Championing Animal Lives Through Innovation and Education with Joe Elmore

Get ready to be inspired by Joe Elmore, the charismatic president and CEO of Charleston Animal Society, as he recounts his fascinating shift from engineering to the helm of a leading animal welfare organization. Through engaging stories and invaluable insights, Joe exemplifies how strategic innovation and heartfelt compassion have skyrocketed the society's success in saving animal lives. Our vibrant discussion not only highlights the triumphs but also the trials of transforming a time-honored institution into a beacon of hope and education for both animals and the community.

Our conversation with Joe Elmore takes a deep dive into the essential programs shaping future generations to become caring and responsible pet owners. We explore the complexities of animal law, the seasonal kitten surges, and the heartening tales of families learning life's delicate lessons through animal fostering. Moreover, we dissect the often misunderstood aspects of animal rescue, sharing crucial advice on when to intervene – and when it's best to step back – to ensure young animals' best chance for survival.

Wrapping up this enlightening episode, we dissect the logistics behind Charleston Animal Society's record-setting vaccine event and how it served as a vital preparedness exercise for potential disasters. We then switch gears to provide actionable tips for small nonprofits to bolster their fundraising and operational effectiveness. Closing on a whimsical note, we muse on the superpowers of shelter animals and celebrate the remarkable 150-year legacy of Charleston Animal Society’s unwavering commitment to advocacy and the welfare of our four-legged friends.

Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce

Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions

Production Sponsor: RMBO.co

Design Sponsor: DK Design

Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Immediate Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Ben Nesvold | Co-host | In-coming President | Edward Jones

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Building Business Podcast
powered by the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
We're here, recording in theCharleston Radio Group studios.
Thank you for being such agreat supporter.
Charleston Radio Group.
I'm here, me Kathy Herman.
I am the current president ofthe Mount Pleasant Chamber of
Commerce and I am also themarketing director at Mount

(00:23):
Pleasant Town Center.
So I want to thank all of youfor joining us today.
My co-host, michael Cochran.
Michael Cochran is the 2024Chair for the Mount Pleasant
Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Thank you, Kathy.
Yep and Chamber's a wonderfulorganization.
I've been involved for severalyears and love doing the
innovative things that we'redoing with this podcast and,
Kathy, we're looking forward toa great year with you at the
helm.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
I appreciate that very much, michael, and, of
course, our very special guest,someone who I am so excited to
talk with, who I look up to forall the work that he's done, not
just in this area but acrossthe country.
I am so excited to welcome JoeElmore, the president and CEO of
Charleston Animal Society.
Joe, thank you so much forjoining us today.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Thank you.
Thank you, kathy, thank you,michael.
It's a pleasure, it's an honorto be here, and working with you
over the years has just been adelight.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, you know, I have you here for two reasons.
One, because I personally lovethe Charleston Animal Society
and, of course, professionally,Town Center does a lot with you.
But I'm so excited to hear andhopefully be able to share with
our listeners how perhaps someof our smaller nonprofit members

(01:36):
can learn from you and you canshare some of your secrets for
becoming such a successfulorganization.
But before we start there, forpeople who do not know Joe, do
you want to give us a little bitof your background, Joe, and
how you became involved with theCharleston Animal Society?
Yeah, sure.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Well, I was a young wet-behind-the-ears engineer
with Mobile Oil Corporation downin the early 80s on the
Texas-Mexican border drillingfor natural gas.
That's just not where my heartwas, it's where my aptitude was.
So anyway.
But problem solving, it's allabout problem solving.
Engineering is, and I hadvolunteered for nonprofits since

(02:16):
I was in high school.
So, one thing led to another andI was in my 20s and I thought I
wanted to go out and save theworld, one cause at a time.
So you know, I didn't thinkabout bills and that kind of
thing and what an engineeringcareer would help, you know, in
that regard.
But I decided to take off.
I went to I think I started outin St Louis, missouri and nine

(02:37):
states, three times overseas,some of those states a couple of
different times, butgravitating towards really kind
of the most vulnerable, I don'twant to say victims, but just
the most vulnerable creatures,whether human or animal or that
type of thing that you know Icould stumble upon.
And it was one thing afteranother.

(02:58):
It was everything from a lot ofdisasters I think I've been in
somewhere I stopped countingaround 22 or 23 hurricanes, but
earthquakes, you know thosekinds of things, a lot of
tornadoes, all that stuff, buteventually crisis management and
organizational turnarounds.
And that took me into a lot ofdifferent areas, whether it was

(03:21):
HIV and AIDS during the 80s,when people were just dropping
your friends, your relatives,folks you didn't know perhaps,
were just dropping.
It was so fatal and lethal thatdisease was at that time.
And then you know, at-risk youth, the elderly, like I said, a
lot of disasters, somebiomedical services, those types
of things, even, you know,refugees, prisoners of war, um,

(03:45):
the persian gulf war, uh, andthe first one, and then um,
eventually, 2004, you know, wentinto probably what is the most
vulnerable of god's creaturesand that is animals, you know,
and um started there and it'sbeen.
And so I started with a um, asactually I didn't.
I started with a regionalanimal organization in the

(04:08):
Caribbean to sort of build thatup sort of a regional facility
and grow its membership so itwould be sustainable.
And then when Hurricane Katrinahit I was actually down in
Argentina when it hit it cameback up and the ASPCA, the
nation's first animalorganization I had some contact

(04:30):
with them and they recruited meto come up to the Gulf Coast and
to head up that recoveryoperation for two years and then
from there came over toCharleston for my second time in
Charleston for a project withthe ASBCA, for a, my second time
in Charleston for a projectwith the ASPCA.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
And then, finally, in 2012, went over as CEO to
Charleston Animal Society.
Was it that big?
Was Charleston Animal Societyas big as it is now, when you
took the helm?

Speaker 3 (04:56):
In terms of the number of animals that were
coming into it yes, in terms ofthe number of animals being
saved no, no, not at all.
But the organization has grown.
It's grown significantly.
Terms of the number of animalsbeing saved no, no, not at all.
But it's uh, but we've.
But the organization has grown.
It's grown.
Um has grown significantly.
It's got an annual membershipof around 18 000 18 to 20 000 um
.
And that and it's really cool, Ithink, as a non-profit, because

(05:17):
a lot of non-profits it's kindof old school base their
memberships on somethingfinancial, like you become a
member, you have a $25 annualfee or something like that.
And I think that was similarwith Charleston Animal Society
and our board of directors,which is great.
They really looked at this in2015, 2016, and saw the upward

(05:37):
trend that we were on andre-evaluated everything and I
thought, well, it's kind of likethe proverbial milk stool with
three legs.
You, you know, if you don'thave one of those three legs,
you know the whole thing isgoing to collapse.
So, if you think about the seatas the institution, the
organization, those threepillars that hold it up, one is
going to be those who make agift of their time volunteers.

