North Shore Animal League America has been saving the lives of homeless animals since opening our doors in 1944. In fact, we’ve saved well over 1 million dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens from near and far, making us the world’s largest no-kill rescue and adoption organization. Not only do we make it a point to care for the local animals in our own backyard, but we’ve been fortunate to save so many lives because of countless collaborative efforts with our shelter partners and rescue groups across the country and around the globe.
Recently, we sat down with Cindy Szczudlo, Animal League America Senior Manager of Rescue Services, in her office above our campus Pet Supply Store, and asked her to give us an inside look into her world of rescue. Not only did we have an opportunity to chat with Cindy, but we were joined by Madison and Sweetie, two adult rescue cats who spend their days lounging on her desk, roaming the halls, and waiting for the impromptu belly rubs and treats from Cindy and the rest of her team. This is the way of life here at our Port Washington, NY campus, a place where at any moment, around any corner, you could stumble across your new best friend and change their world forever.
What inspired you to choose a life in animal rescue?
CS: For as long as I can remember I have always loved animals. I remember telling my guidance counselor in high school that I wanted to find a way to work with animals, but as I got older I never really pursued it. It wasn’t until I moved to Port St. Lucie, Florida, about 10 years ago that I actually got involved. I noticed a tiny adoption center (Dogs & Cats Forever, Inc.) just a few blocks from my house and decided to volunteer there. It quickly snowballed into a career and the next thing you know five years had gone by and I was managing the shelter. Until that point I had never had a job that I truly had a passion for. That’s when I realized what it was like to have a career you truly care about, one that you don’t mind taking home with you at night.
How did you wind up at North Shore Animal League America?
CS: I had moved back to NY and had taken a job working in the mortgage industry because I thought getting back into corporate America was the right thing to do. Looking back now I can see that it was a terrible idea- I was miserable sitting behind a desk all day. After about six months I found myself looking for a way to get back involved with animals. I noticed that North Shore Animal League America was having a job fair that night and despite being sick I took this as a sign that I couldn’t pass up. I dragged myself here to campus and got a job as a kennel manager. That was in February of 2013, and the rest is history.
Tell our readers a little bit about what you do in your position as Senior Manager of Rescue Services.
CS: I manage the rescue department, which means I have my team going out to shelters across Long Island, New York City, New Jersey to rescue animals, and I also set up all of the rescue transports that come to North Shore Animal League America from out of state and international locations. We work with our shelter partners from all over the world to coordinate these rescue transports and save the lives of hundreds of animals every week. We are able to remove animals from overcrowded municipal shelters and parts of the country that are so inundated with homeless animals that they would have no other options if it weren’t for these collaborative efforts. It feels great when you can look at the numbers at the end of the month and see that you saved the lives of 500 or 600 animals and provided them with a chance at finding loving homes.
Rescue is the first step in providing homeless companions with a second chance at happy, healthy life, so it’s a very large part of our identity here at Animal League America. Can you tell us about what it takes to save the lives of more than 18,000 homeless pets each year?
CS: There are so many different aspects that go into it. We are constantly coordinating with our rescue partners all over the world, assessing their needs and trying to figure out how we can best assist them and their animals. Not only do we take animals from their shelters so they can go out and rescue more, but we also do everything we can to help them with other aspects of rescue such as acquiring supplies, fundraising guidance, etc. Any way we can go the extra mile to assist our shelter partners is a win for everyone and every animal involved.
It takes a very passionate rescue team to accomplish what we do here, and I certainly have that. The most important thing to us is always trying to do everything we can for the animals and following our hearts. I love that my team is always striving to provide a better life for the animals and willing to do whatever it takes, no matter what the circumstances.
There are a lot of basic every day details like phone calls and emails that go into making our rescue department run smoothly and ultimately help make everything come together. Other times the details are more complicated- it’s figuring out the logistics of flying animals in from various parts of the world, who can pick them up from the airport, who can spend a week driving across the country to save the lives of 100 animals from a disaster. We are definitely the first link in the chain of the rescue, nurture, adopt process.
