The Best Friends Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The New Data is Here, The New Data is Here! Jun 25, 2020

Show notes

Each year, a dedicated group of Best Friends staff and volunteers compile a colossal spreadsheet with 611,000 individual cells of data. This comprehensive dataset tracks lifesaving across the country and the latest numbers are in.

It wasn’t that long ago that our field worked in the dark, not knowing where and how animals were being killed. It’s impossible to develop effective, targeted programs to save lives without this information. This changed when a collaborative group of stakeholders launched Shelter Animals Count, and shelters and rescues across the country embraced a new framework for tracking and reporting. Today more than 3,600 shelters submit their data which represents 92% of intake nationwide.

The dataset tracks the national number of dogs and cats that enter and leave shelters, and drills down geographically to the individual shelter level. This week we give you the scoop on the 2019 progress and explore the ways that this dataset informs the work of Best Friends.

What's the Deal with Cats? Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

America loves cats. There are conventions entirely devoted to felines and the people who love them. The internet helped spur the mania with worldwide sensations like Grumpy Cat, who have forever changed popular culture. Despite our collective obsession with felines, they continue to be the animal most often killed in shelters. More than two-thirds of cats who enter shelters lose their lives.

Some programs have proven to be effective, but widespread increases in the lifesaving of cats continue to be elusive. Why?

From the ancient mythology around cats to the cutting edge programs that are saving lives more effectively than ever before, this week we explore the question, "what's the deal with cats?"

Permission to Feel with Dr. Marc Brackett Jun 11, 2020

Show notes

Caring for and protecting companion animals involves strong emotions. Understanding how we feel and harnessing our feelings for productive solutions, recognizing and respecting how others feel so that we can bring them along is equally as important as we navigate lifesaving change across the nation.

Emotions impact every facet of the human experience. Decades of research shows that as we improve our emotional intelligence (EI), we can boost our decision-making, attention, memory, creativity, and relationships.

One of the producers of the Best Friends podcast, Aimee Charlton, chatted with Dr. Marc Brackett, the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and explored his work in emotion skills and his new book, Permission to Feel.

Just like the Best Friends goal of ending the killing of dogs and cats in our nation’s animal shelters by the year 2025, Dr. Brackett has the audacious goal of starting an emotional revolution. He is leading an initiative to shift the mindset of the nation around the value and importance of emotions.

Leaning in and Listening - Diversity and Inclusion in Animal Welfare Jun 04, 2020

Show notes

The nation is gripped by racial tensions and division exacerbated by the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man in Minneapolis. Days of protests and demonstrations in all fifty states are demanding an end to police brutality, and have underscored conversations about institutionalized racism and the treatment of people of color in American society.

Animal welfare and animal services lack diversity and inclusion, both in our staffing and how we relate to the communities we serve. The number of pet-loving people of color is into the tens of millions and addressing this is not only crucial to ending the killing of pets in our nation's shelters it is a moral imperative for all of us.

This episode we take the time to listen and try to understand how we can do better and be better moving forward in our lifesaving work.

Emotional Intelligence - Our Super Power! May 29, 2020

Show notes

Think about the last time you were upset in your professional life. Maybe you were angry, or sad (or both). What did you do with that emotion? Did you allow it to affect you in a way that it threw you off your game?

Our skill at managing emotions - of all kinds - can be measured by something called emotional intelligence. It’s not about removing the emotions, quite the opposite. How do you manage them so you can continue working toward your goals?

In this episode, we look at a real-life example of managing emotions during an emotionally charged campaign for change at the local level. And we introduce you to Marc Brackett, the founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Mission Possible - Lifesaving in the Florida Panhandle May 26, 2020

Show notes

Thanks to the most accurate and detailed dataset in animal welfare history, it is possible to see the number of animals killed nationally and all the way down to your community.

Effectively using the data drives the lifesaving efforts of Best Friends. For communities that have a lot of lives to save, the embed program, as it's known, brings Best Friends staff to the community. Be it short term to help with a particular area, or, as is the case with Santa Rosa County, Florida, a full-time staff member standing shoulder to shoulder helping transform the lifesaving efforts.

Santa Rosa County Animal Services has been progressing toward the no-kill benchmark but needed some guidance to help push through that 90% barrier. They opened their doors to the Best Friends embed programs team and their success will be the anchor to lead the entire panhandle to no-kill.

American Pets Alive! Piloting Social Services Model of Sheltering May 22, 2020

Show notes

Our work has evolved rapidly the past several years as we all work to change an institutionalized sheltering system that was not designed to save lives. The operational changes during COVID-19 have served to accelerate even more change and a determined group of leaders believes now is the time for us to create a new paradigm.

Historically our focus has been on helping pets but people have not been given the same priority. Times have changed and while we’re better at the people part, this new model of sheltering seeks to turn everything on its head and serve the community in new ways.

American Pets Alive! is leading the charge with a pilot project in 13 cities* where they hope to determine if an “Animal Social Services Model” is the wave of the future.

*since the publication of this episode, New York City has moved down to a tier two community

The Moonshot - No-Kill 2025 May 19, 2020

Show notes

The progress towards a no-kill nation has been remarkable. From approximately 17-million animals killed in 1984 to 733,000 in 2019. Of course, one healthy or treatable pet killed is one too many.

Saying we need to end the killing of pets is great, but it takes a strategy to help the 5,000 shelters across the country get there. And a strategy is great, but it’s even better when you get specific with your goal and add the urgency that the animals deserve.

That’s No-Kill 2025. Working collaboratively, aligned around this common goal, together, we are ending the killing of pets in our nation’s shelters.

Let's Spay Together May 15, 2020

Show notes

As governments scrambled to react to the COVID-19 pandemic, one word dominated conversations related to stay at home orders. Essential. Is the service or business, critical to the health and welfare of the community? Where do animal services fit into that picture?

While there’s little debate that animal control is necessary as a component of public safety, other elements of what we do were being judged on their merits. Spay and neuter surgeries were handled differently across the country both by government officials and people in our field. How essential are they?

We talked with leaders in three states about how they managed their clinic work during this time. And we talked with Aimee St. Arnaud, Director of National Veterinary Outreach for Best Friends Animal Society, about the larger picture of veterinary services during the pandemic, and what challenges lie ahead.

Hannah Shaw - Kitten Lady May 12, 2020

Show notes

Neonatal kittens are one of the most vulnerable populations in animal shelters. The resources necessary to save them haven’t always been available but that has changed over the last few years. An ever-growing, committed group of volunteers has offered a lifeline to newborn kittens.

Our guest, Hannah Shaw, has helped in a big way. She has amassed a huge audience which she uses to educate the world on the plight of orphaned kittens. Her beautifully produced educational content is teaching countless people how to save them.

Better known to many as the “Kitten Lady,” Hannah is a New York Times best-selling author. Millions of online followers follow the progress of her rescued kittens and on top of it all, she runs a growing nonprofit that is funding projects to save kittens across the country.

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