Rescue Of The Month

Our Rescue of the Month for November is Chicago-based animal welfare organization and animal shelter, The Anti-Cruelty Society. We sat down with the non-profit's very own, Christine Natarelli (CN) and Colette Bradley (CB), who both shared some great insights into this amazing organization.

The Anti-Cruelty Society has been around for nearly 120 years. Can you tell us about how it was started? Do you know if there was a personal story behind the organization's inception?

CB: The Anti-Cruelty Society was founded by Mrs. Rose Fay Thomas along with other Chicago citizens who were concerned about animals in the city. Their goals were to suppress cruelty to animals, to educate the public on humane treatment, and to create a refuge for strays, all of which are at the core of what we do today.

What are some of the biggest challenges The Anti-Cruelty Society faces?

CB: Funding is always a challenge. While we have amazing donors, sponsors, and partners, our costs are always much higher than any fee we charge for services. Our adoption prices are very affordable and do not even begin to cover the costs of feeding, housing, spaying/neutering, microchipping, and vaccinating the animals.

We also have a low-cost spay/neuter clinic that is open to the public. The cost for the surgery is much lower than what you’d find at your private veterinarian, but we believe spaying and neutering is crucial to helping keep pets out of the shelter that we are happy to offer this service at an affordable cost.

Expenses for these programs, along with many others we offer, are supplemented through donations, so it’s very important to continue to fundraise and we’re grateful to all who are able to give either monetarily or through supplies. Every bit helps!

We love how involved in the community The Anti-Cruelty Society is. It seems like you put a lot of focus and importance on education. Can you share more information about your educational programs?

CN: The Anti-Cruelty Society’s Humane Education team promotes empathy by inspiring others to show compassion. Our Humane Education team utilizes a variety of interactive approaches to educate and engage people of all ages. We are promoting kindness throughout the community with on-site programs, off-site lectures, interactive games, behind the scenes tours, animal encounters, service learning projects, and more! From toddlers and teens, to teachers and corporate groups, we have interactive opportunities available for everyone in the community.

Running a rescue and helping dogs can be tough, both emotionally and physically. Can you share a tough experience or trying moment for The Anti-Cruelty Society, and what you did to overcome it?

CB: I think anytime we receive an animal that has been abused or neglected is tough to see. We may not know exactly what happened or what the circumstances are, but the staff and volunteers that work here are so compassionate; we all feel for the animal. Seeing that animal recover emotionally and physically, and find a forever home is what keeps us all going. We know once that pet has entered our doors, we are going to do everything we can and offer compassion and love every step of the way.

Do all animals stay at your adoption facility or do you have a network of fosters in the Chicago area that help care for the dogs?

CN: Both!  We are very fortunate to have a network of over 90 foster parents who house, feed, and care for animals in need throughout the year! This helps alleviate our staff’s time and our resources so we are able to help even more animals that arrive at the shelter. We also have animals on-site at our adoption center where we do same-day adoptions.

Where does your primary financial support come from?

CN: The Anti-Cruelty Society primarily receives financial support through donors, we also host special events throughout the year to raise money for our animals, we receive grants from various places, sponsorship and partner opportunities, and through third party events hosted by businesses and individuals in the community. We’re very lucky to have such amazing donors and supporters who want to help make a difference through financial support.

How many dogs on average do you place in their forever homes annually?

CB: We place about 5,000 cats and dogs in forever homes each year, about half of which are dogs.

For those reading this, if they want to help fight the good fight, what can they do to help?

CN: There are many ways to help and get involved with The Anti-Cruelty Society. Becoming a volunteer or foster, attending a special event, hosting a third party fundraiser of your own, joining our development council, helping us spread the word of our work and mission, and of course donating (both supplies and monetary donations) are just a few small ways to make a huge impact on an animal’s life!

What are the plans for the future of The Anti-Cruelty Society?

