On behalf of the team at the Summit For Urban Animal Strategies,
I extend heartfelt holiday wishes to each and every one of you!
It has been a pleasure working with you this past year.
We look forward to continued collaboration in 2010 and beyond.
Larry R. Evans
In effort to meet the needs of various stakeholders in the companion animal industry, there are two types of Summits for Urban Animal Strategies held each year. Although the topic for both Summits is the same, the attendance criteria are different.
Regional Associate Summits for Urban Animal Strategies (RASUAS):
· Attendance is open to individuals working in animal control/legislation, animal health/wellness, animal welfare and animal services. An invitation from an industry peer is not required. Once a delegate has attended, they have the status of Summit Associate.
· To accommodate participation of a variety of attendees each year, the location of Regional Summits changes annually.
National Alumni Summit for Urban Animal Strategies (NASUAS):
· Attendance is restricted to executive-level industry thought leaders in the companion animal industry. All potential delegates must be nominated by a current Alumnus and be approved by the Summit Nominating Committee.
· The 2010 NASUAS will be held at Lake Louise, Alberta. The 2011 Summit is tentatively scheduled to be held in Central Canada.
For more information contact:
Judi Canon, NASUAS Program Manager
(P) 705.930.7387 (E) event@tsuas.com
The 2010 Summits for Urban Animal Strategies turns the focus on homing animals in our communities. The Alumni will be discussing urban animal strategies that require urgent consideration by those involved with homing animals in our communities. The CBC documentary that aired in early March 2009, the focus on supply chains to both livestock resellers and adoption agencies and the input from the 2009 Forum on Homing, which preceded the 2009 Summit, all point to the need for a collaborative solution in our communities.
The NASUAS attracts some of the brightest minds in the North American companion animal industry. Your attendance allows you to participate in executive level discussions, hear world-class speakers and network with others who face similar challenges.
By being part of the alumni group, you become part of the solution. This results in significant benefits for you, as an individual, for your organization and for your community.
What does this mean for you?
As an Alumnus, you have access to a proprietary ‘Alumni Only’ section of the tsuas.com website that provides a wealth of information, including:
Directory: Published to encourage and facilitate continued dialogue and is for exclusive use of alumni in good standing. Includes the names and contact information for more than 160 thought leaders from all four sectors of the companion animal industry.
Resources: Designed to facilitate information sharing and the implementation of ideas and concepts discussed at the NASUAS. This information is updated and added to on a regular basis, so be sure to check it out every few weeks to learn what’s new!
Discounts: Special consideration is given to the Alumni group, for such things as event registration and subscriptions to the annual survey.
To maintain your Alumni status, it is essential that you attend at least one NASUAS every two years. If you cannot attend, then you must apply for special consideration to maintain your status or have another alumni nominate you as a delegate.
For more information contact:
Some of the comments we received about the Summit venue were:
"...some signage such as many hotels would have helped since the hotel is a tad of a maze..."
"First time staying at the Chateau and I was very happy with it!"
"More time to experience the setting would be wonderful, it's a shame to waste the view."
"Beautiful location and staff at the Fairmont are top notch."
"I love it being at the Lake Louise venue, but that it would be selfish to expect Easterners to make the big trek every year just for my convenience :) !"
Based on the above results, we are pleased to announce that the 2010 Summit for Urban Animal Strategies will take place at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise from Wednesday, 13 October to Friday, 15 October.
We are planning on having the 2011 Summit at an Eastern location. Watch the Summits for Urban Animal Strategies blog for updates on this event.Thank you for your feedback.
Your Summit organizers were thrilled to receive several congratulatory emails from satisfied delegates within hours of the event wrap-up on October 16.
Here is a snippet of what some people had to say about the event:
"I just wanted to send along a quick thank you on the this year's Conference. Again PetLynx has gone over and above on this event."
G. Potter ~ Alberta Animal Services
"I can’t tell you how many delegates were raving about the Summit! The most frequent sentiment expressed was that the event just keeps getting better and better.
P. Cameron ~ Calgary Humane Society
"On behalf of everyone who worked so hard to create and deliver the [Summit] programs, thank you! By all accounts, it was an excellent Summit. Our thanks to PetLynx for providing national leadership. Everyone is looking forward to 2010."
K. McDonald ~ Ontario SPCA
While we really appreciate this unsolicited feedback and show of support, we still encourage all delegates (who have not already done so) to complete the 2009 Summit for Urban Animal Strategies Delegate Survey.
Yes, we work hard to make this event better each year, but we can't do that without your honest evaluation. The deadline to provide delegate feedback is Friday, November 6.
