2011 New Mexico Humane Conference
Instructors
Helen Woodward Animal Center President Michael Arms is a pioneer in the animal welfare industry. He is recognized worldwide as the creator of both the International Pet Adoptathon and Iams Home 4 the Holidays.
Since his arrival in 1999, Helen Woodward Animal Center has grown dramatically. Pet adoptions have leaped to record levels. Our Education program has multiplied as we teach children about the unconditional love that only comes from animals. And our therapy programs touch the lives of tens of thousands of people each year.
Mike Arms came to animal welfare in a most unusual way. He arrived in New York in the 1960's ready to take on the world with an accounting degree and the desire to make it big. An employment agency suggested that he might take a position at the ASPCA because it would look good on his resume. Mike didn't even know what an ASPCA was at that time, but thought it would be a good experience to manage the finances of such a large organization. The stress of seeing the horrors that mankind perpetrated against the animals of New York quickly became too much for Mike, as the ASPCA was killing over 140,000 innocent animals a year at that time. He gave his resignation and was running away from animal welfare. With just six days to go until his last day, Mike got a call that there was a dog hit by a car on Davidson Avenue in the Bronx. There were no ambulance drivers available, so he took off his suit jacket and put on an ambulance driver jacket and drove out to the accident scene. Upon his arrival he saw a black and tan shepherd/terrier mix lying in the street. The dog had been hit with such force that his back was broken - he was literally bent in half. As Mike approached the injured dog two men came out of a nearby doorway and asked him what he was doing. Arms calmly explained that the little dog was dying and he was taking him to the hospital. The men told him that he wasn't taking the dog anywhere. Mike inquired as to if it was their dog and they said, "No, but we are taking bets on how long it is going to live." Arms told them they were sick and turned to lift the dog into the ambulance. As he bent to lift the injured puppy, the men attacked him with a bottle to the head followed by the smack of a baseball bat and the sharp pain of a knife thrust into his hip and shoulder. Mike was knocked unconscious and as he lay in the street bleeding the little dog, who should not have been able to move, crawled to Mike's side to lick him awake.
It was a true epiphany for Arms as he spoke to God and said "Let me live, and I promise you, I will do everything in my lifetime to protect them." Mike has remained true to his word as the man who has saved more animals than any other person, living or dead, in animal welfare history.
Mike Arms. Just one more reason why Helen Woodward Animal Center is known around the globe as, "The Animal Shelter of the Future!"
Judy Babcock is a past and current Chairman of the Animal Sheltering Board and has served on several ASB committees since its inception.
Ms. Babcock is the founder and President of the Board of Quixote Humane, Inc., a non-profit, charitable New Mexico corporation established in 2001, which is dedicated to improving conditions for companion animals in Valencia County and supporting Valencia County Animal Control through the "Friends of the Shelter" division, which purchases equipment and other needs for the shelter through fund-raising.
Ms. Babcock was re-appointed to the Valencia County Animal Control Advisor Board in January 2011. She had previously served since its creation, including serving two terms as Chairman and one term as Secretary. Ms. Babcock is also the Co-Chairman of the Bosque Farms Animal Control Ordinance Re-write Committee.
Ms. Babcock works hard at spreading the word on animal welfare issues and serving an educational role for the community. She contributes the weekly Pet Page text about local issues, news, and information concerning animal welfare and provides photos and shelter statistics to the Valencia County News-Bulletin. She also writes the monthly A Second Chance News-Bulletin article that covers educational issues on pet health and welfare that include her photos of adoptable shelter dogs and cats that are inserted in business ads.
Education/Training: Faculty, National Cruelty Investigations School, University of Missouri; National Cruelty Investigators School Levels 1, 2 and 3; National Equine Cruelty Investigations School Levels 1 and 2; Instructor at Houston Police Academy; 28 years of animal-related experience.
He was also one of the professionals featured regularly on Animal Planet Television’s Animal Cops: Houston.
Erie County SPCA.