CB: The Anti-Cruelty Society has been increasing the number of animals we take in from shelters across the country. Whether they are animals that were in shelters prior to a hurricane hitting their home turf, or coming from a small shelter or rescue that does not have the same resources we can offer, we have been helping more and more animals in need from across the country. We take them in, care for them, and help find them the perfect forever home. We hope to continue this important work in the future!

If you want to follow The Anti-Cruelty's amazing work, like them on Facebook, follow them on Instagram, check out their available dogs, and donate today.

Our Rescue of the Month for October is Brookline Labrador Retriever Rescue, which is an exclusively volunteer-operated rescue with a network of volunteer foster homes throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. We're so excited to be working with this amazing organization this entire month. We sat down with one of their volunteers who shared how Brookline was started, their challenges, and ways to help.

Tell us about how Brookline was started? Is there a personal story behind Brookline's mission?

Brookline Labrador Retrieve Rescue was founded in 1997 by Nicole Soyster and her husband, Mike, and is named after their family Labrador Retriever, Brooke. While many rescue organization thrive as a referral source for families looking for a dog and for those considering surrendering a family pet, Brookline has operated under a slightly different model since its inception. Nicole’s belief was that Brookline could succeed by placing dogs in its care into a network of foster homes, a setting that allows each dog to live as a family pet and one that gives the volunteer a chance to fully evaluate the dog’s temperament and behavior. Because we get to know each dog as an individual, Brookline volunteers can better match dogs to a forever home. Today, we continue this legacy, and we are proud to say that we do not just place dogs in homes … we help families welcome an additional member of their pack. 

Is there a reason why Brookline is focused on labs? Do you rescue other dogs in certain situations? 

Brookline is exclusively dedicated to helping families adopt Labrador Retrievers and Lab mixes. In part, Brookline is dedicated to helping place Labrador Retrievers and Lab mixes because of our founder’s fondness for the breed. But we also recognize that there is a need to help advocate for and educate about Labs: Although they can be the perfect family dog, Labs require special dedication and attention. By focusing on the needs of one breed, we have developed a specialty that allows us to be passionate and informed voices for the dogs in our care. 

What are the biggest challenges Brookline faces?

Brookline is a 100% volunteer organization, which is both our greatest asset and the biggest obstacle we face. On the one hand, every dollar we raise is funneled directly to the care of our dogs. And because we are an entirely volunteer organization, there is a certain camaraderie amongst our members, because everyone feels invested and that they are part of both our successes and failures. Yet, because we lack the organizational infrastructure associated with dedicated staff members, it is often a struggle to manage resources and set aside time to attracting new volunteers—and finding foster homes is probably the single hardest challenge we face. Of course, being a non-profit organization, lack of funding for vet bills is a challenge, as well. 

Running a rescue and helping dogs can be tough, both emotionally and physically. Can you share a tough experience or trying moment for Brookline, and what you did to overcome it?

Pali Boucher started Rocket Dog Rescue in 2001 with the mission of helping create a world where all companion animals having loving and permanent homes and where no good natured dogs, no matter what their age, are killed because they are considered to be surplus or un-adoptable. Boucher's story is truly inspirational, and we are so honored to name Rocket Dog Rescue as our Rescue of the Month for September. 

Before starting Rocket Dog Rescue, Pali was homeless living on the streets of San Francisco. Growing up, her mother struggled with drugs, mental illness and was homeless. Pali's mother had passed away when she was 10. For a short time after, she was in foster care, then with her dad, and then back on the streets.

While homeless, she would visit the dogs at the San Francisco SPCA, which at the time was a kill shelter. She would say hi to the dogs and give them some attention. "I wasn’t looking to adopt. But there was this one hound dog always baying at the top of his lungs. I fell in love. So somehow, I got the money, faked an address and adopted him," Pali recalls. His name was Leadbelly.

Taking care of a dog while homeless can come with significant challenges, and Pali unfortunately faced many of them. She was in and out of jail and was very close to losing Leadbelly a couple times. This was when she realized she needed to make a change in her life and decided to enter a drug program. Pali found a friend who would care for Leadbelly during her recovery. About a year later, she was clean and sober and had Leadbelly back in her life. It was at this time that Pali's subsidized housing was approved, and she was so grateful to have a roof over her and Leadbelly's heads.

