ANIMAL CONTROL, RESCUE, AND SHELTERING
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1999:
Ten animal care organizations in
Contra Costa County, California, led by
Tony LaRussa’s Animal Foundation, have
formed the Contra Costa Animal Welfare
Coalition, a pilot regional alliance to reduce
shelter killing, formed as recommended by
former San Francisco SPCA president
Richard Avanzino as a step toward obtaining
grants from the $200 million Duffield Family
Foundation. Avanzino on January 1 assumed
administration of the foundation, set up by
software magnates Dave and Cheryl Duffield
to help other locales emulate San Francisco’s
success as the first U.S. no-kill city. Contra
Costa County, across San Francisco Bay, has
almost the same human population as San
Francisco, but shelters in the county kill 16.3
animals per 1,000 human residents, just under
the state norm of 18.0 (also the current U.S.
norm), and nearly triple the San Francisco rate
of 5.8. Avanzino told ANIMAL PEOPLE on
January 5 that he is not yet ready to start
receiving inquiries from organizations wishing
to apply for grants, but said he would release
Duffield contact information in time for our
March 1999 edition. Tony LaRussa was
Avanzino’s choice to figurehead the first
model alliance, Avanzino told A N I M A L
PEOPLE earlier, because as one of the winningest
managers in baseball history he symbolizes
teamwork and innovation––and
LaRussa and his wife Elaine have been working
with distinction to help animals since circa
1972, when LaRussa was still an active player.