We would also like to take this opportunity to encourage those of you who wish to have the complete North American Urban Animals Survey (NAUAS) for the Canadian and/or US markets to contact Cindy Kreutzer (cindy.kreutzer@petlynxmail.com or 403.219.1088).
Cindy will provide you with the NAUAS Subscriber Contract and the discount voucher you will receive as one of our important clients.
Building a Feline-Friendly Community
Presenter: Nadine Gourkow ~ Esteemed researcher, educator and companion animal activist
All of us working for feline friends have experienced moments of despair, wondering how to shift from a world where millions of cats are abandoned, abused, and put to death, to one where cats are valued and every kitten has a loving, forever home.
"Although creative solutions, devotion and hard work have done much to improve the plight of cats in the last few years, much remains to be done," believes Nadine Gourkow. "Evidence-based practice (EBP) is an innovative approach that can help cat welfare professionals and activists better understand the root causes of problems. Furthermore, it provides guidance in the development of effective targeted solutions and a methodology for measuring effectiveness. The EBP movement has already been adopted by many in disciplines such as Social Work, Education, and Veterinary Medicine, among others. Recently EBP has been used by some animal welfare professionals, yielding effective measurable solutions to human/cat problems in their community."
Nadine’s Summit presentation will review a number of concepts central to EBP and describe leading edge case studies including the CatSense System – an evidence based approach to the care of cats in animal shelters. Her presentation will be followed by a though-provoking and dynamic brainstorming session on how evidence based practice could be applied to different aspects of cat welfare work.
Some of Canada’s hardest working animal advocates recognized by their peers
CALGARY, 08 October 2009: The Summit Urban Animals Strategies is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2009 Summit Awards. More than 20 nominations for the nine award categories were received from across Canada. The final awards will be presented Thursday, 15 October 2009, during the Gala Reception that is part of the Summit for Urban Animals (SUAS) at Lake Louise, Alberta.
“The ‘Summits’ are intended to convey the recognition of peers from all four sectors of the companion animal industry – animal control/legislation, animal health/wellness, animal welfare and animal services,” explains Larry Evans, Chairman of the SUAS organizing committee. “Considering that individuals and organizations can not nominate themselves, this public acknowledgment of commitment, creativity and collaboration in effort to make their communities better for pets and people is, in itself, a great honour. Although there can only be one award per category, we consider all of our nominees to be ‘winners’ in whatever it is they do.”
the 2009 summit nominees are:
Animal Health & Wellness
Animal Re-Homing
Animal Sheltering
Community Education
Community Collaboration
Distinguished Service Provider
Media & Communications
Individual Achievement
Lifetime Individual Achievement
All Summit alumni are encouraged to review the nominees and their supporting documents at the www.tsuas.com website, under the section “summit award nominations”. Then vote by completing the survey.
See you at the Summit!
The Dynamics of DNA: Cat genome research explained
Presenter: Dr. Leslie Lyons, U of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Health and Reproduction
Cats have a universal reputation for being mysterious creatures. Dr. Leslie Lyons is determined to change that! She is, quite literally, taking a microscopic look at cats... right down to analyzing their DNA.
"Currently, the domestic cat is one of the initial species to have a more in-depth [DNA] sequencing," explains Dr. Lyons. "My research focuses on the development of high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays for the cat, to investigate feline model of inherited traits and diseases."
Last spring, Hill’s Pet Food announced a low coverage, private sequencing project and has donated a large portion of the data to the cat genetics community, along with $1,000,000 to support development of a cat SNP array.
"To date, feline studies have required large-extended families with clearly defined modes of inheritance (MOI)," adds Lyons. "A plethora of diseases exist in cats that have a significantly increased risk in certain breeds or populations, but the MOIs are not well defined. Often, MOIs of more simple diseases are highly suspected, but data has not been collected in an organized manner to document these conditions and would not pass peer-review in scientific journals."
You'll learn more about this fascinating topic at the Summit!
Presenter: Bill Bruce, City of Calgary Animal & Bylaw Service Manager
Trying to legislate cat licensing in your community? Here's hope... and help!
After years of effort, on January 1, 2007, The City of Calgary began licensing cats. The program has been a resounding success.
"To date, over 48,000 responsible cat owners have licensed their cat(s)," explains Bill Bruce. "Within the first two years of the program, return to owners statistics for cats at the City’s shelter has increased to 56% and there has been a reduction of cat euthanasias to 18%."
Bruce's presentation will look at the process of implementing cat licensing with a high degree of public acceptance, working with partnerships on managing cats in the community and future steps to increase the level of responsible pet ownership with cat owners and reduce the number of unwanted cats in shelters across the City.
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