tails newsletter F EBRUA RY 2018
THANK YOU! Thank you to PetSmart Charities, the leading funder of animal welfare in America, for their generous $100,000 contribution to our Mission: Possible 2020 capital campaign. The capital campaign for new and renovated facilities is a critical component to The Animal Foundation’s Mission: Possible 2020 initiative to save the lives of all healthy and treatable animals who come to us in need. New and updated facilities will increase our capacity to save lives and will include updated and more robust veterinary surgery facilities, a new structure to house adoption areas for cats and other small animals, a community education center and new administrative offices. To reach our campaign goal, The Animal Foundation needs to raise $35 million. We’ve already raised $30 million toward this goal. If we can raise $3 million between now and the end of May, 2018, the final $2 million will be donated via a match gift from the Engelstad Family Foundation. Your gift can help get us to the finish line! For more information or to give, please visit animalfoundation.com and go to the tab marked #MPAW2020.
Help Us Find Them Homes! FORTUNE (A0959172) Fortune has a zest for life that’s contagious! He’s happy doing just about anything, is always ready to get his game on, and especially loves playing with soccer balls. Fortune is a congenial sort, always happy to meet new dog and human friends. He’s a good boy, too, who knows how to sit and wait patiently for treats. Fortune is a shelter favorite who has been good-naturedly waiting for a permanent home since May 2017. Please come meet Fortune soon!
XERO (A0862431) Xero’s got zoom and loves to play! Xero can also be zen, and enjoys relaxing and observing his surroundings. He likes to learn new things and already knows how to sit. He is currently working on his leash skills with one of our volunteer trainers. Xero is very affectionate with humans but tends to be a bit more selective about his four-legged pals. He has been anxiously waiting since May 2017 for a loving and patient family to call his own.
MORTIMER (A0963161) Mortimer is a lively boy who likes to show his mischievous side by playing in his hay and thumping his feet. Like all bunnies, he loves to dig, get into things, and run around. Snuggles, cuddles, and cuteness await Mortimer’s lucky family. Mortimer has been with us since June 2017 and is ready for some bunny to love him!
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Find Your Lost Pet…
The Animal Foundation recently joined forces with the social media teams from Clark County and the City of Las Vegas to help owners of lost dogs find their pets through the Nextdoor app. Nextdoor is a private social network site that allows communities and neighbors to communicate about activities in their neighborhood. Each week, The Animal Foundation’s Lost & Found team shares photos and information about lost pets who have just arrived at the shelter, including the zip codes where those dogs were found. These details are then shared with Clark County and the City of Las Vegas to post on their respective Nextdoor accounts so that neighbors can see if a dog is theirs or if it belongs to someone they know. Since launching in 2011, Nextdoor has helped hundreds of families reunite with their lost pets, both in Las Vegas and across the country. By partnering with Clark County and the City of Las Vegas, The Animal Foundation hopes that it can help reunite a few more hundred!
Kennel Club Event Honors Charter Members Nearly 20 charter members of The Animal Foundation’s Kennel Club recently gathered for a reception and the official unveiling of the sponsorship program’s new dog and cat kennel signs. Launched in late 2017, the Kennel Club offers members the opportunity to sponsor a kennel in their name, their company’s name, or in memory of a beloved family member, special friend or cherished pet. Donations to the program help provide our homeless and abandoned pets with food, shelter, health care, and the chance to be adopted into a permanent and loving home. Chief Executive Officer Christine Robinson hosted the inaugural Kennel Club members at the private reception in their honor on campus before helping to lead guests to see their kennel signs officially unveiled. We want to take this opportunity to thank our charter members, listed below, for supporting and helping to launch this important new effort to support our mission to save all healthy and treatable animals in the Las Vegas Valley.
Charter Members Animal Allergy & Dermatology Specialists The Arcana Family Janelle & Tyler Bain Karyn Finlayson Allan Ginsberg & Roberta Litzinger Karen Goff Jean & Robert Hall Ed & Sharon House
Steven & Brenda Kawa Judi Keltner Quick Change Display Christine Robinson & Betsy Fretwell Subaru of Las Vegas Jill & Nim Vaswani Amy Wiles Kim Zambon Paula Zub
Kevin Judice Charter memberships are still being accepted through March of 2018. To learn more about the Kennel Club, visit animalfoundation.com/kennel-club.
