Gary Willoughby, the President and CEO of the SPCA Serving Erie County in West Seneca, New York, joins Stacy to talk about what's going on at the nation's second oldest humane society. A passionate life-long learner, Gary joined the SPCA in 2016, after several animal welfare roles, as well as several roles in other fields. Among other topics, Gary talks with Stacy about the SPCA's full-service wildlife clinic, and how having that clinic alongside a more traditional animal shelter has informed bo...
Oct 20, 2018•26 min•Ep. 270
Kelly Duer, Foster Program Consultant for Maddie's Fund, has worked with many organizations over the years, including such big names as FEMA and Best Friends Animal Society. The goal of her work is to help groups increase live outcomes for animals through the implementation of robust foster programs. Kelly came to this role after working on foster programs for children from Eastern Europe. A life-long cat lover, she got involved in animal welfare when her daughter became interested in working wi...
Oct 13, 2018•24 min•Ep. 269
Those of you who have been CCP fans for a long time may remember hearing Stacy chat with Julie Jacobson before in Episodes 2 and 92 . Julie runs Spay Tennessee, but is also the CCP grants coordinator. If you don't know about the CCP grant program, here's how it works, in a nutshell: small organizations apply to the program for a matching grant. If their application is approved, they get a period of time (usually about three months) in which to conduct a new fundraiser. Once they do, CCP will mat...
Oct 06, 2018•24 min•Ep. 268
In Part II of this two-part episode, Stacy continues her conversation with Anne Lindsay, the founder & president of the Massachusetts Animal Coalition (MAC). Anne talks about what she feels MAC's greatest achievements – and greatest challenges – have been over the organization's history. (It turns out they are one and the same: getting so many different people with different opinions together into one organization!) Anne tells us about MAC's three annual educational meetings: All About Dogs,...
Sep 29, 2018•24 min•Ep. 267
Anne Lindsay, the founder & president of the Massachusetts Animal Coalition (MAC), has been an animal advocate for over 30 years. Founded in 2000, MAC was one of the country's first state-wide coalitions for animal welfare professionals and volunteers. In her role at MAC, Anne works with other groups, states, and communities on setting up coalitions, and she also works with organizations on board development. In 2010, Anne earned her master's degree in counseling psychology, and she uses tha...
Sep 22, 2018•24 min•Ep. 266
Darlene Duggan, the Director of Operations at Tree House Humane Society in Chicago, holds a master's degree in public health and epidemiology. Darlene originally planned to be a doctor, but just as she getting ready to go to medical school, she realized that the thing she enjoyed the most in her life was volunteering at an animal shelter. She decided to apply her knowledge and talents to the animal welfare field, and the rest is history—nearly fifteen years of history at various animal welfare o...
Sep 15, 2018•22 min•Ep. 265
Olivia Westley, a former teacher who discovered her true passion for helping cats when she started volunteering in a Forgotten Cats pet store adoption center, now serves as the group's Development Director. Forgotten Cats is a nonprofit organization with the mission of preventing the birth and suffering of unwanted kittens by controlling the free-roaming cat pop through TNVR. They provide free or low-cost sterilization for pet and free-roaming cats in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Je...
Sep 08, 2018•23 min•Ep. 264
Jim Tedford, President & CEO of The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (formerly SAWA), who previously appeared on Community Cats Podcast episode #199, joins Stacy again to discuss his organization's new name, their rebranding, and their new commitment to making educational opportunities available to even more folks in the animal welfare world. Formerly SAWA (Society of Animal Welfare Administrators), Jim's organization is now known as The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement o...
Sep 01, 2018•30 min•Ep. 263
Karen Kraus and Bob Sallinger's organizations, the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon and the Audubon Society of Portland, have formed what may seem to some to be a most unlikely partnership between "cat people" and "bird people." But the truth, Karen and Bob have found, is that animal welfare and wildlife conservation have a lot more in common than people might think. Karen's group, the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon, is a high-volume spay/neuter program in Portland that offers TNR services for feral...
Aug 25, 2018•27 min•Ep. 262
Danielle Bays, the new Director of Cat Protection and Policy at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), plays "Cat Protection and Policy Jeopardy!" with Stacy in this episode. Danielle is responsible for staying on top of cat policy issues all over the country, and she fills us in on current cat legislation and issues in various states around the nation, including Delaware, where a community cat bill is currently on the governor's desk, awaiting his signature; Rhode Island, where a TNR b...