Tammy and Paul had already been volunteers with the Animal Welfare Department for a couple of years, when, in early 2010, they stepped up to assume some of the duties of Volunteer Coordinator for the City of Albuquerque in a part-time, volunteer capacity, since the City was unable to fill the full-time position due to budgetary constraints. Their largest successes have included a tripling of volunteer hours at both of the city shelters and the Lucky Paws store located in the Coronado Mall, the establishment of a behavioral foster program which helps at-risk dogs get into a home environment, and implementation of volunteer-only offsite adoption events for hard-to-adopt dogs, some in conjunction with PetSmart.
A passionate animal lover and advocate, Colleen has spent the past 5 1/2 years caring for cats and critters at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and Humane Society. Focusing daily on her commitment to enhance and renew the bond between animals and humans, she has taken her passion into the community in many ways, including training new shelter volunteers, creating and teaching a workshop on feline massage therapy (in which she is certified), teaching kids at this year’s shelter sponsored Critter Camp, and speaking at last year’s conference on the care and advocacy of critters (gerbils, mice, etc.) in the shelter environment. Colleen is currently finishing her graduate studies in Counseling Therapy at Southwestern College in Santa Fe. She lives in Tesuque with her five beautiful cats and darling little gerbil friend, Tootsie.
President of eSolved, Inc., a business and non-profit consulting firm. She provides project planning and management, community outreach, marketing, economic and environmental analysis, lobbying, operations and development services to a variety of clients across the United States. Ms. Fiebelkorn has degrees in Economics and Finance from Northeast Louisiana University, as well as a Master’s Degree in Environmental Economics from Colorado State University. Ms. Fiebelkorn is a long-time animal rights activist and volunteers her time on a variety of issues to improve the lives and legal standing of animals. She is the organizer of the Governor’s Conference on The Link Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence, and the Chair of the NM Forming Positive Links Steering Committee. She dedicates time to legislative efforts for progressive issues, environmental protection and animal rights, and was instrumental in the passage of ordinances in Boulder and Estes Park, CO, that prohibit the exhibition of wild and exotic animals. Ms. Fiebelkorn lives with her geriatric furry kids – Spunky (16-year-old, 12-pound, mutt dog), Gertie (22-year-old, 3.5-pound, mutt dog and AHA Alumna) and Chloe (13-year-old rabbit) in Albuquerque.
Dr. Hall is the lead veterinarian for Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health’s unique VetReachTM program. Her contributions to this effort include practicing in Atlanta, GA, as well as working with two rescue groups and one shelter; creating vaccination life plans for animals with genetic problems or suspected adverse events; presenting the latest product developments and applications to veterinarians, as well as keeping them informed on recent industry changes; updating shelters on immunology and sanitation protocols; visiting veterinary clinics and shelters personally to educate the staff on the issues involved in the use of currently available products. She also serves as the primary Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health representative at international, national and state meetings concerning biologicals, internal medicine and pain management.
Key responsibilities include liaison between Intervet/Schering-Plough and veterinarians and shelters nationwide, coordinating Intervet/Schering-Plough Veterinary School Program, small animal and shelter medicine practice, and rescue.
She received her BS from Arizona State in Biological Agriculture, in 1978, and her DVM, from the University of Georgia in 1986. Her experience includes private practice in Atlanta and Orlando, relief work in Orlando, and Animal Control in Atlanta. She has also served on the Orange County, FL, Animal Control Board; chaired the Florida State VMA; coordinated National Pet Week activities for the State of Florida; and received the Special Award for Outstanding Support of Shelter Medicine from the Association of Shelter Veterinarians.