Pali spent the following years fostering many dogs. Sadly, Leadbelly died in 2001, but with his passing came an idea. "I wanted to go the next step and create my own nonprofit. My core group of about 10 friends became my board of directors and volunteers. Rocket Dog Rescue is a tribute to Leadbelly. He helped me learn how to take care of myself by taking care of him," said Pali.

For more than a decade, RDR operated without a facility and was solely dependent on their network of fosters around the Bay Area. After much hard work, dedication, and fundraising, Rocket Dog Rescue was able to open their own Urban Sanctuary and Adoption Center in Oakland, California in 2014.

RDR has saved over 10,000 dogs from euthanasia in overcrowded Bay Area shelters and is exclusively volunteer run and operated. We'll be donating $1 or more for every product purchased from Neptune & Co. to Rocket Dog Rescue for the entire month of September. You can donate directly by clicking here, and can follow RDR on Facebook and Instagram. If you're looking to adopt a dog, check out their available dogs here.

St. John is the smallest of the three main U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea with a population of around 16,800 people. As such, the island faces overpopulation problems of dogs and cats. The Animal Care Center was started to combat this problem and help educate the community about animal care. It is with great pleasure to name the Animal Care Center (ACC) of St. John as our Rescue of the Month for August.

We sat down with the ACC's Assistant Manager, Asya Simons, to learn more about the organization's challenges, a particular rescue story, and a look into the future.

Tell us about how the Animal Care Center of St. John was started?

The Animal Care Center was started in order to address the problem of abused, abandoned, unwanted and feral animals on the island of St. John. Being such a small island, issues concerning cats and dogs tend to multiply and grow out of hand in a very short period of time, so an organization was needed to not only address the animals directly, but also to educate and empower local individuals to create a lasting impact on future generations.

What are the biggest challenges the rescue faces?

One of the biggest issues we face is a lack of education in the community concerning animal care. We work hard to educate local residents on how to care for their pets, including preventing diseases such as heartworm, which is rampant in the Virgin Islands. We also help residents provide basic care by offering low-cost dog and cat food, and free flea, tick and heartworm medications. We are also faced with a number of animals who come to our facility with severe behavior problems due to abuse or neglect. We are working to address this problem by implementing a new clicker training program with our staff!

Running a rescue and helping dogs can be tough, both emotionally and physically. Can you share a tough experience or trying moment for the ACC, and what you did to overcome it?

It is always difficult when we take in animals, normally dogs, who have been severely neglected or abused. The time and energy those individuals require to trust people again can be immense, and there are times when it feels hopeless. We had one dog, Joplin, who came to our facility at around 1 year old after being neglected almost to the point of starvation. Our manager, Ryan, went with the local veterinarian to the abandoned building where she was living literally in her own waste, and she was all teeth, completely terrified. After being sedated, treated, and transferred to the ACC, Joplin dealt with a number of behavioral issues such as food aggression, and fear-based aggression towards anyone she wasn’t familiar with. It could take weeks for new staff members to be able to approach her without growling. With the constant love and special attention she received, she did slowly learn to trust people again, and came to be one of our favorite residents!

Do you have a network of fosters in the local area that help care for the dogs or do all of the dogs stay in your facility?

The majority of the dogs that come into our care stay at our facility until we are able to place them into homes, as the majority of our adoptions go to the mainland through tourists who fell in love with a dog they walked during their time volunteering. However, we do have a handful of residents on the island who will regularly foster dogs to help them experience a home life, and the community always steps up to help when we have a resident who needs to be in foster care due to age or medical needs.

Where does your primary financial support come from?

Our financial support comes from donations from supporters around the country. We hold a number of fundraising events throughout the year, such as our annual Gala and Wagapalooza, our local dog show, but we also receive donations from tourists who visit the island and come by to get their dose of puppy love!