Aug 18, 2018•24 min•Ep. 261
Erin Robinson admits that once upon a time, she simply didn't know that community cats existed, let alone what you were supposed to do about them. That all began to change when she started volunteering in a county animal services facility during college in North Carolina, and when she went on to work for a high-volume spay/neuter clinic connected to Operation Catnip in Gainsville, Florida. Erin hasn't stopped working with community cats since, and she worked with Alley Cat Allies before landing ...
Aug 11, 2018•23 min•Ep. 260
Pamela Merritt — better known as "Dear Pammy" through her cat advice blog — didn't become a cat fan until she married one. At the time, she says, cats were really still second-class citizens in this country. There weren't any no-kill shelters, and she and her first husband rescued many cats themselves. Pam learned how to be a "cat appreciator" from her first husband, and she came to realize that cats are our equals, and that our relationships with them work best if we don't think in terms of a m...
Aug 04, 2018•23 min•Ep. 259
John Boone's professional track has been that of a wildlife biologist, but he also serves as a consultant with Humane Society International, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and several other national and international organizations. He specializes in program metrics, statistical analysis, and population biology, and he has worked on many programs around the world designed to improve the welfare of free-roaming dogs and cats. John has volunteered at his local SPCA, and has fostered ma...
Jul 28, 2018•25 min•Ep. 258
Tune in to the second part of "The Mike and Carmine Show," with Mike Keiley of the MSPCA and Carmine DiCenso of Dakin Humane, as they continue their conversation with Stacy. In this episode, Mike & Carmine offer their tips for people who feel like they are hitting a brick wall around their efforts at advocating for change. Carmine suggests that people begin by looking at themselves and their approach, focusing on what they can change —and that they guard against focusing solely on the desire...
Jul 21, 2018•24 min•Ep. 257
Stacy speaks with Mike Keiley, the Director of Adoption Centers and Programs at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), and Carmine DiCenso, Executive Director of the Dakin Humane Society in Leverett & Springfield MA in this first part of "The Mike & Carmine Show." You can check out Mike's first visit to Community Cats Podcast in 2016 in Episode 9 Both Mike & Carmine have been in the animal welfare field as long as Stacy has, and the two of them sp...
Jul 14, 2018•31 min•Ep. 256
Ellen Quinlan, Executive Director of Darbster Foundation, was one of those kids who always brought home every stray animal she found, and that passion for helping animals has stayed with her as an adult. The mission of Ellen's group is to reduce the number of adoptable cats, kittens, dogs, and puppies that are being euthanized in Palm Beach County and south Florida by partnering with shelters and rescues in Florida to transport pets to rescue partners in New Hampshire and throughout New England....
Jul 07, 2018•26 min•Ep. 255
Interview! Chad Nelson, Advocacy Director at PawsWatch Rhode Island "Tons and tons of cat lovers have no idea … that there's this whole population of cats that really need our help." Chad Nelson, a lawyer by trade, is the Advocacy Director at PawsWatch Rhode Island, an all-volunteer network for community cats. Chad came to his work in TNR and cat issues through an initial interest in the broader animal rights and vegan movement. His cat Dagney inspired him to look at the world through animals' e...
Jun 30, 2018•26 min•Ep. 254
Interview! Joyce Briggs, President of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs "I am determined it's going to be my legacy in this field that we get the tools that we need to really reach the cats we want to be able to help." Joyce Briggs, President of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs (ACC&D), told us all about how she got started in the field in Episode 157 . She's back this time to talk to Stacy about the ACC&D symposium that's being held in Boston, July 22-24...
Jun 23, 2018•26 min•Ep. 253
Interview! Richard Angelo, Legislative Attorney for Best Friends Animal Society "Getting those community cat programs started, where cats are not even entering the shelter… it's so key in saving lives." Richard Angelo, a legislative attorney for Best Friends Animal Society, is a long-time animal welfare advocate who fell into animal law when he ran across the story of a pit bull in need of help. He simply couldn't walk away, and with that case, his move into companion animal law began. For years...
Jun 16, 2018•27 min•Ep. 252
Interview! Niki Cochran, Program Manager at Alley Cat Rescue "Just because you're getting the [positive] combo test … that doesn't mean 'death sentence'. That means 'OK, now I have to go and educate myself about what that combo test result is.' " Niki Cochran, Program Manager at Alley Cat Rescue in Washington, DC, has been a cat lover her whole life. Her career in animal welfare began when she took a job as an animal control officer, and included time spent at a large, open-intake shelter. At th...