Bryan Kortis currently serves as a program manager for PetSmart Charities, managing their Free-roaming Cat Spay/Neuter and Targeted Spay/Neuter grants. Previously, he co-founded, and for ten years served as the executive director of, Neighborhood Cats, a feral cat group based in New York City, which administers a comprehensive city-wide TNR program, and is a leader nationally in educational and advocacy materials related to TNR. Bryan has received awards for authoring, Implementing a Community Trap-Neuter-Return Program (published by HSUS), and The Neighborhood Cats TNR Handbook (pub. by Neighborhood Cats), and for directing the videos Trap-Neuter-Return: Fixing Feral Cat Overpopulation (produced by HSUS), and How to Perform a Mass Trapping (prod. by Neighborhood Cats.) He earned a B.A. from Cornell University and J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has worked as an appellate attorney for indigent criminal defendants and a creative director for an independent video production company.
After graduating from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, Kathleen worked as an associate veterinarian caring for small companion animals for five years. She then served as Director of Veterinary Services for a limited admission animal shelter. Here she provided spay/neuter services for shelter animals, public animals, as well as free-roaming cats in a mobile surgical unit and devised standard operating procedures for the shelter.
Since then, Kathleen co-founded and served as president of Feral Cat FOCUS, a community advocacy group for free roaming cats. She also co-founded Operation PETS, a stationary spay/neuter clinic in Western New York. She currently works for the ASPCA where she consults with the Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinics and helps various communities implement and enhance high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter programs.
Sherry Mangold is a retired secondary teacher and recipient of the Golden Apple Foundation’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Currently she is the Senior Cruelty Case Manager and Educational Outreach Director for Animal Protection of New Mexico. Since its inception, Sherry has been a member of the New Mexico Attorney General’s Animal Cruelty Task Force. For 20 years Sherry has volunteered as a Rescue Specialist for Greyhound Companions of New Mexico. She also serves as an Evaluator and Facility Trainer for the registered therapy dogs of Southwest Canine Corps of Volunteers. Her furry family consists of rescued Italian Greyhounds and track Greyhounds. These family members serve as therapy dogs at Presbyterian Hospital, HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, Los Palomas Nursing Home and various hospice agencies throughout the Albuquerque area.
City of Albuquerque.
Lila Miller is a graduate of the veterinary college at Cornell University. She has over 30 years of experience at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), working in the shelter program, directing one of their veterinary clinics and currently serving as advisor and vice president of Veterinary Outreach. She is also adjunct faculty at Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania. She taught the first shelter medicine class at a veterinary college in 1999 at Cornell and is co-editor of the only two textbooks on shelter medicine, Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians and Staff and Infectious Disease Management in Animal Shelters. She co-founded the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) in 2001 and served as a member of the task force and editorial group that researched and wrote the ASV Guidelines for Standards of Care of Shelter Animals. She lectures extensively on shelter medicine and anti-cruelty topics at universities and conferences, organized the first shelter medicine conference in Turkey and was presented with awards in animal welfare by the American Animal Hospital Association in 2005 and American Veterinary Medical Association in 2008.
Connie and husband, Mike Monk, started Alpha Dog Marketing in June 2005. She has been a key part of its success since the very beginning. With annual sales of $15 million and twenty employees, Alpha Dog Marketing continues to provide unparalleled direct marketing strategies and solutions to its partners in the nonprofit industry.
Connie has been involved with direct marketing for the past 34 years and has worked with some of the largest not for profit organizations across the U.S. While at Metromail/Experian, Mike handled the accounts for National Easter Seals, American Heart Association, Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home, Make A Wish, Salvation Army, American Lung Association, providing strategies for mailing existing donors and developing new donors. Mike has been involved with the Animal Services market since 1999 and has worked with over 150 Humane Societies.
Patricia Norris, DVM, is currently the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s veterinarian. She is the vice chair and veterinarian for the New Mexico Animal Sheltering Board as well as the veterinary forensics advisor to the NM Attorney General’s Animal Cruelty Task Force. She is a charter and current member of the International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association. Dr. Norris was the chair of the Animal Welfare Task Force which reviewed and recommended changes to the animal ordinances for Rio Rancho. Those recommendations were adopted by the city council in April 2011. As a private practitioner, Dr. Norris created Pet Safe programs at her two veterinary clinics to provide free foster care to the animals owned by victims of Domestic Violence.
