Maddie's Fund - Press Room

(Alameda, CA-June 27, 2000) Maddie's Fund, a pet rescue foundation whose goal is to help animal shelters throughout the nation establish community-wide adoption guarantees for healthy cats and dogs, announced today that it has awarded $1.3 million to support the first phase of the project, "No More Homeless Pets In Utah." The project's mission is to end the killing of adoptable (healthy) cats and dogs throughout the entire state of Utah within five years. As goals are achieved, Maddie's Fund will make a total of $8 million available to the collaborating partners.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah is the project's lead agency. Seventeen additional no-kill sanctuaries, shelters and foster organizations plus two traditional humane organizations and the state's fifty-four animal control facilities are also participating in the statewide coalition. In 1999, 85,000 cats and dogs were impounded by Utah's rescue groups and animal shelters; 46,000 were killed statewide. Of the 46,000 cats and dogs killed, approximately 15,000 were adoptable.

"No More Homeless Pets'" first year's goals are to increase the number of adoptions by 3,000 over the previous year's baseline; decrease the number of dogs and cats euthanized in Utah's shelters by 3,000; and increase the number of spay/neuter surgeries over the previous year's baseline by 21,000. Eleven thousand surgeries are to be performed by fifty-two private veterinary hospitals. Ten thousand surgeries will be done through spay/neuter clinics.

"The logistics of this project are mind boggling," says Maddie's Fund President Rich Avanzino. "Conducting a campaign over an entire state, and working with 126 different animal organizations and veterinary hospitals requires a tremendous amount of skill. We're confident that Best Friends Animal Sanctuary has the leadership and determination to get the job done and prove to the world that no more homeless pets in Utah is not an impossible dream."

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