The 3rd Annual Found Animals Forum!

On Sunday November 13th, Found Animals with the cooperation of Best Friends Los Angeles, hosted the third Found Animals Forum.  Over 240 people came to theCalifornia Science Center to learn about Adoption Success from three of the Nation’s top leaders in animal welfare. Additionally, our Spay4LA van was parked at the ScienCenter entrance and performed 32 free sterilization surgeries for residents of Councilmember Bernard Parks’ district.

We began with an awards ceremony to 16 special kids who had won our “Animals are our Friends” contest.  Together with LA’s Best and the Lu Parker Project, Found Animals awarded trophies, gift certificates and IMAX tickets to these outstanding children who best depicted their love of animals.  Councilmember Paul Koretz was also on hand to assist with recognizing these amazing kids whose artwork will also be featured in prominent locations throughout Los Angeles.

Our speakers were outstanding—Stacey Coleman from the Animal Farm Foundation knocked our socks off, dispelling myths about the “pitbull” dog and how to help get them out of shelters and into homes.  Executive Director of the Pennsylvania SPCA Sue Cosby really opened minds and hearts with her humorous and honest adoption options and how to use marketing and outreach work for you.  Veterinarian and Executive Director of Austin Pets Alive! Ellen Jefferson rounded up the day with some fantastic statistics and facts to support our goal of eliminating animal shelter euthanasia and taking it one animal at a time.  We ended up our day with a great networking cocktail reception where we learned more about the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Los Angeles initiative.  We also gave prizes to our guests—most notably South Los Angeles Animal Care Center on 11th Avenue—who brought a whopping 14 staffers to our event and won a free catered lunch from Found Animals.

All in all, the event was a huge success, with everyone having learned something new that they are excited to put into action in their own facility.

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Presentations from the Forum

Turbocharging Pit Bull Adoptions

Stacey Coleman, Executive Director, and Kim Wolf, Animal Farm Foundation

This innovative and myth-busting approach to “pit bull” dog adoptions is guaranteed to send more dogs home! The session will introduce low- or no-cost best practices that can help shelters and rescues better serve their “pit bull” dogs and increase adoptions. Six key areas will be covered: marketing and customer service, policies and practices, enrichment and layout, behavior and training, language and community engagement. Although this session will focus on “pit bull” dogs, the ideas can be applied to all kinds of dogs and help save even more lives. 
Turbocharging Pit Bull Adoptions

Rethinking Adoptions

Susan Cosby, President & CEO of the Pennsylvania SPCA

Susan Cosby will help shelters and rescues examine their organization and staff’s approach to adopters. She will share how to create major lifesaving impact for animals with adoptions. Susan will also provide insight into how to evaluate performance and how to put new and progressive ideas into practice.
Rethinking Adoptions

Five Ways to do High Volume Adoptions

Ellen Jefferson, Executive Director, Austin Pets Alive!

Ellen Jefferson will speak about the 5 ways volunteer and rescue groups can dramatically increase adoptions in a community both inside and outside the municipal shelter. Austin has achieved a >90% save rate in just 3 years and Austin Pets Alive found that rescuing pets at the local shelter was only half the battle. A solid, broad based exit strategy for those pets to be adopted into homes is just as critical as saving their lives. The faster the exit strategy is put into place, the more lives will be saved.
Five Ways to do High Volume Adoptions