Petnet - Urban Animal Management Conference. Information on management of dogs and cats

RICHARD AVANZINO

The importance of the human-animal bond is self-evident. Statistical evidence confirms that companion animals are

extremely beneficial to human existence. Not only do they benefit us psychologically, but also socially and even

physically. This paper reviews the different aspects of that impact.

Ask any pet owner whether his or her animal companion is important and they'll probably start laughing. 'Of course

my pet is important to me' they'll say - although they probably wouldn't call it a pet. According to a recent Gallup

Poll, 55% of Americans think of their companion animals as their children, not as pets.

Ever since The Odyssey, when Odysseus returned home after 20 years unrecognised and unwelcomed by everyone

except his faithful dog Argos, the human-animal bond has been celebrated in verse, legend, and song. But now there

are statistical data to confirm what every pet owner knows intuitively: Companion animals are good for you - in

every way.

Richard Avanzino

President, The San Francisco SPCA

2500 16th Street

San Francisco, CA 94703

Telephone: (415) 554-3000

Fax: (415) 552-7041

E-mail: publicinfo@sfspca.org

Richard Avanzino has been President of The San Francisco SPCA for 20 years. In that time, he has transformed it

into one of the premier no-kill shelters in the United States. Among the many groundbreaking programs he has

instituted are the Hearing Dog Program, the Doggy Daycare Centre, the Pet Grooming College and the Sido Service,

which places SF/SPCA members' pets in loving new homes after their original owners die.

But the crowning achievement of Mr Avanzino's administration was the Adoption Pact signed in 1994 between The

SF/SPCA and the city shelter. Under the terms of the pact every adoptable cat or dog in San Francisco is guaranteed

a home. Since the pact not one single adoptable dog or cat has been euthanased in a San Francisco shelter. This is a

record no other city in the United States can match.

In addition to leading The SF/SPCA, with its $8.3 million annual budget, its 130-plus staff and its more than 2,000

volunteers, Mr Avanzino also writes a weekly column that runs in seven different San Francisco Bay area

newspapers. He, his wife, son, two dogs, a cat and a canary, live in Moraga, California, in which he served as

Mayor in 1989.