PawPrints Magazine: Summer 2020

Published For Friends of the Arizona Humane Society

SUMMER 2020

CARING FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE ANIMALS DURING THE MOST VULNERABLE TIMES PAGE // 3

URGENT SUMMER FUND DRIVE PAGE // 4

ADDRESSING BOTH ENDS OF THE LEASH TO KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER PAGE // 6

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PAW P R I N T S

ASK EDISON Edison is one of our animal teachers who interacts with children at camps, birthday parties and in classrooms.

In each issue of Paw Prints, Edison will answer a question we receive from animal lovers like you.

Our Mission We save the most vulnerable animals and enrich the lives of pets and people.

Our Values Innovation. Compassion. Excellence.

Q: With in-person camps, classes and workshops on temporary hold due to COVID-19, what have you been doing during quarantine to continue to help educate children on the joy of pets?

Just because kids are at home Summer may look this summer doesn’t mean a little different they can’t have a wild good for our kids this time! Our Education and year, but our new Outreach department has programs will help been working hard to come continue to inspire a up with innovative and compassionate and caring community engaging programming for for all animals. our community’s children to continue to foster the joy of pets and cultivate compassion amongst our next generation of animal lovers.

While we had to make the unfortunate decision to cancel our 2020 Youth Summer Camp program in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, we were so excited to launch our Animal Ed-Ventures At Home Kit. This surprise weekly box was mailed to kids who engaged in different animal-themed activities each week, filled with learning opportunities, crafts, online videos, virtual office hours and more during the month of June. Over 100 kids took part in this unique learning opportunity. And I got to meet many of them during the virtual office hour!

But that’s not all! Does your child have an upcoming birthday? Are you looking for ways to make it fun and paw-tastic? We are now offering birthday video shoutouts from our famed animal ambassadors (like myself!).

So don’t “ferret” (see what I did there?) - our Education and Outreach team are hard at work developing new programs to help continue to inspire a compassionate and caring community for all animals.

Dr. Steven R. Hansen President & CEO

2020 AHS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Executive Committee Andrea Marconi, Chair Dr. Craig Thatcher, Vice Chair Bryan Albue, Secretary Matthew Waller, Treasurer & Finance Chair Suzanne Pearl, Past Chair & President’s Club Steering Committee Chair Tracey Lyons, Governance Chair & Circle of Friends Co-Chair

Board Members Anthony Alfonso Courtney Beller, Compassion with Fashion Co-Chair Yvonne A Betts Andrea L. Claus Ann Damiano Debbie DePaoli Dr. Karla Fisher Dyan Getz, Circle of Friends Co-Chair Suzanne Hensing Susie Ingold Julie Johnson Kerry Milligan Kimberlee Reimann Padilla Ann Siner Patricia Tate Jo Taulbee-Flittie

AZHUMANE.ORG

SUMMER 2020

Wounded Stray Now Living Her Best Life Hope was found as a stray with an injured leg by a good Samaritan and taken to a local emergency animal hospital. Our Emergency Animal Medical Technicians™ transported her to our Second Chance Animal Trauma Hospital ™, where our medical team discovered the 4-yearold Australian Cattle Dog had a large open wound on her front paw.

It appeared that something was wrapped around her paw, cutting off this poor pup’s circulation. We could only imagine the suffering Hope had endured. Our medical staff cleaned and flushed the wound and applied honey bandages to help speed up the healing process.

After a few weeks of food, medical care and lots of love, our sweet Hope was well enough to transfer to the home of one of our loving and compassionate Foster Heroes.

Hope’s Foster Hero family nursed her back to a clean bill of health, all the while, falling more and more in love with her. When the time came for Hope to go up for adoption, they just couldn’t let her go. Hope’s foster family became her forever family, and she is now living a happy new life in Apache Junction.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact all our lives, there are many animals like Hope who are in urgent need of help this summer.

Lifesaving programs like our trauma hospital, Mutternity Suites, Kitten Nursery, Bottle Baby Kitten ICU and Parvo Puppy ICU that save the lives of pets routinely euthanized in shelters, are as busy as ever caring for the sick, injured and abused pets in our community.

