHAbymom: Fantastic approach. I am sure they want to see their local communities receive your money...

RichAvanzino: in the process, we are also providing resources to a community to enhance its economic wealth and health

RichAvanzino: if some foundation is going to spend MILLIONS in their community, whether they like the cause or not, they see the benefit to their entire constituency and all the citizens, and therefore accommodate the humane message.

RichAvanzino: absolutely

RichAvanzino: ga

PHAbymom: Thank you, Rich.

RichAvanzino: I would like to add something in closing

PHAbymom: Please do

RichAvanzino: If anyone would like to contact me you can reach me at info@maddiesfund.org

RichAvanzino: we won't be in the office over the weekend, but we'd be happy to answer your individual questions early next week

RichAvanzino: I want to thank you all for participating

RichAvanzino: and ask you all to visit our website at maddiesfund.org

RichAvanzino: thank you all for your great work and individual efforts to make for a more humane nation.

RichAvanzino: Goodnight!

PHAbymom: Everyone, that's all we have time for tonight. Rich, on behalf of all of us at RescueNetwork.org and PetHobbyist.com, thank you so much for being our guest tonight!

Thank you to all who joined us tonight as well, and goodnight!

faustcorpus: Thank you for coming RIch. Sorry I barraged you with a million and one questions

PHCatByte: thank YOU, rich and maddie's fund!

PHGinger: Thank you Rich for all you do!

PHMowgli: Thank you Rich!!

Midask9: thank you so much Richard, I hope you will come back and visit us again soon!

RichAvanzino: Thank you and goodnight, everyone!

NYC_NYIfan: thanks to every for the chat

Wiscats: thank you so very much for coming!

Ninga_nr: thank you Rich

rottilvr429: Thank you for such an informative evening!

PHCatByte: nite, alL!