(06:00):
Those that make a gift of theirincome.
Donors or those that make agift of their income donors or
those that make a gift of theirhome.
The adopters.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
And all three are just as important as the next.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yes, without any of those legs, pillars, you know it
collapses, the whole thingcomes tumbling down, and so the
board director decided to defineour membership as that.
You make a gift of, you know,your time, your money or your
home, and you are a member ofCharleston Animal Society.
That's amazing, amazing, I mean.
That certainly makes adifference.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
I know there's so many people out there that might
not be able to donate moneyright, right but they can go up
and volunteer their time or workan event or even share the word
, whatever it might be, to getmore animals adopted and or and
or for them to help you raisemore money oh yeah, it's all
kind of that vicious circle thatjust keeps going.

(06:43):
Well, yeah, yeah, you're avolunteer for us.
I raise a lot of money for youtoo.
Exactly, Exactly.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah, you know it's um.
We have about 26 volunteers forevery employee.
Um, so we have about 20,between 25 and a hundred, about
2,500, 2,600 volunteers that areactive.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, so it's a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah, yeah, that's a lot.
So typically folks will ask meyou know, how many employees do
you have?
I'll tell them, you know,probably around 90 employees
give or take and it's oh, that'sa lot of employees.
I think we had 2,600 volunteersand then it just blows them
away.
You know 2, which is invaluable.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
Well, I know that the shelter's based in North
Charleston, greenmount Road.
If you've not been there, getthere and go adopt a puppy or a
kitten, but I know you still doa lot of work in Mount Pleasant
and as working at Mount PleasantTown Center, I know it's
important our partnershipsbecause you want to reach the
people of Mount Pleasant, eventhough you're based in North
Charleston.
You want them to go over thebridge to go see you and see

(07:44):
what you're doing there.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
Yeah, there's over a thousand residents of Mount
Pleasant that we provideservices to every year, over a
thousand, and it's in MountPleasant, particularly the town
of Mount Pleasant is justwonderful to work with, you know
.
I mean from, you know, mayorHaney to the city, the town
council members to the townadministrator, eric, everyone
and Chief Arnold.

(08:06):
I mean they're all just greatpeople to work with.
We have a very solidrelationship with the town of
Mount Pleasant and it's, youknow, the Animal Society was.
You know this is going to bethe 150th year of the Animal
Society anniversaryCongratulations Yay.
You know the sesquicentennial,and it took me about six months
to practice that.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
What was that word again?

Speaker 3 (08:27):
The sesquicentennial.
I could actually spell it now.
I studied for about threemonths on how to spell this word
after three months of trying topronounce the word, but anyway,
I was like God, could they comeup with something shorter for
the 150?

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Just say 150.
No, that's all we did Say 150.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
But it's pretty cool because the organization was the
first animal organization inSouth Carolina, so it was
founded as a South CarolinaSociety for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals and itcovered the entire state and so
it's one of the oldest in thenation.
And then eventually it becamethe John Ancrum SBCA, so a lot
of listeners are going to knowit as John Ancrum SBCA.
In 2008, it became CharlestonAnimal Society, really for the

(09:03):
Charleston region and all andit's.
But yeah, like we just you know, we're kind of finalizing our
numbers, for last year it wasabout 9,500 animals that we took
in to the shelter, actuallytook into the shelter.
Now about another 11,000 weprovided services to to try to
keep out of the shelter.
And of the 9,500 just inCharleston County, probably

(09:25):
about 8,500 or so were fromCharleston County.
So that's a lot.
It's not the largest physicalshelter in the state but it's
the largest by number of animalsthat we bring in and move and
save.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Now, Joe, is that strictly that 9,500?
Is that strictly with theanimals, dogs and cats?

Speaker 3 (09:41):
No, let me tell you again everything from michael,
everything from hamsters tohorses uh, that's what I say
wildlife, sometimes injuredwildlife, brought to us and
we'll triage it and then get itto the right folks, because
wildlife falls under federalregulations, dnr and everything.
But it's um, but with companionanimals and exotics, like the
other day you know some in thereand I have this phobia I mean I

(10:05):
I'll swim with sharks, butsnakes, keep me away from snakes
.
So everybody, everybody.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
So somebody brought in their pet public instructor,
everyone in the facility knowsthis.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
Well, they're always pranking me with snakes and I'm,
like you know, jumping andjittering, walking down the
hallways and stuff, becausesomeone's always pranking me
with snakes and everything.
And then you know they'll.
We'll have these veterinarystudents from the veterinary
schools, you know, dointernships with us and
everything.
They'll be in surgery and we do.
You know, we do 10 000surgeries a year.
So they're all back there, youknow, and then they'll hear this
crazy man screaming and yellingand everything I'm like who's

(10:36):
that?
what is it?
You know, an active shooter,what you know, and it's like.
They're like.
No, that's the ceo yeah, it'slike so anyway but so, um, so um
, my assistant, which is calledmy wingman, um, she came out of
the office and she shut the doorbehind her and there's this
glass panel next to the officeand we share an office.
It's uh, and she just, you know, closed the door behind her,

(10:56):
you know, with her, you know,put her hands behind her back.
She said I wouldn't go outright now or in the next few
minutes.
And, uh, I said what I said whatis going on?
And she, I said it's a snake.
And she said, yes, well,someone's um parent um, had to
be placed in the hospice and thekids didn't want to keep four

(11:16):
pythons.
Well, who wants to keep fourpythons?
Right, I don't want to keepfour pythons.
And so so I see, through theglass panel, somebody bringing
down this big glass aquarium,which is, you know what?
You try to keep pythons in.
Right, it's um.
And immediately and immediately, what's going through my head
are visions of south florida andthe burmese pythons and the
explosion of that everything.

(11:37):
And it's, uh, it's so.
And they say we have four, andI say no, we don't have four.
You know, call the serpentariumdown in Ravennail.
It's a great facility, it'sgreat, you know.
God bless them.
They bailed us out on that onebecause they have the
environment for four pythons.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
And well, aren't we glad that they dropped them off
at the shelter instead of justletting them loose to run around
or everything we're going torun around, yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:08):
Yeah, so I mean everything.
We have a horse now, michael.
If you need a horse, we've gota horse for Dasha now.
But a lot of these animals cometo us and many are injured,
many are ill from, you know, nothaving the care or from being
strayed or lost for asignificant amount of time and
become malnourished.
So you know, we treat them andthe staff and volunteers are
phenomenal at treating theseanimals and making them whole
again.
So you know, and then some ofthem are going to have a little
cork here, a little cork there.

(12:32):
You wouldn't believe that it'swhenever we have a lot of
animals that are hit by vehiclesand they come in and sometimes
those animals' legs have to beamputated.
That kind of thing.
Particularly with dogs, whichare great, I mean you would
never believe the demand forthree-legged dogs, tripods yeah,
never believe the demand forthree-legged dogs.
It's uh, yeah, yeah, I meanpeople love three-legged dogs,
regardless of what kind of dog,what breed of dog, that type of
thing it is, and they'll justcome in and adopt these
three-legged dogs.

(12:52):
Like we can't keep them on theadoption floor.
We don't have a whole lot ofthem by any means, but once in a
while we do and it's just.
It's just, it's just humorsthat people and what they, you
know, kind of gravitate towards.
But it's almost like the dogsknow, it's like the dog kind of
struts down the adoption hallwaywith like you know, oh man.
I got it made.
I got it made.
You're going to be here for awhile.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Do you have an update on the pythons?
Were they adopted?

