VMAE | VMAE | Live!

VMAE | Live! is all about connecting our special network for input, insight and inspiration while exploring association management and professional issue topics.

VMAE | Live! webinars convene on the third Thursday of each month, starting at 12:05 PM Mountain time (and concluding by 12:55 PM). Each session will feature VMAE colleagues who will share their expertise or external subject matter experts who will provide their thoughts. There will be time for questions – and answers – as well as interactive polls to keep things focused, lively, and relevant to the interests of VMAE members.

VMAE Virtual Town Hall

What is a Socially Conscious Animal Community?

Thursday, August 6 – 1:05-1:55 PM Mountain time

Veterinary medical associations are being queried for position statements on socially conscious animal sheltering – and are seeking resources to inform the dialog. VMAE is pleased to offer a Virtual Town Hall where subject matter experts will present an overview of the emergence and growth of this movement and the connection between socially conscious animal sheltering and a socially conscious animal community. You’ll learn about its tenets and plans for its future. The presenters will also engage VMAE members in dialogue so you’re able to bring perspective to conversations with elected leaders about this forward looking, groundbreaking movement in animal welfare.

Our society is at a critical point in shaping the future of animal welfare. Pets matter deeply to us, and protecting pets is vital to a healthy community. While most people mean well in their attempts to change public policy around how we care for homeless pets, sometimes good intentions lead to unintended suffering for the very pets that people are trying to protect. We must educate colleagues, friends, family members, neighbors and policy makers so public policy results in animals receiving the care and respect they deserve.

The Socially Conscious Animal Community is a framework that allows each of us to understand our role in creating best outcomes for pets. This concept is based on respectful treatment of animals. It’s about placing every healthy and safe animal that ends up in a shelter or rescue. It’s about transparency and leadership. It’s about thoughtful public policy. It’s about safe communities. We must work together to create the best outcomes for all animals while nurturing the human-animal bond.

— From the Socially Conscious Animal Community website www.scsheltering.org

Presenters

Apryl Steele, DVM

President and CEO
Dumb Friends League, Denver

After practicing veterinary medicine for 18 years, she had the honor of joining the League to advocate for animals who are vulnerable due to homelessness, mistreatment, or their owner’s financial situation. Since becoming the CEO in 2018, she has overseen expansion of the League’s impact to include a veterinary hospital that provides subsidized veterinary care to underserved pet caregivers, led a $40 million shelter renovation, helped develop the Socially Conscious Animal Community framework, and led 280 employees through the culture change that happens when a CEO of 44 years retires. She is currently a delegate for the American Veterinary Medical Association, and board member for the Association for Animal Welfare Advancement. She is the past president of the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association, Denver Area Veterinary Medical Society, the American Association of Feline Practitioners, and of the Animal Assistance Foundation. Apryl is a veteran of the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps.

Jim Tedford

President and CEO
Association for Animal Welfare Advancement

Jim accepted his dream job when he joined The Association as President and CEO in June of 2015. But Jim is no stranger to the organization. He has been a member for nearly 30 years and served as our Board Chairman some twenty years ago. Jim has been actively engaged in the animal welfare movement for more than 34 years having served as CEO for animal sheltering organizations in New York, Louisiana and Tennessee. He served as a regional director for The Humane Society of the United States and then spent six years providing direct response marketing services to animal welfare organizations. Jim presents frequently at national and regional conferences on various animal welfare issues, organizational development and not-for-profit management.
Jim and his wife Ann operate an unofficial convalescent home for aging animals including three Labrador retrievers (all over the age of 13), a 28-year-old quarter horse and an immortal macaw. Avid lovers of the outdoors, Jim and Ann spend as much time as possible on the hiking trails or camping in their Casita (fiberglass “egg”), often accompanied by Henry Bergh Tedford, their six-year old Jack Russell (adopted from the Asheville (NC) Humane Society).