It’s time to say goodbye

I may not look it (ha!) but I just celebrated my 469th birthday (OK, in dog years) and, speaking plainly, it’s my time to retire. I am that lucky person who looks back on a career with joy and satisfaction, and writing this column has been part of that. But this is my last.

PHS/SPCA was a very different organization back when I joined in 2002, and I’m using this opportunity to reflect upon what we’ve accomplished. Snapshots. 2002, PHS/SPCA first guaranteed a home for every healthy, adoptable dog or cat in our care, a promise we will keep forever. 2003, PHS/SPCA committed to a never-ending expansion of the Hope Program which, today, means we make well and find homes for almost as many ill, injured and behaviorally-challenged pets as we do animals who arrive here in perfect health. 2005, PHS/SPCA built upon its decadeslong battle against overpopulation and purchased a mobile veterinary clinic which provides spay/neuter surgeries for animals in some of the most underserved, economically challenged areas in both San Mateo County and San Francisco. 2006, we bought an old Burlingame warehouse: millions of donated dollars and six years later, in 2011, we opened it as the Center For Compassion to house our charitably funded programs, setting a new bar for state-of-the-art animal care facilities. 2020, PHS/SPCA purchased 260 acres in San Mateo County which, over time, will be turned into the first Animal Sanctuary owned and operated by a humane society. Another way of looking at this, the percentage of animal lives saved by PHS/SPCA on an annual basis (sometimes referenced as a Live Release Rate) was 53% back in 2002. That has now grown to 89%.