Speaker 3 (13:16):
They are down at the serpentine.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
They're where they should be Out of my shelter.

Speaker 3 (13:21):
That's where they are , yeah yeah, there's a lot of
legalities with animals andeverything because by federal
law they're considered property.
So you have all kinds of lawsthat apply to that and state
laws can't really.
They can enhance, but theycan't usurp federal law and all,
and so most almost entirelyacross the United States, I mean
, animals are classified asproperty and so a lot of legal
entanglements with those things.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Another thing I at the shelter.
I know about the summer camps.
If you want to tell us a littlebit more about that, because
there's so many opportunitiesfor our local children to learn
more about not only what you dohow to carefully take care of an

(14:04):
animal right, how to take careof an animal if you run into one
.
I mean all those types ofthings that maybe, as mom and
dads, don't want to have toteach.
I know you offer those amazingprograms at your shelter.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, well, being 150 years old, a number of the
animal societies back in thelate 1800s and early 1900s when
they formed, also addressed theplight of children.
This was before child laborlaws.
This was before, really, whenyou had before departments of
social services and all of that.
You may have had a townorphanage or that type of thing,
but it's so.
A number of these animalsocieties address the needs of

(14:38):
children.
In fact, I believe it was inthe 20s or 30s perhaps that a
gentleman from Charleston coinedthe term be kind to animals and
that just kind of was adaptedacross the entire country and
across the world and everythingthat just originated right here
in Charleston and we're going torelease all the kinds of little
historical tidbits this year inthe sesquicentennial year.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
That's right, because 150 is important.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
And so the whole idea of this education that we do
with children is teachingcompassion, because it's a
learned behavior, a valuehowever you want to frame it,
it's learned and it has to bereinforced over and over and
over again.
And we see, and we all see it,you know, it's clear.
I mean South Carolina, based onthe 2022 FBI stats eighth most

(15:25):
violent state in the country.
North Charleston, most violentcity in the eighth most violent
state.
Charleston, the third mostviolent city in the eighth most
violent state.
So and much of this are youngpeople and everything.
And so we teach compassionbecause we've got a great tool
animals.
And so the whole idea ofteaching compassion is that

(15:45):
you're compassionate towardsliving creatures, whether
they're animals or they'rehumans, and so we hope that
there are benefits out therewith kids learning compassion,
having it reinforced through ourprograms at the Animal Society,
that they will go on to become,you know, basically
humanitarians, because how doesone become a humanitarian?

(16:06):
It just doesn't happenovernight.
You have to basically grow kidsinto humanitarians and as a,
you know, as a family, as acommunity, as a school, as
institutions, churches, faith,community, that type of thing,
children have to be grown intohumanitarians and that's the
whole idea and that plays intoor supports what the animal

(16:31):
society is trying to strive for,is a kind community, kind to
animals, kind to people, youknow, just a kind community.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
That's perfect.
I love it.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
One thing that comes to mind with the children and
training and education for kids.
I mean, a lot of parents arelike you know.
They want to get their child apuppy or a kitty and you know
they're like all right now, thisis going to be your
responsibility and a lot oftimes you'll see the kids get
tired of the animal after aboutsix months or a year and then
that animal goes somewhere else.
So is there a lot of trainingand education on that to help

(17:00):
prevent some of that?

Speaker 3 (17:02):
yeah, there is.
There's um.
I need a lot of education,training.
Probably more is needed with theparents uh the adults but it's
probably better right yeah, yeah, but but with the kids it's,
it's you, it's all structuredand they're so hungry for it and
they learn all of theresponsibilities of this.
But I'll tell you, one of thegreat learning experiences with

(17:22):
the animal society is in thelate spring and summer is when
everybody across the country hasthe explosion of kittens.
You just feel at times they'rejust falling from the sky, and
particularly where there arethere's rapid development, like
our area where we live.
You know lots of developmentand everything.
Feral cats that have always beenin these places.

(17:43):
You know well they're beingdeveloped.
You know trees are being andbuildings are being torn down,
raised, and then all of a suddenpeople see these feral cats
with their kittens and that typeof thing.
So a lot of folks are scoopingthem up, bringing them to us.
We have such a caring community, michael, that parents it's a
good time They'll bring theirkids in to foster a kitten.

(18:05):
There's no way we could keepall these kittens at the Animal
Society.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
There's just no way.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
Sometimes we've had as many as 600 or 700 at one
time.
Sometimes we've had as many as600 or 700 at one time, you know
, and it takes time for them tobasically grow and make their
weight to, you know, beprocessed for adoption, like
spayed or neutered.
That's surgery and all.
However, once the kitten, orany neonatal any creature before

(18:29):
it's weaned, basically, isseparated from its mother, the
survivability, you know,basically is cut by more than
half.
So it takes 24-7 of constantnourishment.
It's not a pretty job oranything but constant
nourishment.
Well, some of them are notgoing to survive, you know,
except around 50%.
But the kids come in, they havetheir parent with them to guide
them through this process.

(18:50):
You're going to lose some, butmost more than likely will
survive in this fosteringenvironment, but you're learning
just how fragile life is.
It's a valuable, you know,experience for not only the
parents but really for the kidsto learn that.
And we have, you know, we've hadkids.
You know there's a couple ofbrothers that we had a video of

(19:12):
this, probably about 10 yearsago.
They probably have alreadygraduated Clemson, I think.
They went to Clemson andeverything and they were
explaining it on video what theywere doing and why they were
doing it.
You know how it works andeverything Much better than any
of us.
You know any of usprofessionals could explain it
and everything.
It's just like, yeah, that'sexactly what happens.
That is the experience.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
I have been in your kitten neonatal ward and I've
put on my gown.
I've been blessed.
I've been honored to do thisand, you know, bottle fed a
little this big and, trust me,it affects me.
I can't even imagine what itwould do to a child.
You know I just leave therecrying and wanted to take home
every single kitten there isbecause I'm a huge cat fan.

(19:54):
Brian Cleary knows that.
But, it's such an experience tome, like I said, as an adult,
and to bring kids into it, I'msure I love the idea of teaching
them from a young age to beable to have the respect for
animals and how to treat animals, because it's something you
don't forget.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
And you know it's because we love you so much,
kathy, I actually, and we knowyou love cats and everything.
We actually have a basket ofkittens for you.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yay, that's the best gift ever, michael.
You've never brought me abasket of kittens.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
I have not, but that's all right.
That's all right.
I've already made a call.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
We're going to bring the horse to Michael.
That's right.
That's right.
You better get a biggerbackyard, Michael.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Well, to that point.
We've talked about kittens andpuppies and things On the equine
side.
There's a big difference inhealth care and care for an
animal like that.
Yes, can you address?

Speaker 3 (20:45):
that there is.
And again, I can't give morecredit to our fosters because we
can hold a horse or a pig orgoats, chickens, you know
anything up there in our barnarea, you know for a while.
But usually we need to, youknow, as quickly as we can get
them out to foster homes.
It's a better environment.
You know horses need pasture,and so that's what we do.