How many dogs on average do you place in their forever homes annually?

We generally have between 70 and 100 dogs come through our facility in a year, but since Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the Virgin Islands last September, we have seen almost three times that number, largely due to families who lost everything, and needed to give their furry companions the chance at a better future.

What are the plans for the future?

Last year we were fortunate enough to pay off a piece of land that we can finally call our own! We are working on completing building plans for a new facility that will allow us to expand the number of animals we can care for, increase the level of care we are able to provide, and create new opportunities for volunteers.

If you want to donate directly to the Animal Care Center of St. John, you can here. You can also follow their amazing efforts on Facebook.

British restaurateur, author, actress, and television personality Lisa Vanderpump has added "animal rights activist" to her long list of accomplishments. In 2015, after witnessing the horrific images of slaughter and abuse of dogs in preparation for the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, which in an annual event in Yulin, China, Lisa was determined to do something about this. Executive Director, Dr. John Sessa, recalls,

"[Lisa] immediately started emailing me and calling her husband Ken to see what we could do about it. We immediately made a PSA with Sharon Osborne, executed a large demonstration in front of the Chinese Consulate and made several trips to Washington DC to lobby for House Resolution 401, which we helped author."

It was around this same time that Lisa, Ken, and John realized the huge dog homeless and overpopulation problem occurring in their own backyard in Southern California. In Los Angeles alone, over 3,000 dogs are euthanized in city and county shelters each year. The three knew they had to help, so they started The Vanderpump Dog Foundation in 2016 and opened the Vanderpump Dogs Los Angeles Rescue Center just over a year ago. The Rescue Center is swanky and brings the "Vanderpump" flare and style complete with jazz music, velvet couches, and even chandeliers.

Check out our Q&A with Dr. Sessa below:

What are the biggest challenges Vanderpump Dogs faces?

Dr. Sessa: We have been able to become a huge voice for the voiceless in a very short amount of time and I think our biggest challenge is keeping up with the demand for help. We get hundreds of calls and emails every day about dogs domestically and around the world that need our assistance. It is our duty to make sure we are a source for information and resources for everyone reaching out to us and help as many as we can.

Running a rescue and helping dogs can be tough both emotionally and physically. Can you share a tough experience or trying moment for the organization, and what you did to overcome it?

Dr. Sessa: We have a very dedicated and compassionate team, who strive to help every dog who needs our assistance. I think the biggest struggle and experience we have to continually get over is the inability to help every dog that comes our way. I just always remind the staff that we can help as many dogs as possible today and with our larger legislation and education efforts, we will eventually be able to effect change on a long term and be able to help all dogs. Dealing with loss is always difficult, but a part of the job when rescuing.

Do all of the dogs you rescue stay in the Rescue Center or do you have a network of fosters in the LA area that help care for the dogs as well?

Dr. Sessa: We do a combination of both fosters and in-house dogs.  Our volunteers and fosters have become such an important part of running the non-profit and making sure to keep expenses at a minimum.

Where does your primary financial support come from?

Dr. Sessa: Originally our financial support was solely from Ken and Lisa, which can get tasking and expensive. Thankfully, the model that we have built has a revenue producing entity with our grooming, retail and adoptions. This contributes to about half of our total overhead, our annual fundraisers (World Dog Day and our Gala) produce a significant portion and our wonderful donors contribute the rest. 

How many dogs on average do you place in their forever homes annually?

Dr. Sessa: The first year of operations, we successfully rescued and rehomed 500 dogs. Our goal is to double that this year! 

For those reading this, if they want to help fight the good fight, what can they do to help? 

Dr. Sessa: I suggest they go to www.vanderpumpdogs.org and help our efforts by building your own fundraising team or join one of our existing teams. We have competitions for groups to win prizes, as well as, raise money for our dogs - so it is a win win! Also - there are several other ways to show your support and they are listed on the website.

What are the plans for the future of Vanderpump Dogs?

