Zero Deaths for New York's Healthy Shelter Pets in February

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 2007

Alameda, CA – March 2007 – Thanks to the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, Animal Care & Control of New York City, and the ninety plus partners of Maddie's® Pet Rescue Project in New York City, no healthy dog or cat died in a New York City animal shelter during the month of February.

The lifesaving achievement crowns two years in which Maddie's® Pet Rescue Project in New York City exceeded its goals in every category.

Since the Project began on January 1, 2005, total shelter deaths in New York City have decreased 35%, from 31,816 in the baseline year to 20,818 in 2006. Euthanasia of healthy shelter pets has declined even more dramatically, from 14,000 to 3,831 (a drop of 73%).

At the same time, adoptions have risen from 12,831 in the baseline year to 22,892 in Project Year Two. Adoption guarantee agencies have increased adoptions 72%, from 7,904 to 13,579.

In order to ensure a full adoption guarantee for healthy dogs and cats by Year Five, Maddie's® community projects are asked to put an adoption guarantee in place for healthy animals for one month in Year Three and for three consecutive months in Year Four. Maddie's® New York Project got that task out of the way so quickly that it might be possible for the coalition to save the remaining healthy shelter pets months or even years ahead of schedule.

"We are so excited about New York's lifesaving results," said Maddie's Fund President, Rich Avanzino. "We congratulate every individual in every organization who has worked so hard to reach this benchmark."

Contact:

Rich Avanzino, President

Maddie's Fund

(510) 337-8979

info@maddiesfund.org

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About Maddie's Fund

Maddie's Fund, The Pet Rescue Foundation (www.maddiesfund.org), is a family foundation funded by PeopleSoft and Workday Founder, Dave Duffield, and his wife, Cheryl, to help create a no-kill nation. The first step is to help develop programs that guarantee loving homes for all healthy shelter dogs and cats throughout the country. The next step is to save the sick, injured, and poorly behaved pets in animal shelters nationwide.

Maddie's Fund is named after the Duffield's beloved Miniature Schnauzer. The foundation makes good on a promise the family made to Maddie to give back to her kind in dollars that which Maddie gave to them in friendship and love. Maddie passed away in 1997, but thanks to this one little dog, abandoned shelter dogs and cats have new opportunities to find loving homes in which they, too, may share in the joy, love and companionship that Dave and Cheryl enjoyed with Maddie.

Maddie's Spay/Neuter Project is partnering with Maddie's Pet Rescue Project to end the killing of healthy and treatable shelter pets in New York City within ten years.