(21:09):
We've had, in recent memory,the largest local horse rescue
that occurred was, I think itwas probably about 10 or 11
years ago and it was out onJohn's Island.
There were 11 horses at onetime that had to be seized by
law enforcement, and so we wereable to take those and place
them directly into foster homesand we were very close with law

(21:32):
enforcement agencies.
But you're absolutely right,michael, it's much more costly.
The feeding Anyone who raiseslivestock or horses, let's say
that are feeding them these days, I mean, like everything else
dog food, cat food, feed forlivestock it all has skyrocketed
in cost, and so what we do withour foster support families is

(21:55):
that you know we provide for anykind of nourishment, let's say,
for the animals.
That might be food, it may bemedications, it may be some kind
of treatment.
It may be some type ofrehabilitation and sometimes
horses are neglected in variousways and also they're not horses
.
Some horses are, like you know,other animals can be aggressive

(22:16):
and other folks that will arewilling to take in a horse to
adopt it along with their horsesas a companion horse.
You know, just really can't doit because it'd be aggressive
towards them.
So sometimes we work with, youknow, rehabilitators, trainers
basically, on some of theanimals, give them their best
chance, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Joe, can you address maybe the vetting process for
some of the fostering, becausethat would be really good for
our listeners.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
That's very helpful.
Yeah, that's very helpful toshare.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Sure, well, we have an orientation for our foster
families and when I say family,I mean family could be one
person, family could be whateveryou imagine it can be.
You know it can be whatever youimagine it can be.
So we try to be as honest andtransparent as possible in terms
of what to expect withfostering and based on the type

(23:01):
of animal and everything Withkittens, and we launch a Let
them Be campaign each spring,early spring.
A lot of folks don't, you know,really hear that, internalize it
.
They see newborn kittens anddon't really understand that
they don't see the mother withthem.
Well, the mother's not going tobe with them.
The mother's probably going tobe feral.
The mother's probably going tobe out there foraging for food

(23:23):
and things, but probably also iswatching you, as you're
watching those kittens andcoming close to the kittens.
But they'll scoop them up andbring them to us and we try to
explain.
The best thing you can do is totake them back because you,
because it's separated fromtheir mother now, you know, and
without a mother's milk, withoutfresh air animals, you know,

(23:44):
young animals don't have um agreat chance of survival and
everything.
But of course folks look at uslike we have a third eye you
know what do you mean.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
You want to take, take all the facts.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
But we explained everything.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
So we place them in the fosters program and we have
lots of fosters.
We sometimes will be in a realjam where we've had so many
kittens or animals come in atone time and it's kind of a
fast-track orientation.
But we want to set the fosterfamily, we want to set all the
volunteers, we want to set ourstaff up for success and, you
know, orienting them, being astransparent and straightforward

(24:14):
and giving them, you know, whatthey need, the tools they need
to do that life-saving job wewant to provide to them and we
tell them, you know, typically,you know, with the, you know,
kittens, it may be two to sixweeks, you know, depending on
their age.
With other animals it could beas much as three months.
I think the horse that we haveright now, it's probably been,
you know, you know a couple, youknow at least two good months

(24:36):
we may have possibly looking at,you know, three good months.
But the horse, some of thoseanimals, like the horses, where
they have pasture and that typeof thing, you don't have the
rush at getting it out into ahome like we do with the dogs
and cats, because they're sooverpopulated.
And about you know, theproverbial 99% of our animals
are going to be dogs and cats,and then that 1% or so it could
be anything Birds, fish, youname it.

(24:59):
You know roosters, the wholething.
The pig you remember from a fewyears ago the big pig on the
interstate 26 that went off thetruck and another car came by
and hit it and everything.
You know law enforcement goesin.
You know tries to get this.
You know 500 pound but it's 500pounds.
It was for 400, 500 pounds andum brought it to us and
everything and it's um.

(25:20):
It's like, and that was doozy.
That was a doozy, but you know500 pound pig and yep, somebody
adopted it and you love yourforced to failures too, don't
you?

Speaker 1 (25:29):
oh yeah, yeah, so many of my friends are forced to
failures I'm a foster failureare you Proud, proud, right?
Yeah, you should be proud.
You get attached.
You get attached to everythingand sometimes you just continue
to foster and some fosterfailures continue to fail and
you need both of those types ofpeople right the ones that can
actually just focus on gettingthose puppies and kittens ready

(25:51):
for adoption and actually feelbetter and feel more loved,
actually giving them to somebodyfor another home, and then the
other half that are completefoster failures, which I would
be, I'm sure, and our fostershave evolved into.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
Our program has evolved so that we trust our
fosters to adopt out thoseanimals because they can share
with a potential adopter moreabout that animal than we could
ever share because, they'refocused on that animal 24-7.
Because they're focused on thatanimal 24-7.
And so we've given them, orhave enabled them to go out
there, empowered them rather, togo out there and adopt those

(26:25):
animals.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
And we talk about volunteers that are needed,
right Fosters.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
Oh, yeah, always, always Critical.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
There's always a call for that.
So your time, your money, likeyou said, your adoptive home and
fostering yeah Right, all waysof helping yeah, like you said,
your adoptive home and fosteringyeah Right, all ways of helping
yeah.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
I mean, if you think about it, we've had, like I said
, 600 animals, 700 animals infoster at our peaks, and that's
twice as many animals as theshelter can hold.
Right, right, so they're all inhomes.
You're really operating theequivalent of two more animal
shelters out there, right?

Speaker 1 (26:59):
But you don't have the physical plant costs, the
labor cost, the overtime, andyou know the older dogs were
seven and they're getting loveand attention, right right in a
loving home and learning all theimportant things about becoming
part of a family I find that tobe, you know, really important
when you're getting fresh airand fresh air because, again,
that herd environment, um, youknow, it's kind of like with the
outset of cove on the onset ofum, um covid back in 2020.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
Um, well, you know that was I mean we kind of thri
with the onset of COVID back in2020.
Well, you know, that was.
I mean we kind of thrived inCOVID, because that's all we do
is herd health.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
And it's like, oh yeah, everybody else gets to
play at it now.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
You know, it's like you know well, I mean with no
disrespect, with all the losses,you know that occurred during
COVID and everything, but it wasyou know.
But we're masked up, certainlyin a large area of the animal
shelter and everything.
More of the outreachadministrative areas are not
masked up and everything.
So it's just a matter of OK,we're going to mask up and, you
know, just basically expand theprotocols to the rest of the
facility and everything.
And it was so funny.
It's so funny because we weregoing to try, like so many

(27:54):
employers did and I know youknow the chamber memberships,
you know listening andeverything will appreciate this,
I'm sure, and I'm sure there'sbeen similar stories.
Well, in April, okay, well, moreof the, you know,
administrative type of employeesor the employees that are not
direct hands-on with the animals, what we'll do is we're going
to try this remote, you knowworking for, you know, april,