If you want to help this amazing organization, you can donate here, check out their adoptable dogs, and follow them on Instagram and Twitter.

After volunteering for a national French Bulldog rescue in 2010, Megan Gates started learning what "the world of rescue" meant and stood for. What she learned changed her life forever.

After attending several commercial breeder dog auctions and finding out the eye-opening truth, Megan started to spread the knowledge she had gained. In 2013, she founded SNAFU (Short Noses And Friends United) Rescue and decided to do what she could to help the dogs in the commercial breeding system.

SNAFU does this by networking with commercial and private breeders for breeder releases. The organization also raises money in order to attend commercial breeder auctions and purchase dogs to free them from the commercial breeding system. It is a tough balance of bidding responsibly in order to help dogs in need but also not contributing to the problem.

Based on their name, SNAFU primarily rescues English and French Bulldogs. "There are many breed specific rescues around, and some of the other breeds already had rescues. Due to our love of short noses and the need for a rescue, we decided to focus mostly on them," said Megan.

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, SNAFU receives most financial support from individual donors and fundraising activities. This is also one of their biggest challenges, as they continuously need financial resources to cover many vet bills and expenses that are incurred. 

All dogs rescued by SNAFU are cared for by foster homes as they organization does not have a facility. On average they rescue between 25-30 dogs a year, but they are starting to grow significantly. "We would love to continue to grow and assist as many dogs as we can by helping get them out of the commercial breeding system, and helping any dogs who are unwanted in their current homes. We do also take on a few dogs who are surrendered due to behavioral issues. We will continue to educate and make an impact in the lives of short noses in need."

If you want to help support SNAFU's amazing work, donate today. You can also like them on Facebook. All donations from purchases made during the month of April will go to SNAFU.

This month we're excited to name Compassion Without Borders as our Rescue of the Month! Country lines don't stop this amazing organization from helping dogs in need.

Christi and Moncho Camblor started Compassion Without Borders in 2001, with the vision of helping provide brighter futures for animals both in Mexico and in the United States. CWOB was born out of a clear understanding that all dogs deserve a fighting chance to live a great life, regardless of their geographic location. "We have a focus on Mexico because the need is so great and there are so few programs to help animals south of the border," said Christi. 

"The magnitude of their suffering, the bleak and harsh landscape into which they were born, the total and complete lack of humane options for these animals, it screams to me from south of the border and calls me forward to do whatever I can," Christi writes in another post.

CWOB has established four programs that are the cornerstone of the organization's mission, which include Mexico Dog Rescue, US Dog Rescue, Veterinary Wellness Clinics & Spay/Neuter Services. They also actively help other rescue groups in the US and Mexico to provide outreach for humane rescue education and training seminars.

Last year alone, Compassion Without Borders rescued over 600 dogs. They have a shelter located in Santa Rosa, California but also rely on a network of foster families located in the Santa Rosa area. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, CWOB is dependent on donations from individual supporters. This also proves to be CWOB's biggest challenge. As a result, Christi and Moncho are constantly navigating the best ways to have the most impact with their limited resources and staff while maintaining their amazing programs.

Just like the future of the dogs they rescue, CWOB's future looks bright with plans of opening a shelter in Mexico for orphaned puppies, nursing mothers, and their litters. Christi and Moncho also have a capital campaign in the works for 2019 to renovate their shelter and open a sliding scale clinic for low-income families.

If you want to help support Compassion Without Borders, please donate today. You can also follow their inspiring work on Instagram and Facebook.

This month we are featuring Los Angeles-based rescue organization, A Purposeful Rescue, as our Rescue of the Month. We sat down with founder, Hillary Rosen, who calls each dog she rescues a ‘magical unicorn’.

Life was never the same for Hillary Rosen after stepping foot into her first animal shelter during the summer of 2012. She immediately realized how big of a challenge animal shelters faced with limited space and a lack of financial resources. Within 24 hours, Hillary rescued her first dog - an 80 pound Rottweiler/Pitbull mix named Marley. Within two weeks she had found Marley an amazing forever home. It was in this moment that she felt the undeniable need to help as many dogs as she could, so she decided to start A Purposeful Rescue.

