No More Homeless Pets
Conference

April, 2004

Building bridges between diverse animal groups was a hot topic. Richard Avanzino (photo right with Faith Maloney) of Maddie's Fund spoke of the importance of coalition building as did Dennis Stearns of No More Homeless Pets in the Triad (North Carolina). Dennis has established a reputation for including various aspects of his community in animal work from local government agencies to the local symphony orchestra.

Best Friends and No More Homeless Pets staff also shared many of the programs we have introduced in Utah and around the country, telling people what works and what doesn't. Why reinvent the wheel?

Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, kept our eyes on the statistics by helping the people who contributed to the "Rubber Meets the Road" section of the conference see how their communities compare to the national averages for admissions, adoptions and euthanasia. In many cases these figures were sobering, especially in the southern states. We saw through his calculations that although we are doing well for the animals in many areas of the country, we still have a long way to go in others.

Despite moments like that, the overall response from conference attendees was of hope and inspiration. People were scribbling down ideas as fast as the speakers could utter them. Eating lunch at State tables brought people together who barely knew each other existed. Between sessions or after hours I saw many groups of people engrossed in conversations and planning sessions around the courtyard tables. Ideas and plans were forming to go back home with renewed vigor, and high energy to make this a better world for the animals.

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