(28:21):
and it was.
I'll never forget this.
And so on day two, I had twoemployees come back or call me
and they said we want to comeback.
And you know why.
And they said, sorry, I'm notbeing sexist, but they said my
husband home too.
I can't stand it, I'm beggingyou, let me come back, let me
come back.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
And I thought it was going to do the dog, but you're
right husbands, let me come back.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
And so they came.
I was like, well, sure, yeah.
And so they all started justgravitating back.
They don't want to workremotely, they want to be around
the animals around theenvironment and away from the
husbands.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
And who got to sit home also.
I also want to congratulate you.
Tell us a little bit about theGuinness Book of World Records
that you set.
Oh, that was how exciting.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
That was so cool, it was exciting and it was
difficult.
It was a real challenge, butthere were several objectives
for doing it, and so what wewanted to do was we were
thinking about a pet vaccinetype of world record and we were
checking into it.
Well, unbeknownst to us, thecity of Corpus Christi, texas,

(29:18):
was checking on it at the sametime.
But we were both in touch withPetco Love formerly Petco
Foundation about, you know,sponsoring that type of thing,
and they were the ones that toldus.
They said, well, corpusChristi's doing theirs in
December and we're planning oursfor February.
It's like, okay, well, at leastthey're going to do theirs.
And so with Texas and the waythe state veterinary

(29:40):
requirements, regulations arewritten and everything,
basically you could do it with.
You know a couple ofveterinarians and one overseeing
parking lot A, you know oneoverseeing parking lot B and
you'd have you know basicallyanybody.
You know the brotheradministering vaccines and all.
Well, there's a couple ofthings.
Guinness World Record won'tallow an invasive procedure like

(30:02):
a medical procedure as a worldrecord.
So it's more of like you knowwell, how many pledges do you
get?
Well, to get the pledges youbasically need to give the
vaccines to get the pledges inthere and go through all of the
requirements they have.
They send out somebody to youknow, observe you and monitor
you and all that kind of stuff,and they're dressed in their
little you know doodads andstuff with a Guinness insignia
and all that kind of thing.

(30:23):
And you know it's kind of likethe IRS coming in or something
you know, you don't know how toread them and all that you know
they're monitoring everything.
So so we had some, wecollaborated, the city, north
Charleston, peckel, love, subaru, I mean different ones, and if
they were all great, but for theregulations here in the state
of South Carolina it's muchharder.
Every single animal, before itgets a vaccine, has to be

(30:43):
assessed by a veterinarian.
So for us to break their record, we had to have 30
veterinarians, 30 plusveterinarians.
So we reached out to our areaveterinarians and said look,
this is a Guinness World Recordonce know, once in a lifetime
bucket list item.
And so they really supported us, came out.
We had stations, all set up,multiple objectives with this.

(31:04):
One was it's always good to dosomething like this for employee
morale, test yourselves.
But also, this is a largeoperation.
We did it in the Coliseumparking lot parking lot and we
were able to you know, similarto the COVID vaccines meander
the traffic flow up through thegarage and back to the floor

(31:24):
level where there are multiplestations that they could get the
animals could get vaccines, andyou had all kinds of dogs and
cats.
It was limited to dogs and cats, but you had all kinds of
vehicles, all kinds of families.
You know grandma, grandpa,bring uncle Joe.
You know, sally Mae, you know,and Fred, bring them all you
vehicles, all kinds of families,you know grandma, grandpa,
bring Uncle Joe.
You know, sally Mae, you know,and Fred, bring them all.
You know, the whole family.
Sometimes we'd have, you know,one animal and seven people in

(31:45):
the car, or sometimes we'd haveseven animals in the car and one
person in the car.
It was a fun day, it was cold,it was February.
But so another objective was,you know and we were talking
earlier about Hurricane Hugo andeverything we had, you know,
thank God we haven't been hitdirectly by a major hurricane

(32:06):
since.
About Hurricane Hugo, you knowwhat is the community?
How is the community going torespond?
Regardless of how much we dothese exercises and things on
paper, you know, until you justroll up your sleeves and you get
into it a real, real trainingtype drill, you just don't know
how you're going to respond.
So this helps us in terms ofhelping in a disaster scenario,

(32:29):
of mobilizing quickly andmobilizing a number of animals.
Well, we administered, I think,over 3,000 vaccines that day.
What?

Speaker 1 (32:38):
was the record.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
Oh, it was far below that.
I don't even know what it was.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
So you blew Texas out of the water, basically.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, yeah, well, you know me.
It's like there's no differencebetween second and last place.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
It's either on top, or you're not Got to blow you
away, or I didn't win.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're on topor you're not.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
You got the record or you don't.
And so our staff asked me.
They said are we going to doanother one of these vaccine
events in 2024?
I said, well, it depends on ifsomebody breaks our record Right
.
But it also raised anotherobjective was that it raised
awareness about the criticalneed to have your pets
vaccinated.
And we were able to get somegood data.
People were coming from allaround around and we were able

(33:17):
to find out.
You know, when was the lasttime your animal saw a
veterinarian and a number offolks?
I think it was like at least athird of the animals that came
through had never seen aveterinarian at all, and so
veterinarians were there to helpthem.
You know, if they saw somethingin the assessment, you know
they could talk to the familyalso about whether you know.
Look, you can call my office onMonday or you can do this, you

(33:37):
can do that, and we haddifferent resources for them and
all.
But we got a lot of communityanimals vaccinated that day.
And it was just good, it wasjust coming out of.
It set the world record.
Everybody felt good about it,but there were multiple
objectives that we were able toachieve, and we're also better
prepared as a community in caseof emergencies that impact
animals as well.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
So, joe, do you think that process that you went
through and all the lessons thatyou did learn, can you bottle
that and use that package thatto help share with other places
that have disasters that come up?
Is that something that could bein the future for that?

Speaker 3 (34:11):
Well, absolutely, if there are disasters that come up
and getting ready for disastersnow, if they want to break our
record, I don't know if I'dshare with them.
Sure, I'd have to do one ofthose.
I guess I'd have to do one ofthose stealing signs thing, you
know whatever.
But of course we do that and wedo that.
We share basically what we callit is our recipe that works for
us, our recipe that makes ourcommunity successful.

(34:32):
We don't position ourselves toindicate or imply that we do
things any better or worse thananyone else.
It's just this is our recipe,this is how it works here.
You know it's like you go overto somebody's house and you know
, for a low country boil or frogmeat or more stew or whatever,
you know it may not look realpretty, it's going to look
different every time you cook it, but you know, damn, it sure

(34:53):
tastes good.
You know that type of thing.
But we very much share that andwe actually have become a
leading disaster responderacross the southeast.
During hurricanes and everything, we've had a number of states
and animal organizations help us, particularly during that five
or six-year period where we hadso many near-misses a few years
ago and animal shelters alongthe coast are all in jeopardy of

(35:17):
flooding because they're all onlow-lying ground and we're
fortunate that we are not.
We're over there, next to theairport in Boeing.
We're on high ground.
It's a real good situation forus, and so our board of
directors back in 2016 alsoadopted sort of a mantra we have
a disproportionateresponsibility to others.
If there's an animal in needand we have the ability to

(35:40):
impact that animal in need, thenwe will do that.
But we've had I mean the Floridashelters, north Carolina
shelters, other particularlydisaster-prone areas have helped
us out, have had our backsduring hurricanes, near misses
that we didn't know were goingto be near misses until it would
be too late to evacuate animalsout of harm's way.

