"Best Friends is transforming the animal welfare industry and data is transforming Best Friends", Michelle Dunivan, PhD Dunivan, Analytics Director of Best Friends Animal Society.  As we approach the 2022 holidays in the United States, the adoption of kittens & puppies increases as gifts to family members.  

What we don't see is everything behind the scenes to ensure your local animal shelter or rescue center has the right balance of animals to service local demand. We never see the amount of data which needs to be collected,  to resolve key business challenges for the betterment of animal welfare. 

In talking with Michelle, data provides her organization with the ablilty to ask questions no one thought to consider five (5) years ago because the data wasn't as accessible as it is now.  In the future, data can help Animal Welfare Industry to be proactive instead of reactive to really understand the pyschology of adoptions.  

What if data could help us understand (or predict) the outcome when a type of dog breed is accepted by the local shelter in a geographical area, at a certain time of year, and possibly the time of month.  

We packed a lot information in just under 30 minutes. Other topics during our discussion include:   - Roles & reponsibilities supporting data and analytics in animal welfare  - Research in the real world compared to the obstacles of academia research  - Studies: Animal Behavior (kpeeing animals living longer)  - Research: Community cat programs  - Supply and Demand: what animals are needed in which states  - Myths: Pandemic Puppies are bring returned. The data refutes this perception  - Data collection: Collecting from animal shelters across the United States  - Establishing the right amount of data to achieve our business goals   - Reporting to bring actionable decisions not just to have lots of data  - Constituents, volunteers, donnations, and local state and county policies