Interview! Part 2 - Dr. Sara Pizano, Veterinarian and Animal Welfare Consultant

"You don't need millions of dollars—you need to allocate your pie of resources intelligently … that's really the key."

In part 2 of our two-part episode with Dr. Sara Pizano, she talks about the big picture in animal welfare these days, and about where she feels the focus should be for the future.

Dr. Pizano discusses her recent work on steering committees with Best Friends and Million Cat Challenge. Best Friends, she tells us, has the goal of making this country no kill. They focus on shelters with the highest euthanasia numbers, and then ask them what they need and how Best Friends can help them connect to the resources they need. It's all about strategizing around support for shelters that still use euthanasia for space/population control.

Meanwhile, Million Cat Challenge has already exceeded its goal of saving one million cats. Dr. Pizano believes that this program is a phenomenal example of what we can do just by connecting people and helping/supporting them. She believes that everyone who cares about cats, whether they work in the field or not, has a role to play in helping cats.

For Dr. Pizano, the most important things we need to do as we move into the future of feline welfare are to keep cats out of shelters no matter what, and to increase access to spay/neuter, especially subsidized surgeries for community cats. She encourages people to remember that no animal ever wants to be in a shelter, and that going into a shelter is always going to have negative consequences for the animal. The goal, she feels, should be for shelters to become community animal resource centers, with sheltering only for animals that are victims of abuse, neglect, or true abandonment—in other words, animals that truly have no other place to go.

Dr. Pizano recognizes that it is hard for many people to figure out how to raise money without adoption fees, but she feels we all need to consider what making money off adoption fees says about how we are helping animals. She feels that we need to learn how to be good fundraisers and raise money in ways other than adoption fees, and that we need to help our funders come along to this perspective as well.

If your group or shelter needs help, Dr. Pizano's consulting firm, Team Shelter USA, can likely assist you with its soup to nuts approach to animal welfare services. In addition, Dr. Pizano encourages everyone in the animal welfare world to connect with others, to become part of Million Cat Challenge, and to become a Best Friends Network partner so that everyone can get the help they need and know that there's a better way than using euthanasia as population control.

To get in touch with Dr. Pizano, email her at [email protected]. To learn more about Million Cat Challenge, visit millioncatchallenge.org. To learn more about Best Friends and their partner program, visit bestfriends.org.