(36:00):
And so we do the same thingwith them.
And we've been, you know, downto New Orleans and southern
Louisiana and Mississippi andthen also down to South Florida
and North Florida as well, with,you know, most of our rescues.
But we also assist with largeanimal cruelty operations across
the state.
We work with law enforcementfrom the upstate through the PD

(36:22):
region all the way down to thelow country.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
I was going to say with the animal cruelty is, of
course, Caitlin, who, if anyonedoes not already know, was
adopted by her attorney and isliving the best life ever.
But that story went national.
That made national news.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
International.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
International, well, I can say national, because I
had just moved here and myfriends were all texting me and
everything.
You know what's going on there.
What's going on there, and youknow because they're all animal
lovers as well.
I mean, that was something forthat news to go and travel so
far and then, of course, to havethe most positive outcome.

(37:02):
You know, he was convicted andshe has a home right.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Right.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
And then everything that went from there.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Yeah, he's going to.
You know that perpetrator isgoing to really, you know,
probably rot away in SouthCarolina prison system and then,
if he doesn't, then the Georgiaprison system is going to get
him right after.
And we see this with animalcruelty, heinous animal cruelty,
intentional animal cruelty.
Most animal cruelty is neglectand most of that can be

(37:31):
addressed through education,intervention, that type of thing
, not necessarily throughpunitive law enforcement, but
the ones that are lawenforcement and we do the
forensics, the veterinaryforensics and some of the case
support working with lawenforcement.
We have the most experiencedcruelty investigation folks in
the state and we go from, like Isaid, lawrence County, pickens

(37:54):
County Sheriff's Officesdifferent ones that we work with
, with Caitlin in particular.
There have been copycats tothat in recent years following
that and it's where someone tookthe electrical tape and just
wrapped it over the muzzle andtied it and constricted it and
everything and Caitlin wouldhave died had a good Samaritan

(38:18):
not alerted law enforcement.
You know it's like it's just.
You know when you alert lawenforcement something you know
as humans.
We just know when something'swrong and you don't have to be a
cruelty expert of that type ofthing, you just know when
someone's something's wrong andlaw enforcement will check it
out and if nothing's wrong, orif it's okay or if it, you know,
they can always, you know,provide some education, get them
in touch with us, that type ofthing.

(38:38):
But if it's intentional cruelty, then punitive action and a law
enforcement intervention needsto take place.
And what we try to do is and wedo this complimentary, we don't
charge law enforcement agenciesfor this we want them to have
the best case moving forwardthat they can, because the
solicitors are going to wantthat.
The solicitors are not going towant something that's going to

(39:01):
tie up you know court time andeverything and then you're going
to lose it.
They'll know whether it's youknow what they want to slam
dunks for the most part of whatwe all want.
That right, it's, but it's.
There's a lot that goes intoveterinary forensics and I mean
we had a.
We had a pup come in, you know,the day after Christmas 26, and
look like had he had a littlebit of an issue with his jowl
here, his right jowl and afriendly pup came in and

(39:23):
somebody brought him in as astray.
A citizen brought him in andthe veterinarians were assessing
it and everything and then itstarted to abscess a little bit
and the veterinarians did afurther evaluation of it and
everything.
And sure enough, the dog hadbeen shot in the jowl and got
the bullet right in there andwas able to of it and everything
.
And sure enough, the dog hadbeen shot in the jail and got
the bullet right in there andwas able to extract it and

(39:43):
everything.
But we'll have that dog up foradoption probably this week.
But the sweetest, the sweetestdog and I was telling our
cruelty investigator thismorning as a matter of fact, I
said, yeah, my understanding isthat's a really sweet dog.
And he said, yeah.
I said it's just so phenomenalthat the animals that come in

(40:05):
that have been, that have beenvictims to this heinous cruelty,
like a caitlin, you know, theyjust have the best disposition
of that.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
Well, that's why dogs are better than humans.
Yeah, if it were me, I'd belooking for someone.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
I'd be like, yeah, you know, no, I'm gonna go after
somebody, all that kind stuff.
These animals are just soinnocent and so loving and I'm
just so glad and appreciativethat they have a new path
forward.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
People always say people don't deserve dogs.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Yeah, I don't think I do.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
I mean my dog is the best thing in the world and the
way he looks at me with thisunconditional love that just
blows my mind.
I think more humans need to belike dogs.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
Well, and the studies show I mean the studies you
know demonstrate that people whohave you know animals live
longer.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
Right, now I could talk to you forever, joe um I
really really could, so maybe wecan have you back for another
one um, but I wanted to, um, Iwanted to see if there's any
kind of business or fundraisingtips, or what would you say to
someone who is working in asmaller nonprofit about perhaps,

(41:09):
like I said, fundraising orbusiness or generating interest,
anything like that, you couldshare with them.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Well, you know, I think and it's interesting
because we're doing some we'regoing through a period of
restructuring now and I told ourgroup, particularly the what
we've called the advancementgroup marketing fundraising
group, earlier this week thatwhat I'm really trying to look
at is the you know, really thescale and scope of relationship

(41:35):
management and sort ofreassigning some particular
different, some particularfunctions, because it's all
about relationships, everythingis about relationships.
You know this and you know this.
Michael, y'all know this isworking with the chamber and the
chamber membership and workingwith, you know, as marketing
director with Town Center andall.
It's all about relationshipsand relationships with the
tenants and the customers andeverything.

(41:56):
Everything is aboutrelationships.
How many relationships can youeffectively manage?
And this is just real basicbusiness customer service.
It costs so much more toacquire a new customer than to
steward or cultivate a currentcustomer or supporter or member

(42:20):
or whatever you want to say.
So we look at things because wewant to be successful, not from
a business perspective, butfrom a successful business
perspective, because we knowwhether it's nonprofit, whether
it's government, whether it'sany kind of entity of business,
for-profit, you can.
You can have some you knowlousy ones out there and it's

(42:41):
across the spectrum.
So we really look at, you know,return on investments.
What is the?
You know we I see this quite abit in you know sort of teaching
fundraising and it's whereyou'll look at events, or some
of the nonprofits will look atevents and they don't include
all of the real cost.
Well, you know, we don'tinclude staff time because our

(43:02):
staff's going to be there anywayworking.
Well, yeah, but you really needto include that time.
That's the correct way to do it, because what could that staff
be doing with their time otherthan this event?
And we all know that, and I'mnot discouraging events, but
events are the least effectiveway to raise dollars.
That's the least effective wayto raise dollars and for us, our

(43:24):
budget, it's 60% is fromcontributions and fundraising.
It's from those relationships60%.
So the majority of it and thenabout 20% is from our program
fees and we keep our fees as lowas we can because we want to be
accessible and affordable forthe community and we take in
about 95% or more of the animalsin the community throughout all

(43:47):
of Charleston County.
And then about 20% is ourvendor contract with government
to shelter or for thedisposition of animals that are
collected by government,basically, or by citizens.
So you know, but also thecredentialing.
We value credentialing highlyand if you're in fundraising or

(44:09):
you know nonprofit management,there are credentialing paths
you know to pursue Infundraising.
There's one in, in particular,and we call that the certified
fundraising executive credential.
It's comprehensive, it'soverseen by the Association of
fundraising professionals.
It's a well-established group.
It's a good program.

