ABANDONED PETS GET NEW CHANCE ON LIFE
A philanthropist's animal-rescue foundation helps shelters develop 'no-kill' approach
Reprinted from The Baltimore Sun

SAN FRANCISCO - In a city where the real-estate market is dog-eat-dog, Tinkerbell the cat would seem to have it made. She lounges away the day in her own private kitty loft, watching mice run on television as she perches atop a 6-foot climbing tree, right next to the wood settee and wicker armchair.

Tinkerbell is a longtime resident of a deluxe section of the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter, which has forged a unique alliance with city animal-control officials - with the help of a philanthropist who is changing the face of animal welfare - to save the lives of unwanted dogs and cats otherwise destined to die by the needle.

Some call the concept ''no kill,'' a term that on its face means ending the killing of healthy shelter animals simply for lack of space to house them.

The loft where Tinkerbell spends her days waiting to be adopted is one of 88 such units in a $7 million state-of-the-art building called Maddie's Pet Adoption Center. The center, built with $1 million from David Duffield, billionaire founder of the software company PeopleSoft, was one of the philanthropist's first projects funded in memory of Maddie, his late miniature schnauzer.

Duffield has created an animal-rescue foundation called Maddie's Fund, with $200 million in hand and up to $1 billion more available in the future to encourage communities across the United States to develop their own no-kill agreements. The foundation, based in Alameda, is using the power of big dollars - more from a single source than has ever been available to animal shelters - to spread an idea both popular and controversial..

Incentives such as a year of free food, toys, and medical care are offered to potential owners to clear out pets that have been especially hard to find homes for.

According to statistics from both agencies, the strategies are paying off. Of 9,720 dogs and cats impounded in fiscal year 1999, 73 percent made it out alive. The number of feral cats euthanized in city shelters dropped to a new low of 496 in 1999 - down 41 percent from the previous year.

-----------------------

DOG'S RESCUE WINS AWARD FOR VALOR
Animal control officers battled for hours to save Baby after she fell through ice
Roanoke Times, Nov., 2000

FINCASTLE - Botetourt County's animal control officers, are asked to catch or rescue about 800 dogs and cats a year. One of those calls in February, to rescue a 140-pound German shepherd named Baby, that had fallen into an icy pond, earned the Virginia Animal Control Association's valor award last week for the crew.

Confronted with the problem of how to reach the dog several feet from shore and surrounded by thin ice, the trio tried to rescue her with ropes. When that didn't work they taped a pole used for handling animals onto a ladder. Extending the ladder onto the ice, which was only half an inch thick at the shore, they were able to toss a loop on the pole around Baby's neck and pull her to land.

Baby played a big role in the rescue, the crew chief said. "She was holding herself up and kicking and digging into the ice." Baby went under water three times but "she just was not going down, this dog tried to get up through the rungs of the ladder." The temperature dipped into the low 20s as the three worked more than two hours in the darkness to free the dog. Their vehicles' lights provided the only illumination.

The Botetourt County Sheriff said he wasn't surprised the officers risked their lives to save Baby. He described the officers as overworked, dedicated officers "who believe strongly in their profession and will do anything possible to save an animal even if it means risking their own life." But, the sheriff added, "They've got a real good sense about them as far as judgment."