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 On October 23 and 24, 2009, UF hosted Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Conference at the Paramount Plaza in Gainesville, Florida. The sold-out conference brought more than 200 veterinarians and shelter leaders from 22 states - from Florida to California - and from as far away as Brazil. Four colleges of veterinary medicine were represented, including three shelter medicine programs, as well as representatives from the nation’s most prominent animal welfare agencies (the Humane Society of the United States, the American Humane Association, and Maddie’s Fund®).
It was a stellar program that drew the enthusiastic crowd; speakers in the Maddie’s® Track on day one included leaders of some of the most successful lifesaving programs in the country, including the Richmond SPCA, the Nevada Humane Society, and others. These leaders shared the secrets to their program successes and gave participants insights into what it takes to save lives, from building stakeholder support to designing and implementing clever adoption campaigns. Friday’s dinner session focused on a particularly hot topic – canine influenza, the new vaccine, and the threat the virus poses to shelters and their animals.
The conference’s second day was led by UF’s own team of highly respected shelter medicine veterinarians, who provided crucial veterinary information to knowledge-hungry attendees. Participants learned how veterinary forensics can give a voice to the victims of crimes against animals, and were inspired to return to their shelters and enact new management and treatment practices that can lessen the impact of infectious disease in their shelters.
Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine would like to thank the conference participants, speakers, and sponsors for making this event such a success, and for all the work they do each day to improve the lives of animals.
View the presentations online. Next year’s conference is already in the works – keep an eye on www.UFShelterMedicine.com for details.
Thanks to this year's conference sponsors:
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