(44:30):
There's a local chapter hereand just getting involved with
that, you pick up, you know, youpick up, you know effective
sort of leading practices fromeach other, I didn't even know
that existed, so perhaps some ofour members didn't know that
existed either.
So yeah, the local chapter is agood chapter and everything it's
quite active.
It's got an active membership.
They bring in speakers in thefundraising field.
I know they've got things goingon in January, kicking off the

(44:54):
new year, so a number of ourstaff are involved in that.
We try to get our staffinvolved in as much as possible.
But it all comes down torelationship management and when
you say that you don't havetime for relationships, you
don't have time to fundraise,you don't have time for this,
then it's.
And for us we see this and likewe have such an army of fosters

(45:17):
that all they want to do issave animals.
They don't want to fundraise orthat kind of thing.
What we're seeing as a trend isand this certainly is not every
rescue group, but a number ofrescue groups getting into
trouble because they'veoverwhelmed themselves and
they're kind of on that slipperyslope to hoarding or other

(45:40):
things, taking the law intotheir own hands or just ignoring
the law or practicingveterinarian medicine without
being qualified, which isagainst the law, and we're
seeing this more and more andmore and more folks are have
gotten these animals from rescuegroups and, you know, come to
us and say something's wrong andthey'll tell us what's wrong.
You know what they ran into andthat type of thing.
But there's no regulations forshelters or rescue groups in

(46:03):
South Carolina, something thatwe really have been trying to
work on with the statelegislature and it's.
You know it's getting to apoint where it's.
You know it's quite sad, butit's kind of that power and
control that folks want.
Well, look, if you want to saveanimals, do it through us.
We have a program, We'll coverall your costs, We'll do the
fundraising.
You don't need to do that, youjust need to save animals, which

(46:27):
is what you want to do.
But if you want that power andcontrol and you save them
whenever you want to, I mean,you know it's your time whenever
you want to.
But you know some folks wantall that power and control to
just no, I want to do it my way,I want to.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
You know that type of thing, and it's, um, something
that you know bothers us in the,uh, animal sector- that's great
you've got a good recipe yeahsure, I do all right so before
we let you go, all right we dohave a couple of a little couple
fun rapid fire questions allright.
Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha,all right michael's gonna help
me out with this, okay, I canstay here all day with y'all.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
I know, um, if you were an animal, what?

Speaker 1 (47:00):
type of animal would you be, and why?

Speaker 3 (47:04):
I think, um, you know horton the elephant?
Um, because I'm gonna datemyself, because I'm sure a
number of listeners probablydon't even know who these
animals are, um, horton theelephant from dr seuss, I mean,
yeah, it was a compassion here'sa who yeah just just the

(47:24):
compassionate nature of so manyof Dr Seuss's characters and
everything Flipper I lovedolphins, flipper was, you know,
just such a hero to so manykids and everything.
And just Flipper was alwayscoming in to save the day.
And dolphins are travelers andsmart and compassionate also
creatures, and so I'm just drawnto that.

(47:44):
And then, of course, lassie Imean, if you grew up with Lassie
, I grew up with Lassie, and itwas like you know, you just fell
in love and we don't see theAmerican collie much anymore as
a breed.
There are a number of breedsthat we don't see anymore, such
as, you know, collies, irishSetters.
Some of those breeds, don'tforget Rin Tin Tin, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
Rin Tin Tin.
Now you're both datingyourselves.
I don't know who those peopleare.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
That was way before my time.
I remember Benji, yep, benji.
There you go.
I used to watch that on TV,yeah yeah, and that's what we
just ask everybody.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
A lot of folks have this misperception that you go
to an animal shelter and we'regoing to be full of binges.
And we're just not, becausebinges are like the most
desirable dog and most of thosetypes of dogs get absorbed by
family and friends before theyeven make it to an animal
shelter and so a number of ouranimals will have, you know,
they'll have a quirk here, aquirk there.
A number of them don't, but itjust gives them more character,
more personality, and really wefeel and a number of the

(48:46):
testimonials from the adoptersis that this particular animal
just enhanced this person's life, just completed their life for
them.
So that's what you're going tofind in an animal shelter.
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
So I have a question for you.
I'll put you on the spot,that's all right.
So when I met the young ladythat I eventually married, she
was a cat person and I was a dogperson and I had to very
quickly learn to become a catperson.
Now I have two cats and I lovethem.
Are you a cat person or a dogperson?

Speaker 3 (49:13):
both, actually both, it's.
I love all animals except forsnakes, most of the animals, I
mean.
We have bearded dragons upthere now, you know, so I can
take the basket of kittens backand bring a bearded dragon no,
no, no, thank you, I'll take thebasket, but yeah yeah, so both
cat and dog, I love them bothand everything I love them both.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
That's awesome.
So now, of course, everyoneknows Charleston Animal Society.
So if there was a celebrityspokesperson for Charleston
Animal Society, do you have anysuggestions on who you would
like that to be?

Speaker 3 (49:45):
Well, I'll tell you, we've had different celebrities
come through town and do thingsfor us and we love them all.
Yeah, yeah, I mean I rememberDan and Shay.
You know the country group.
They did a special thing inviteus to backstage with them to do
a little promo about animaladoptions and stuff and animal
cruelty and those things.
And then Bernadette Peters herentire life has been supportive

(50:07):
of animals very much like BettyWhite, and Bernadette Peters
performed at the Gilead Center afew years ago and this she was
very close friends with MaryTyler Moore, as a lot of folks
remember well.
She was performing at Gilead ona Friday night and what she
would do when she would go to avenue she would ask a local
animal organization to come inon that next morning and she

(50:28):
would do a photo shoot with them.
But because she was so close toMary Talamore Mary Talamore
died that week they were goingto have the service that
Saturday, so Bernadette Peterswas going to have to get up
really, really early on Saturdaymorning to make it to the
service, as I remember.
So instead of just cancelingthat after her performance at

(50:50):
Gilead she was she wanted to dothe photo shoot then Friday,
late Friday night and everything.
She was so classy and so givingthat, that and that was so
important for her to do for theanimal society and we were, just
you, mesmerized with her.
The performance, everythingabout her.
She didn't rush anything andshe was, just as you know, just

(51:15):
as genuine and classy and givingas you could possibly imagine,
particularly with a celebrityand everything.
So that's kind of my favorite,you know, celebrity spokesperson
for animals.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Well, how about Taylor Swift on the cover of
Time with her cat?
Oh well, there you go.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
I mean you want to talk about animal advocates?

Speaker 1 (51:31):
The number one person in the world has her cat on the
cover of Time magazine.

Speaker 3 (51:36):
Yeah, the Swifties.
Yeah, just come on down,swifties.
You can get your cat with us atthe Animal Society and we'll
take care of you, especially inthe spring and summer.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
Michael, you're up.
So if you could give onesuperpower to all the animals in
your shelter, what would thatone superpower be?

