The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) is proud to announce that Dr. Emily Weiss, the ASPCA’s senior director of shelter behavior programs and developer of ASPCA®’s Meet Your Match™ family of adoption programs, has been awarded the prestigious Evie Award by Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation’s (ARF). The Evie Award is named for the cat who inspired ARF’s founding, and is presented each year to an individual for his or her excellence in the compassionate care of companion animals. The award will be presented to Dr. Weiss on Saturday, January 5 at ARF’s annual Stars to the Rescue Gala at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California.
“We are extremely proud that our own Dr. Emily Weiss has been selected as the recipient of an Evie Award from the Animal Rescue Foundation,” said Ed Sayres, ASPCA president & CEO. “Over the course of her career, Dr. Weiss has always strived to fully understand animals in order to make their lives better. This award serves to inspire both Dr. Weiss and the ASPCA to continue the invaluable work of improving the lives of animals everywhere.”
Dr. Weiss has focused her professional and personal life on improving welfare for animals. Her M. S. and Ph. D. work concentrated on the selection of service dogs from shelters and her work then branched off in two directions welfare of animals in zoos and shelter programs. During her time as curator of behavior and research at Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan., Dr. Weiss also developed assessment tools for shelter animals. She first developed the SAFER™ (Safety Assessment For Evaluating Re-homing) canine aggression assessment tool, used by shelters throughout the country, and then developed the Meet Your Match™ family of adoption programs—including Canine-ality™, Puppy-ality™, and Feline-ality™—which are now ASPCA programs. Dr. Weiss also works on developing enrichment and behavior modification programs for animals in shelters, as well as a focus on companion horses. She joined the ASPCA in July 2005.
For more information on the ASPCA®’s national programs, visit www.aspca.org. For more information on Animal Rescue Foundation, please visit www.arf.net.
Founded in 1866, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) was the first humane organization established in the Americas, and today has more than one million supporters throughout North America. A 501 [c][3] not-for-profit corporation, the ASPCA’s mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA provides local and national leadership in animal-assisted therapy, animal behavior, animal poison control, anti-cruelty, humane education, legislative services, and shelter outreach. The New York City headquarters houses a full-service, accredited animal hospital, adoption center, and mobile clinic outreach program. The Humane Law Enforcement department enforces New York’s animal cruelty laws and is featured on the reality television series “Animal Precinct” on Animal Planet. For more information, please visit www.aspca.org.