Tell us a little about the members of the Rescue Team that you speak so highly of.
CS: Rescue is a huge undertaking and involves so many people who work here. However, I currently have three amazing, core people on my team. Karla Agostinello is our Rescue Team Leader. She’s been involved with North Shore Animal League for more than a decade beginning in ‘90s as a member of the Rescue Team. She was a veterinary assistant for many years before that. She is an incredible asset, bringing all of her medical experience and knowledge to the table. She has a great way of sharing that knowledge with the rest of the staff and has greatly improved our ability to triage and care for animals in the field. Laura Arendt and Ted Moriates are my full time Rescue Associates, and I can’t say enough great things about them. Laura first came to us as a volunteer in the post-Sandy Emergency Shelter. She was quickly convinced to join us as a full time staff member who has been consistently passionate about her work with the animals. Ted started as an Offsite Team, bringing our animals to mobile adoption events every week. While Ted just moved over to the Rescue Team just this year he had already made an impact on our team. It is easy to see how attached to the animals he gets and how much he cares about the work he’s doing. I honestly couldn’t ask for a more dedicated, passionate, hardworking team.
In September of 2015, Animal League America founded something called North Country Initiative. Can you tell us a little about this program?
CS: We’re really excited about the feline initiative we have up in the Adirondack region. We’ve hired Deb Oligny as our on-site Director, and we’re hoping to have a feline adoption center up there shortly. In the past year alone, we’ve been able to help hundreds of felines in the area in several ways; one of which is the low-cost spay/neuter voucher program for the public. We’ve also identified the areas with the biggest overpopulation problems and have helped to trap, neuter, and release hundreds of cats. Once we do that, we work with local shelters and rescue groups in the area to try to find homes for the friendly cats who we believe can be adopted into responsible, loving homes. We’ve even used our Humane Relocation Program to bring many of those cats to our campus and find homes for them out of our Adoption Center. I’m really proud of the work we have done up there in just a year’s time and look forward to continuing to have a positive impact on the community and its animals.
You do a lot of rescue work with Animal League America Volunteer, devoted Foster Parent, and National Spokesperson Beth Stern. Tell us a little bit about that relationship and how she has contributed to saving the lives of so many animals over the past decade.
CS: Working with Beth has been nothing short of amazing. I started working with her when I was a kennel manager and have continued to expand that work since. Through my work with rescue, I have been able to help her find homes for 300 fosters in the last three and a half years. In addition to her personal foster work we have also been able to rescue and adopt out over 300 felines though the Bianca’s Furry Friends admittance program. Beth’s relationship with our organization continues to expand, especially her unbelievable work as a foster mom, and it is truly an honor to be a part of it all.
What’s great about working with Beth is that I also get to see the adoption side of rescue. We strive to find the perfect homes for every kitten and cat she fosters just as we do for the animals adopted through our adoption center. I can’t even express to you the feeling I get when we deliver a cat to their new home and I get to see the smiles on the faces of the adopters and the pure joy they have when they hold their new best friend for the first time.
I have also had the chance to witness the same joy come into Beth’s life when we helped her find Yoda, who she wrote her first children’s book about, and again with Buddy, who she wrote her second book about. It’s been really rewarding to work with Beth and be a part of the amazing things she does for cats and rescue animals in general.
In a perfect world, what would the future hold for the rescue program here at Animal League America?
CS: I would love to see our team continue to expand because I truly believe we can impact animals across the country and world. I’d also like to see the team continue to improve the lives of the animals in whatever way possible- whether we’re educating people on how to care for their animals, going the extra mile to help communities that may have overpopulation problems, helping one of our shelter partners with a rescue in their area or anything else we can possibly do. I want my team to be compassionate and understanding of all the situations they may come across because if it was you or your animal, you’d want someone to count on.