She will soon be writing wildlife crossing and fencing guidelines to funnel wildlife travelers to highway underpasses.

Kathleen and Andrew Rowan founded WellBeing International in August 2018.  I was quite curious about their new venture since Andrew is one of the most prominent figures in the animal protection field worldwide. 

One thing that is different for me on this occasion of the third euthanasia of the five shelter dogs I’ve adopted since I’ve been an adult is an old song I thought about.  I found myself wanting to listen to it after my canine buddy faded away.  The song captures some of my feelings about the departure of this little dog whom I wanted to protect and cure from the ills brought on her by her first years spent in the puppy mill.

People come at the desire to help animals in all sorts of ways, bringing their own interests and talents to the table.  Caryn is one of those people responding to a calling to assist animals in a unique way.  Her powerful brain is focused on improving the strategy and marketing effectiveness of animal protection organizations so that the nonprofits get the maximum bang for their marketing buck.

Senator Warner, whom I’ve seen speak on other occasions with great command of issues and an amusing wit, started telling me how important animal welfare was to him, too.  He mentioned the horrendous practice of horse soring and legislation he had supported to stop it.

How many times have you seen them?  The dogs who are tethered or penned in small enclosures and who live outside permanently, often without any significant human companionship.  It breaks your heart, right?  And you wish there was something you could do, right?  Well, there is.  Call Robin Budin, founder and director of Unchain America, a small but nationwide nonprofit specifically focused on helping such dogs. 

Occasionally, a shelter volunteer will have an experience that leads them into a whole different direction of supporting animals in need.  Such is the case with Julia Grosz, a 38-year-old geologist from Centreville, Virginia. Once a volunteer with a local animal shelter in Northern Virginia, she decided she wanted to take a different course to help cats who need homes.  And that’s how The Acatemy annual conference, with 300 expected attendees in January 2020, was born.

How many Yale graduates who run their own web design business do you know who also shear sheep and llamas at farms in a number of different states?  I’m betting zero.  I only know one and I wanted to ask her about her interest in and, in fact, love of shearing animals.  I learned that is now a second career for her that brings an enormous amount of happiness.

It may seem odd to draw a connection between animal welfare and junk-bond king and fraud meister Michael Milken, but stay with me for a few.  You see, I’ve been for years wondering if business ethics courses, like the one I was required to take when I got my MBA, are now addressing the topic of treating animals humanely—and thus encouraging tomorrow’s decision-makers to imbue their work with compassion toward our fellow species.

“Look into that dog’s eyes,” her grandfather told her as they came upon a decrepit pooch on the street when she was a girl.  “That is a hungry dog.  His stomach is hungry but so is his soul.”  All of us look back on moments that change us and for Christie Smith—retired executive director of the Robert Potter League for Animals in Newport, Rhode Island—this interaction would shape her future, which included 35 years of helping companion animals via a local organization devoted to sheltering and adoptions.

Heartbreak is just a part of life, right?  That’s especially true when your career is in animal welfare, witnessing a parade of mistreatment year after year.  Holly Hazard says she’s certainly experienced her own share of it after 35 years of being a nonprofit leader in the field as well as a lawyer, advocate, and professor.  It’s also helping her chart her course as a future politician.

I love animals and I love history.  So, it’s only fitting that I reached out to historian and friend Mary Thompson to find out more about animals who graced the lives of George and Martha Washington.

As an elementary school student in the 1970s, I saw the 1943 MGM film classic Lassie, Come Home on re-release at an Annandale, Virginia theater because my mother wanted me to see this true screen gem.  The Technicolor flick not only launched the childhood movie career of superstar Elizabeth Taylor, but also contained a scene in which another small dog dies after being clubbed by what looks like a tree branch.

So many of us get our news via social media these days. And I was pleasantly surprised to see a post with such good news on Facebook recently. My colleague Scott Giacoppo had been elected president of the National Animal Control Association (NACA)!

Full disclosure: my interview subject this time around is a good friend.  She is also a licensed Zumba instructor and a world traveler whose photos I enjoy on Facebook. 

In a dog-related term from his time, founding father Thomas Jefferson seemed to land upon a phrase he used as a metaphor once in a while. 

I figured if I was going to start a blog on animal issues, I should begin with writing about animals in my own personal life. My pets.

I used to have a biweekly newspaper column that focused on companion animal topics.