Speaker 3 (51:55):
I think I would give them the ability to adopt humans
.
Put it in their hands.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Wow, so they get to pick us, don't?
Some of them already do that?

Speaker 3 (52:04):
Yeah, they do, they do, they do.
Yeah, I'd give them thatability you go out and you pick
who you want to be your human.

Speaker 1 (52:11):
That's amazing.
I have to let.
And then I'm going to ask youone more.
So if animals could talk, Joe,what do you think they'd be
saying about us?
What is it?

Speaker 3 (52:22):
What is it?
The proverbial see no monkeys.
The chimpanzees, the see noevil, speak no evil, hear no
evil.
The three of us know, I hopethe majority love us right?
I think they would, and you allknow this and the listeners know
this, that the dogs or theanimals, cats, whatever get real
excited when someone comes intothe house, that type of thing.

(52:43):
Everybody gets really excitedand everything.
But then when you sit downyou're stationary and you start
carrying on that conversationthat brings such an ease to them
and typically you don't realizeit until a few minutes into
that conversation they're alllying around almost asleep, or
some of them are sleeping, butthey're relaxed, they're so
chill and everything.
It's just casual conversation,the interplay between people,

(53:05):
none of the social media stuffyou know and the calm that it
brings to those animals.
And we learned so much becauseanimal behavior is so similar to
human behavior in justcountless ways and you can see
that it's a yeah, conversationrelaxes people, it brings a calm
to living creatures.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
And that's yeah.
I could see me hanging on mycouch talking to my dog.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
Yeah, just having a whole conversation.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
What'd you do today?
Well, I actually do it, butthey don't respond to me.
Like the first thing I say whenI go home is when I go to feed
my cat.
I'm like hi, baby, how was yourday today?
What did you do?
You know, I do that whole thingand I sometimes say to myself
does she?

Speaker 3 (53:39):
think I'm nuts, or is she responding to me in her
head yeah, it's um, you knowthere's's beauty to, you know
animals' behavior and everything.
But at the end of the day, thisis all about public health and
safety.
And it's a public health andsafety issue.
Most animal shelters aregovernment facilities.
I mean, you know, columbia,greenville, horry County, myrtle
Beach area, charlotte, atlanta,savannah all government

(54:02):
facilities.
It's a unique relationship.
Here in Charleston County weare the vendor for shelter, for
the disposition of animals, andso the local government
outsources that to us.
But it is all about publichealth and safety and I think
that where we're missing theboat in our community is that

(54:24):
we've got to look at publichealth and safety like we look
at all public health and safety,like we look at all public
health and safety.
You invest in prevention andresponse and for us it's, you
know this is not a complicatedissue like like education, crime
, domestic violence, hunger.
Those are complicated issues.
Affordable housing, complicatedissues.
Ours is know the overpopulationof animals is, I mean, it's

(54:48):
clear, it's black and whitespaying and neutering and at
some point when you get, youknow all of the low hanging
fruit, like you do with any kindof advocacy, whether it's
texting and driving, drinkingand driving, litter the highways
, all that you know that allstarted out as advocacy
campaigns, but then at somepoint you had to marry it with
public policy so that you had toput in some punitive measures

(55:08):
for reckless behavior such astexting and driving, drinking
and driving, littering thehighways and those things, and
we're really behind the eightball on that.
We need to move forward withthat and get some incentivized
registration processes in placeand some mandatory spay and neut
, some for the animals that aremost overpopulated, because

(55:30):
it'll enhance public health andsafety, but it'll also Reduce
the number of animals thateventually die because there's
just too many of that particularanimal.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
Well, I certainly cannot thank you enough on
behalf of Michael and myself,absolutely and everyone at the
chamber for your continued notonly support of the Mount
Pleasant Chamber of Commerce,because you are a member and one
of our favorite things aboutthe expo is when you come with
the puppies One of the favoritewe do love everybody at the expo
, but just all the work that youdo for these animals in our

(56:03):
region, in our state, all of theinitiatives that you've created
, Joe, and all of the work thatyou've done and the staff that
you've put together and thevolunteers.
Again, I myself at Town Centeris a huge supporter, huge fan.
We do so many events with youbecause we believe in you,
believe in what you've done andwhat you continue to do, and
then it's something that youshould all be extremely,

(56:24):
extremely proud of.
So thank you so much for takingthe time Well thank you.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
Thank you so much, kathy and Michael.
I enjoy being here.
As we always say at Charleston,we always say you are
Charleston Animal Society.
It really isn't any one personor group of people or that type
of thing, it's the entirecommunity.
The community owns thisinstitution for 150 years, say
it again.
It's a sesquicentennial it's uh, do I get a free shopping spree

(56:53):
?
a free shopping spree if I get afree shopping spree at a town
sitter, um, and then just addsomething on the icing on the
cake, if I can spell it andeverything, the uh, that'd be
great.
But no, you all, thank you all,because it's your support,
including us in things like this.
The chamber, town center, itreally is everyone.

(57:14):
I am so fortunate, privilegedto just be up in the air traffic
control tower, but the folksthat are flying the planes and
the passengers on the planes andthe ground crews and all that
kind of stuff, they're the onesthat make it happen.
I just get to play air trafficcontrol.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
You're doing a really good job though, what's the
best thing we can do to help you?

Speaker 3 (57:37):
There's, you know, as I mentioned.
I mean whether it's a you knowgift of your time as a volunteer
, a gift of your home as anadopter, a gift of your income
as a donor.
All three of those are equallyimportant and crucial to the
success of saving animals.
But you can go tocharlestonanimalsocietyorg and
just kind of look around andeverything.
The animal shelter itself isopen seven days a week.

(58:00):
Come up, bring the family up,just look around.
You don't have to leave with ananimal We'd love for you to
leave with an animal.
But you don't have to leave withan animal.
We'd love to leave with ananimal, but you don't have to
leave.
Come up and see it andeverything.
But as we've entered spring,the critical need right now is
for fosters, foster homes and tocome up and learn it, and you
can do this on your time.
If it's too much for you, youdon't have to do it.

(58:21):
No one's going to guilt you oranything like that, but just
reach out to us,charlestonanimalsocietyorg, and
right now is the time where thekittens are coming in and
they're just flooding in,falling from the sky, and this
is the time that we need you.
So please consider that and itwon't cost you a thing.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
So instead of spurs up or fins up, I'm going to say
paws up for the CharlestonAnimal Society.
Thank you so much, joe.
Thank you Michael.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
We also want to thank our sponsors again.
Charleston Radio Group.
Thank you for letting us behere today with you.
If you want to be a sponsor orbe a guest on our podcast,
please reach out to us and wewill get back to you on that.
Be sure to like and subscribeto all of our media channels.
We'll be in Spotify, itunes,youtube, instagram, facebook and

(59:06):
LinkedIn.
So thank you all.
So very much for being with ustoday, and before I sign off,
I'm going to do a Bob Barkerspay and neuter your animals.
Until next time, mount Pleasant.
Until next time, listeners.