NEWS RELEASE  

Maddie’s Fund®                                                                      

Contact: 

Contact: Rich Avanzino, President

Telephone: 510-337-8980

MADDIE'S FUND® AWARDS $252,000 TO DANE COUNTY, WISCONSIN  COALITION  

Dane County animal welfare groups and veterinarians to receive $1 million over five years to save all healthy and treatable shelter cats

(Alameda, CA – August 2008) Maddie’s Fund® the Pet Rescue Foundation (www.maddiesfund.org), has awarded a $252,000 grant to support the first year of Maddie’s® Pet Rescue Project and Maddie’s® Spay/Neuter Project in Dane County, Wisconsin. As goals are achieved, Maddie’s Fund will provide animal welfare groups and veterinarians over $1 million to end the killing of Dane County's healthy and treatable shelter cats. (Dane County is already saving all of its healthy and treatable shelter dogs.)

Maddie’s® Pet Rescue Project is led by Dane County Humane Society (DCHS) working with two adoption guarantee organizations—Shelter from the Storm and Dane County Friends of Ferals. The first year goal is to increase the total number of cats adopted by 353 over the baseline year and decrease the number cats euthanized in Dane County shelters by at least 353 below baseline. Offsite adoption programs, new staff, expanded hours and events are a few of the ways the coalition plans to increase adoptions. The collaboration's first event, a 29 hour adoption marathon called Catapalooza found homes for 80 cats!

Maddie’s® Spay/Neuter Project is also administered by DCHS. Surgeries will be performed by participating private practice veterinarians and by participating nonprofit spay/neuter clinics. The program is available to Dane County low-income residents who receive Medicaid or BadgerCare assistance or Food Stamps and have companion cats; it is also available to Dane County residents who manage feral cat colonies. The total number of cat surgeries to be performed under this program is 4,123. The first year goal is 1,250.

"Our past experience funding a 2 year feral cat spay/neuter program in Dane County was a huge success," said Maddie's Fund President, Rich Avanzino. "I have no doubt that this community collaborative effort will equal or exceed those previous lifesaving accomplishments."

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About Maddie's Fund

Maddie’s Fund®, The Pet Rescue Foundation, (www.maddiesfund.org) is a family foundation funded by Workday and PeopleSoft Founder Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl. Maddie's Fund is helping to create a no-kill nation where all healthy and treatable shelter dogs and cats are guaranteed a loving home.

To achieve this goal, Maddie's Fund is investing its resources in building community collaborations where animal welfare organizations come together to develop successful models of lifesaving; in veterinary colleges to help shelter medicine become part of the veterinary curriculum; in private practice veterinarians to encourage greater participation in the animal welfare cause; and in the implementation of national strategies to collect and report shelter statistics. Maddie’s Fund is named after the family’s beloved Miniature Schnauzer who passed away in 1997.