A few short decades ago, Americans euthanized 18 million animals a year. Fast forward to today and the number has dropped to less than 4 million. Animal shelters and adoption agencies throughout the years have developed various programs to save lives, such as extended pet adoption hours, large-scale pet adoption events, foster care and volunteer programs, and North Shore Animal League America (NSALA) has paved the way for much of it. Events like tonight's red carpet gala at The Pierre Hotel in New York City – which is being chaired by Beth Stern and her husband, Howard, hosted by Lisa Lampanelli, and features performances by Amy Schumer and musical group Wilson Phillips – seem simply "surreal" to League members.
From innovative ideas like featuring adoptable dogs on bottles of wine with Chateau La Paws to implementing Mutt-i-grees curriculum in schools across the nation, NSALA has been a leader in changing the direction of animal welfare as we know it today.
We've now reached the point where people are proud of their rescue animals, and it wasn't like that 20 or 30 years ago when people just dropped their unwanted animals at the "pound" and didn't think about it anymore. Today, awareness has been raised, and like I said earlier, we've reached that tipping point, that as country, we want to do what's right and what's right is saving lives.
