Category: News

By Kelli Harmon

Published courtesy of Best Friends Magazine. This article originally appeared in BFM’s November/December 2018 edition. Posted 2019/08/03 

SEATTLE ANIMAL SHELTER started out like most other municipal animal services departments around the country. It was “the pound.” That was in the 1970s, when animal shelters were little more than short-term holding places for stray animals. But, says Ann Graves, Seattle Animal Shelter’s executive director, “We have a history of being progressive as a city and as a municipal agency.” So it wasn’t long before Seattle’s municipal shelter became a lifesaving model. They’ve proven that it’s possible for a cityrun, open-admission shelter to not only reach no-kill, but to sustain it.

A progressive history
What sets Seattle apart is that, as a city, it has consistently been an early adopter of core programs that go beyond the bare minimum in animal sheltering. “The low-cost spay/neuter clinic opened here in 1982, years before others around the country,” Ann says. “Seattle citizens recognized the need to do something about the overpopulation of dogs and cats, and voted for an initiative to open the clinic.”

Throughout its history, the city shelter has been open to new ideas and just keeps moving forward.

Their volunteer program started in the late 1990s, before most municipal shelters had such programs. (In fact, some shelters still don’t accept volunteer help.) They began working with rescue groups early on and they stopped the killing of animals on account of lack of space years ago, in large part because they created a foster program.

Collaboration with the public, private organizations and other agencies is a huge part of the shelter’s success. Ann, who started as a volunteer and has worked in a professional capacity at the shelter for 18 years, still remembers the first time shelters in the region got together to talk. Today the city and county shelters, as well as local nonprofit organizations, have an excellent working relationship. Ann says, “We’ve done a good job of recognizing when our neighbor needs help, and they do the same for us.”

Choices to make
As things shift and change in animal welfare and sheltering, leaders at Seattle Animal Shelter have had choices to make. What will it take to save animals coming into the shelter? How much time and funding will it require, and how can they get those resources? Today, fewer animals are coming into the shelter, but those who do have more medical needs.

“Many of the animals we’re saving now would have been euthanized in the past,” Ann says. “Thanks to the Help the Animals Fund, we’re able to provide medical care for more animals who are sick and injured. In 2011, a 501(c)3 (Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation) formed and it has increased our ability to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome the animals most in need.”

Getting to no-kill, and sustaining it, can feel like a moving target, in that each challenge that’s overcome can seem as though it leads to a new challenge. The people at Seattle Animal Shelter know that all too well. But that’s not a reason to give up — that’s a reason to keep going.

By Ann Graves, SAS executive director. Published 2018/04/06.

With the new year a memory and 2018 unfolding quickly before us I wanted to pause for a minute or two and express my gratitude to the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation for the training funds made available to our team in 2017. Training brings us information, builds new skills and when it is combined with meeting people outside of our own shelter or workplace, is instrumental in exchanging information and building relationships.

In October 2017, I attended the National Animal Care & Control Association Conference in Virginia Beach, Va. There I had the honor of opening the conference at the invitation of the NACA Board of Directors. While I was acting director of SAS, I had asked them to host a roundtable at some point during the conference where others who were interested could simply meet and converse about our profession, experiences, challenges and opportunities in an open forum. I made this request because in my new role I continually found myself wishing I knew what others were experiencing and felt the opportunity to connect with colleagues and peers at the conference was too good to pass up. The NACA board was so receptive to the idea they invited me to open the conference in lieu of a keynote speaker and we had a group discussion that included animal care and control professionals from across the country. It was an amazing opportunity and to hear a few hundred people talk to each other about their experiences, challenges and opportunities was an experience I will treasure. Throughout the rest of the conference I was approached by people who expressed appreciation for the dialogue as we all attended classes and learned from the experiences of our peers.

In November 2017, I attended the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators Conference in Miami, Fl. This was the first SAWA conference I have attended and while there I found myself surrounded by leaders in the field of animal welfare including Lisa LaFontaine, President and CEO of Humane Rescue Alliance, Matt Bershadker, President and CEO of the ASPCA, Steven Feldman, Executive Director of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute and many others. I was also able to spend time with colleagues from Washington and worked to renew and build relationships with colleagues from PAWS in Lynnwood and the Humane Society of SW Washington. Some of the topics presented at the conference included “Beyond Labels II: The Future of Animal Welfare”, “Evolution of the Animal Welfare Movement: Meeting the Needs of Rapidly Changing Communities” and a day long symposium covering topics of current research capped off the most informative, inspirational conference I have attended in my career.

These are two of many opportunities for our team at SAS to attend various trainings locally and nationally in 2017. We also brought training directly to our team, so all could benefit including Crisis Intervention Training specifically tailored to our professional needs. On behalf of all of us at SAS I want to express our gratitude for your support and our commitment to bringing the information, skills and knowledge with us each day that we come to work as we continue to strive for excellence in all we do to serve our community and for the benefit of the animals in our care.

Gratefully yours,
Ann