As Sheriff’s veterinarian she is part of the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Animal Cruelty Investigation Team, Dr. Norris has been involved in many animal cruelty cases throughout the state – cases ranging from dog fighting, cock fighting, hoarding, felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty, to animal abuse occurring in conjunction with domestic violence. She has made several presentations on veterinary forensics to law enforcement officials such as state police, DEA, ICE agents, city and county officers as well as cadet classes. She lectured at the Governor’s Conferences on The Link between Animal Abuse and Human Violence (2008 and 2010), the Uniting New Mexicans Against Adult Abuse (2010, scheduled for 2011), the New Mexico Advanced SANE Conference (2011) as well as the New Mexico Humane Conference (2010).
Susan began her behavior career in 1985 at the San Francisco SPCA where she counseled pet owners about their pet’s behavior. Since moving to Albuquerque, she has worked as an animal behavior consultant, teaching puppy and adult training classes and conducting private in-home behavior and training consultations. Susan joined the behavior department of Animal Humane | New Mexico in 2008 and is currently the Behavior Specialist counseling owners on their behavior helpline, training staff and volunteers and providing training and enrichment for their canine residents.
Susan is certified through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers with professional affiliations from the National Association of Obedience Instructors and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.
Helga Schimkat is a lawyer and consultant who works on environmental and animal issues for non-profit organizations and state entities, including the Animal Sheltering Board. Helga’s work has included coordinating the New Mexico Humane Conference for several years, analyzing legislative bills for Conservation Voters New Mexico, providing legal representation for the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy and serving as Project Manager for Spay New Mexico. Since 1999, she has worked with several other New Mexico animal and environmental organizations as a contractor/consultant or as staff including Animal Protection of New Mexico, the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, Audubon New Mexico and New Mexico Conservation Voters Alliance. Helga’s work with Animal Protection included founding No More Homeless Pets of New Mexico and serving as its first President. Helga has extensive legislative experience both from lobbying for the non-profits mentioned and from serving as legislative staff. Helga was the Chief of Staff for New Mexico’s House Majority Office and the lead analyst for the House Judiciary Committee for several sessions. She has practiced law in the private and public sectors in New York and New Mexico. Helga is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia Law School. She is currently starting an Animal Law Section for the State Bar of New Mexico.
Dr. Schwarzer graduated from the University of Guelph, Ontario Veterinary College in 1999 and practiced for three years at busy 24-hour emergency and critical care hospital in Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Schwarzer then relocated to Toronto to assist in the opening of a new emergency clinic launched by a group of 30 area practices. While practicing as an emergency veterinarian, he also taught client communication skills to final year veterinary students at the Ontario Veterinary College as a member of the Community Practice team. In 2003, he returned to the classroom to earn his MBA from the University of British Columbia, incorporating a semester abroad at the Australian Graduate School of Management in Sydney, Australia. In 2005, Dr. Schwarzer was recruited by Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc., as a technical services veterinarian during the launch of their new pet division. Dr. Schwarzer worked in adverse event reporting, pharacovigilance and technical support for both pet and equine products for three years before accepting his current position as a Professional Services Veterinarian for the Pacific Northwest. Tom currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, Kathryn (a board certified veterinary cardiologist), two cats and two dogs.
Practiced law in Seattle, Washington, for 25 years. After retiring to Albuquerque for some much needed sunshine, she and her husband began rescuing Schipperkes. Jaclyn became active with the Alliance for Albuquerque Animals and began volunteering at Animal Welfare’s Westside shelter where she walked dogs and promoted their adoption for over three years. In 2008 she was hired as the Volunteer Services and Community Outreach Manager at Animal Humane | New Mexico where she has grown the active volunteer team from 100 to 360. She is the proud pet parent of three rescued Schipperkes: Diamond, Lita and Magic.
Spay Oklahoma.