Rescued Pomeranians FIND THEIR HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER HOMES Thanks to unprecedented support from our community, the journey of our 164 rescued Pomeranians has a happily-everafter ending. Rescued from the back of an abandoned U-Haul truck on November 30, the cute and compact dogs were groomed, evaluated for health and behavior issues, given vaccinations, microchipped, and spayed or neutered before being made available for adoption in late December. Many people don’t realize that the cost to care for one of our adoptable pets during their stay with us averages around $308. Most of this expense we try to cover via donations rather than charging adoptees, allowing us to offer lower adoption fees than most other shelters and rescues. Therefore, we are extremely grateful to the many people who made donations in support of this extraordinary rescue event. We raised nearly $100,000 to help not just the highprofile Pomeranians, but many of our other homeless pets patiently waiting for permanent homes. We cannot thank you enough for your generous support. And thank you, too, to all the wonderful people who have lovingly opened their hearts and their homes to welcome a new family member. While we can’t share every happy tail, we thought it would be fun to share a few updates from our newest adoption Alumni Club members: Elsie’s family informs us she is doing great. “She’s so sweet and she loves to play! We have another Pomeranian and a chihuahua, too, and they’re already having so much fun!” With two other dogs in the house, Elsie picked up using the doggie door to the backyard, going potty outside, and eating out of the food bowl quickly. Sophie said, “I’m so impressed! She attached herself to us pretty quickly and she sleeps with us and the other dogs at night. She’s been a great addition to our family and we love having her!” Deanna, reports that while Yogi is shy, he is gaining more confidence every day. He’s bonded with her other dog, Lemon, who showed him how to use the doggie door and they love to share toys and play. “Yogi follows me all over the house” and when he hops on the couch, “he gives me the softest and sweetest little kisses.” Yogi had a grooming appointment recently and when he came home, “he was prancing around the house like he was king. He knew he looked great and I know he feels better, too!” Mereleyn Monroe, a 3-year-old blue merle Pomeranian with two different colored eyes was nervous at first in her new home but warmed up quickly and according to Katrina, is living up to her glamorous name. “Her favorite spot in the house is in her gold bed where she brings her treats to eat. She loves getting her hair brushed and usually falls asleep midway through her daily brushing.” This glamorous Pom even owns a wardrobe that she posts about on her personal Instagram account, @MerleynMonroe. An update on Luna states that she’s slowly adjusting to her new home. According to Jorge, “She’s still very shy and spends most of her time in her “safe spot”, which is her bed, but she gets up to explore occasionally. She’s a very sweet dog and I’m sure she’ll become more social in time.” He is feeding her by hand right now and says she has a good temperament and is very gentle. Jorge promises to post more photos and updates to social media soon and hopes others who adopted one of the Pomeranians will do the same. When Kookie was first brought to her forever home, she was scared, kept her tail between her legs, and didn’t want to leave her bed. Luckily, that didn’t last long! According to her human mom, Kristina, “Kookie is very energetic. She has a playful and mischievous personality and loves going up and down the stairs.” Kristina says Kookie is making progress with her housetraining and has learned to walk on a leash but she plans to work with a professional trainer as Kookie still needs training to learn basic commands. Just a reminder that if you have adopted a pet from us, we’d love for you to join our Alumni Club and share your “happy tails” with us. Sharing your story not only keeps us up-to-date with you and our furry friends, it can also help save more homeless pets in need. We use these stories in our fundraising and marketing efforts and to help us secure grants. Won’t you pay it forward by sharing your story with us today? Visit www.animalfoundation.com/share-your-story-today for more information.
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New Co-Chairs ANNOUNCED FOR 2018 BEST IN SHOW
UFC fighter Joseph Benavidez, the #1 ranked flyweight in the world, and his wife Megan Olivi, host and reporter for the UFC, have joined The Animal Foundation’s 2018 Best in Show as co-chairs for the first time. Benavidez and Olivi are proud Las Vegas residents who have been married since 2015. For almost a decade, Benavidez has been a perennial contender at both bantamweight and flyweight. Olivi works as a host and reporter for the UFC. During fight broadcasts, she can be seen hosting the pre- and postshow or serving as the backstage reporter, interviewing fighters before and after they compete. Benavidez and Olivi have a five-year-old Maltese-Yorkie mix named Benny, who they say is the king of their household. Best in Show is the premier fundraising and offsite dog-adoption event for The Animal Foundation, with 100% of proceeds going directly to support the many lifesaving programs at the shelter.
save the date
Sunday, April 22, 2018 · Thomas & Mack Center ·
The Excitement is Building!
TEMPORARY SIGNAGE POINTS THE WAY TO RELOCATED OPERATIONS Following a successful groundbreaking event on October 26, 2017, The Animal Foundation campus has seen a lot of changes as part of its Mission: Possible 2020 campus completion project. Renovations of the Lied Animal Shelter are now well underway. New vinyl tents were installed to relocate and house several departments, including Animal Care, Admissions, Lost & Found, Euthanasia, and Facilities. Lost & Found dog rooms A, B, and C were also relocated to the old cat adoption tent near the new Lost & Found Lobby, which is now accessible just off East Harris Avenue. The Adoptions team was moved to 685 N. Wardelle Street, just around the corner from the previous entrance. Adoptable cats, reptiles and bunnies were also moved to temporary trailers at the new adoption location. The new year promises many more significant milestones as our Mission: Possible 2020 campus completion project continues, thanks to the support of our generous donors!
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