Your help is more critical than ever. Your support of our comprehensive medical, behavioral rehabilitation, surrender intervention and spay/neuter initiatives has saved an additional 100,000 lives over the last six years.

And when you make a gift today at azhumane.org/summer to our Urgent Summer Fund Drive, you are helping to heal the hearts of pets like Hope. You can also help give second chances to vulnerable pets by shopping and donating at checkout at AJ’s Fine Foods during the month of August or Camp Bow Wow’s North Scottsdale, Phoenix and Mesa-Dobson Ranch locations during July and August. And be sure to tune in to our Pets On Parade: Special Edition on August 29th at 12:30 p.m. on 3TV.

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Caring for the Most Vulnerable Animals During the Most Vulnerable Times March 26 O ur Virtual Adoption Matchmaker Program

March 16 All adoptable pets transferred to our Nina Mason Pulliam Campus for Compassion

March 21 Pets on Parade: On the Road debuts

launches, allowing us to safely continue to find forever homes for pets like Cabbage, who was rescued by our Emergency Animal Medical Technicians™, suffering from a wound on her shoulder, ear mites and a bad ear infection. She was treated in our Second Chance Animal Truama Hospital ™ and eventually adopted into loving home.

March 18

March 22

March 30

Our Adoptions, Admissions, Rescue and Foster Departments implement drive-up services to help pets like Hanai. Hanai was nurtured back to health in a Foster Hero home after arriving to AHS with numerous bite wounds and scratches on her body. Hanai’s Foster Hero fell in love and eventually adopted this loving pit bull.

Nearly 100 pets are adopted during our BISSELL Pet Foundation Emergency Relief Adoption Special.

Our Second Chance Animal Trauma Hospital™ shifts operations to 24 hours a day, seven days a week to save the lives of sick, injured and abused pets like Medusa round-the-clock. This determined cat was brought to AHS as a sick stray with ulcers on both eyes, which unfortunately required the removal of both of them in our trauma hospital. She then spent several weeks with a Foster Hero, who eventually adopted Medusa.

AHS’ Pet Resource Center continues to assist with more than 160 calls per day while working remotely to provide resources and assistance to pet owners in need.

Thanks to support from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, it’s the first day on the job for AHS’ new Resource Navigator, a social work professional, who provides support to pet owners in crisis.

SUMMER 2020

COVID-19 has impacted the Arizona Humane Society in many ways, but your support has made it possible for us to adapt and implement a variety of innovative, lifesaving programs so we can ensure the safety of our staff and community while continuing to save the most vulnerable animals.

April 3 Our Margaret McAllister Brock Veterinary Clinic extends services to seven days a week to assist pets like Chiquita, whose family was unable to afford her treatment.

Thanks to grant funding from Banfield Foundation, we were able to provide the dental care Chiquita so desperately needed.

April 18 Our Foster team implements telemedicine appointments.

June 1

June 16

Animal Ed-Ventures at Home Kits launch.

Cave Creek Thrift Store reopens.

April 6

May 18

June 2

Virtual Adoption Matchmaker Program expands to include online scheduling.

Safety for our teams and customers remains our top priority, and AHS implements a mask policy for all staff and visitors. Other safety precautions implemented over the past few months include daily temperature checks for staff and volunteers, as well as A/B teams to reduce the number of individuals on site at one time.

Marge Wright Veterinary Clinic at Sunnsylope Campus reopens.

AHS Behavior Team launches virtual dog training.

Animal Rescue AHS continues to provide a safety net for the most vulnerable pets, through programs like our Emergency Animal Medical Technicians who remain on the road rescuing sick, injured and abused animals and investigating cases of abuse and cruelty during the pandemic.

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How the CARES Act Affects Charitable Giving to AHS and Our Donor’s Charitable Deductions The CARES Act changed the limitations on charitable giving to encourage individuals to make cash contributions to public charities (excluding donor-advised funds and private foundations).

Above-the-line deduction.

