Here at Found Animals we are always looking for creative new ways to help our furry friends.  We find that of the very best ways to get exposed to great ideas and fantastic programs is to get together with other folks helping pets and share knowledge and experiences. So, in late May several members of our team made the trek to Las Vegas to attend the 2012 Animal Care Expo, hosted by the Humane Society of the United States and their Animal Sheltering program.

With over 1,800 registered attendees and an enormous Exhibit Hall it is the largest gathering of animal care and rescue professionals in the country.  I’ve been lucky enough to attend Expo every year since 2008 and each time I see amazing speakers and gain knowledge and ideas that I put to work for pets in Los Angeles.  It is great to be surrounded by people who face the same challenges and struggles, and who share the same passion for helping pets.

This year, Found Animals was especially honored to be invited to speak at Expo and we hosted four different workshops to share our experiences with other attendees.  All of the presentations listed below, along with many other great materials are available for download in the resources section of our website.

• Our “Cats are the Real Underdog” workshop shared some sad statistics about how cats fare in Los Angeles area shelters.  Then we offered examples of successful promotions that resulted in nearly 4,000 shelter cat adoptions in 2011 – including our amazing Cat Adoption Center.  We also shared ideas for how to get people talking about cats as great pets and improve their public image.

• During “Adventures in Sterilization” we spoke about our experience managing mobile and stationary spay and neuter clinics.  The materials include lots of financial tips and tricks, a sample clinic budget to play with, and examples of successful marketing material.  At the end, we even included a preview of the future of non-surgical sterilization via the Michelson Prize and Grants.

• “Human Resources: Just as Important as Animal Resources” shared our HR and legal team’s top 10 tips for keeping the people in your organization satisfied.  From animal volunteers to paid employees and even interns you need a happy staff to do the best work on behalf of pets!

• “How Much is that Doggie in the Window” covered the story of our wildly successful Adopt & Shop which has sent over 850 pets into great new homes in just one year.  The workshop shared what we have learned and our top tips and tricks for starting your own retail adoption center or even just adding retail pet sales to your shelter.

We also hosted a booth in the exhibit hall for the first time this year and had so much fun telling fellow attendees about our new microchip registry.

The whole team had an amazing week making new connections and learning from old pros.  We are already thinking about what speaking proposals we might submit for next year – and you can too, we would love to see you there!

pet adoption    pet care    pet health    pet identification    pet microchip    spay & neuter