Jun 09, 2018•27 min•Ep. 251
Interview! Dr. Philip Bushby, Professor of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine "I long for the day when I can walk into a shelter and not find any cats in the shelter — and it's achievable." Dr. Philip Bushby, a veterinarian and well-known advocate for early age spay/neuter, can't remember a time that he didn't want to be a veterinarian. He became interested in veterinary medicine at a very early age by helping nurse sick puppies back t...
Jun 02, 2018•29 min•Ep. 250
Interview! Michele Tilford, Cat-Assisted Therapy Advocate Michele Tilford has over five years of experience as a cat-assisted therapy handler—but when she first became interested in cat-assisted therapy, the only programs she could find were for dogs. Eventually she connected up with a service dog trainer who also happened to be a Ragdoll breeder. The woman agreed to help Michele train one of her own kittens, later adopted by Michele, and the rest is history. Michele explains that one of the big...
May 26, 2018•23 min•Ep. 249
"I would really like anyone who has anything to do with lost cats to realize how important it is not to give up, and not to assume anything." Kim Freeman turned her lifelong love for cats into a career as a professional missing cat finder. When her own cat Mr. Purr went missing in 2008, Kim realized how little support families with a missing cat receive, and what bad advice they tend to be given. She set out to change this and today has developed a very specific process to help people all over t...
May 19, 2018•26 min•Ep. 248
Interview! Part 2 - Dr. Sara Pizano, Veterinarian and Animal Welfare Consultant "You don't need millions of dollars—you need to allocate your pie of resources intelligently … that's really the key." In part 2 of our two-part episode with Dr. Sara Pizano, she talks about the big picture in animal welfare these days, and about where she feels the focus should be for the future. Dr. Pizano discusses her recent work on steering committees with Best Friends and Million Cat Challenge. Best Friends, sh...
May 12, 2018•27 min•Ep. 247
Interview! Part 1 - Dr. Sara Pizano, Veterinarian and Animal Welfare Consultant "Northern Kentucky will be no-kill for cats this year, absolutely, hands-down!" Dr. Sara Pizano, who joined us previously on Episode 171, is a veterinarian who has been involved in animal welfare for over thirty years. She has extensive experience helping shelters move away from euthanasia as a means of population control and helping municipalities revise public policy to be more animal friendly. Dr. Pizano now has h...
May 05, 2018•24 min•Ep. 246
Interview! Christina Ha, Creator of Cat Camp "I'm so incredibly excited for Cat Camp this year!" Christina Ha, who originally joined us on Episode 144 , is back to talk about this year's Cat Camp—now known as Jackson Galaxy's Cat Camp. Galaxy, who attended last year's event, loved it so much that he wanted to expand it. Cat Camp 2017 attracted over 2,500 people from more than eight countries, and this year's event, held in New York City on May 5-6, 2018, will be even bigger and more exciting. Ch...
Apr 28, 2018•24 min•Ep. 245
Interview! Jennifer Blough, Compassion Fatigue Expert and Author "Self care—it's not selfish; it's really charging your batteries so you can go out and have the energy to do what you love to do, which is saving animals." Jennifer Blough, a licensed therapist, compassion fatigue expert and author of the bookTo Save a Starfish: A Compassion Fatigue Workbook for the Animal Welfare Warrior, was initially with us on Episode #78 of the Community Cats Podcast. Since that time, Jennifer feels that we ar...
Apr 21, 2018•26 min•Ep. 244
Sterling Davis left behind a promising rap music career to begin working with cats professionally several years ago when he took a temporary job at an animal shelter in between tours. A lifelong animal lover, Sterling soon got hooked on TNR and cats. During his training, Sterling noticed that not many men, and not many people in the black community, are involved in animal rescue, especially with cats. Sterling would like to change this, and so he brings to the table the idea that TNR-ing cats is...
Apr 14, 2018•30 min•Ep. 243
Interview! Vickie Fisher - President of The International Cat Association (TICA) "We cherish both pedigree and non-pedigree cats. We just want the world to value cats as companion animals." Vicki Fisher had a successful career in finance & management, but in retirement, she has really been able to devote more time to her passion: CATS! She is the President of the Albuquerque Kennel Compadre, which is an affiliate of the Animal Welfare Department. She recently received the Albuquerque mayor's...
Apr 07, 2018•29 min•Ep. 242
Interview! Ask Stacy! Online Cat Conference Review "I'm passionate about the idea of having a dedicated annual cat conference nationally and this was a great way to work towards providing access to everyone." Stacy is back to discuss all of the in's and out's of how the first Online Cat Conference went this past January! She always wanted to do an online cat conference and it was a great way to provide access to people who wouldn't be able to afford an in-person conference. She was determined to...
Mar 31, 2018•24 min•Ep. 241