Under the prior rules in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, individuals who do not itemize their deductions could not take a charitable deduction for cash contributions to qualified charities. This drastically reduced the number of individuals who chose to itemize deductions by (a) raising the standard deduction to $12,400 for single taxpayers and $24,800 for taxpayers that are married filing jointly, and (b) capping the deduction for state and local taxes at $10,000.

The CARES Act adds a new above-the-line deduction that allows individuals who do not itemize to deduct up to $300 of cash contributions to a qualified charity. And this is in addition to the standard deduction. Please note this is similar to the Arizona Tax Credit, in that it allows for a dollar-to-dollar tax credit.

IRAs - qualified charitable distributions.

As a provision of the CARES Act, required minimum distributions (RMDs) from IRAs have been waived for 2020. Even though RMDs are waived, individuals can still use their IRA to get a tax break on giving to charity. Individuals can make their IRA gifts with a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from their IRA. The funds are directly transferred from the IRA to a charity and excluded from income. This is a great way to give to charity and reduce your taxable IRA balance at the same time.

One final note.

This is not intended as legal or tax advice. Please consult an attorney or tax advisor for more information.

SUMMER 2020

5,000 Miles From Home Blitz and his dad, David, were separated by 5,550 miles, Blitz in Arizona and David in France.

When David returned to his home country of France to sort out his U.S. visa, he trusted someone to look after his best friend, a 3-year-old German Shepherd named Blitz. Somehow Blitz arrived at the Arizona Humane Society and while he was microchipped, it was registered with a European company and the information was unavailable.

Thankfully, David reached AHS right away via Facebook. He was understandably panicked and desperate for help - Blitz was his only family in the U.S. Even worse, Blitz only understood French commands and our heart broke imagining the confusion he must have felt. Knowing that he could not be kept in the shelter for months before his dad’s return, we reached out to some of our most dedicated Foster Heroes, Scott and Nekki, to see if they could help. Between Scott’s ability to speak French and the pair’s experience with high-energy pups like Blitz, it was a perfect match!

Six months later, David returned for Blitz and they could not have been happier to see each other.

Through partner collaboration, we place pets in foster, rescue and permanent homes, reduce overcapacity in other shelters and reunite lost pets like Blitz with their owners.

Addressing Both Ends of the Leash to Keep Families Together The Arizona Humane Society realizes pet homelessness isn’t an animal problem, it’s a people problem. And last year, AHS’ Pet Resource Center connected thousands of pet owners with affordable medical, behavior and support services that helped keep nearly 6,000 pets out of the shelter and with their families.

In our efforts to keep more pets and people together, we are piloting a one-of-a-kind Resource Navigator position that will be critical in establishing relationships with key health and human services organizations in an effort to build a toolkit of support resources for pet owners in need. This social work professional will provide sustainable, long-term solutions to pet owners in crisis and train AHS team members to better handle these challenging situations.

We are so grateful to our generous friends at the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust for funding this position and their commitment to helping us provide a holistic community resource that addresses both ends of the leash.

The human and animal bond is comforting and life-affirming.

In times of crisis, it can be essential for one’s emotional and mental wellbeing. The Trust has supported the Pet Resource Center since 2015 because it helps keep people and their animal companions together. With Jenna joining the team, the Resource Center can now go deeper, helping pet owners find additional resources to stabilize their personal wellbeing.

NINA MASON PULLIAM CHARITABLE TRUST TRUSTEE LISA SHOVER KACKLEY

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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Phoenix, AZ Permit No. 456

1521 W. Dobbins Road Phoenix, AZ 85041 azhumane.org

Be a Driving Force Against Pet Overpopulation Help put the brakes on pet homelessness by purchasing pet-friendly license plates. Pet-friendly Arizona plates are available for only $25 per year, and $17 from each plate helps support spay and neuter services for dogs and cats in Arizona. Order your plates at azpetplates.org or call the ADOT Motor Vehicles Division Offices near you.

DON’T KIT-NAP KITTENS! Mom will likely return.

Please don’t intervene. www.azhumane.org/foundkittens