One of her biggest challenges is “managing work and the rescue - there is not enough time in the day, however, we run a pretty tight ship and get a lot done for being such a small organization,” Hillary said. She attributes much of the amazing work to the volunteers who donate their time to rescuing dogs and providing the necessary care.

Hillary and team are very active within the Los Angeles community and work with their friends at Downtown Dog Rescue and Home Dog LA, who each run intervention programs at both the South LA Shelter and North Central Shelter.

A Purposeful Rescue relies primarily on individual donors, but also likes to tap into each volunteer’s strengths. In another interview, Hillary mentioned that “not everyone can walk into a shelter and volunteer and not everyone can foster a dog. There is so much more to running a non-profit pet rescue than fostering and adopting. We always need help with fundraising, events, transportation of dogs to vets and fosters, accounting, and social media, to name a few things on the list of needs.”

To date, A Purposeful Rescue has rescued somewhere around 600 dogs in over five short years. “Our big goal is to have our own animal hospital where people who don't have the financial resources can come and will be provided free or low cost good vet care,” said Hillary.

To help this amazing organization take one step closer to opening their own animal hospital, Neptune & Co. will be donating $1 at a minimum for every product sold to A Purposeful Rescue for the entire month of January. Follow their amazing work on Instagram, Facebook, and their website.

Helping rescue dogs is woven into the very fabric of Neptune & Co. There is no better way to celebrate our official launch this month than by featuring Muttville Senior Dog Rescue based in our hometown of San Francisco, California. During the entire month of December, we will be donating $1 for every product purchased to Muttville Senior Dog Rescue.

Muttville Senior Dog Rescue was founded in 2007 by superstar animal advocate, Sherri Franklin. She was inspired to start Muttville after volunteering at local shelters around San Francisco and noticing that senior dogs were always being passed up by potential adopters. She remembers thinking "I had to take action! When I started Muttville, many shelters assumed seniors were 'unadoptable' and routinely euthanized them." Muttville started in Sherri's home and she saved 27 dogs that first year.

In 2012, the SPCA generously allowed Muttville to rent an old administrative space. This allowed Sherri to move the operation out of her house. Amazingly, they have saved the lives of over 5,000 senior dogs since 2007, with over 1,000 of those dogs rescued this year alone.

Aligned with the organization's mission statement, Muttville's biggest success has been helping to change the way people think about senior animals. Sherri explains, "When I founded Muttville, we thought most of our adopters would be senior citizens. We still have a strong and dedicated Seniors for Seniors program (we waive the adoption fee for senior citizens), but many of our adopters are young families and millennials who bring their Muttville dogs to work with them!"

Muttville relies solely on individual donations, which is also one of their biggest challenges. "Most of our dogs come in need of dentals, which range from $700 to $4,000 in cost. On average, we spend $1,600 per dog to get them ready for adoption. Veterinary costs add up quickly!", says Sherri.

As for the future, Sherri told us "We are looking forward to more dogs being rescued. More seniors finding homes. More people understanding that adoption is a lifetime commitment, and that those last years can be the best years. More senior people realizing what a wonderful difference a senior dog can make in their lives. And more families falling in love."

Donate to Muttville by clicking here.

Here are some dogs currently available at Muttville looking for a forever home.

Baby Doll	Wall-E	Bonita
Corgi Mix, Female, 8 yrs	Spaniel Mix, Male, 9 yrs	Chihuahua Mix, Female, 10 yrs

Papa Lolo	Pumpkin Spice	Tickles
Pekingese Mix, Male, Hospice	Chihuahua Mix, Female, 8 yrs	Poodle Mix, Female, Age Unknown

Violet	Sylvester	Spencer
Dachshund, Female, 9 yrs	Jack Russell Terrier Mix, Male, Age Unknown	Maltese/Poodle Mix, Male, 7 yrs