Registration is open for MAC's Annual Meeting!
More About the Meeting
The topic of the meeting will be the Association of Shelter Veterinarians' (ASV) Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters. Martha Smith-Blackmore, D.V.M. of the Animal Rescue League of Boston, is an ASV Task Force member and an expert in shelter medicine. Dr. Smith-Blackmore is one of the authors of the guidelines and will be speaking at length about this very important document.
Following this discussion we will have a conversation about importation and how to standardize practices in Massachusetts. This will be a fascinating day and will get your brain spinning!
Copies of the Guidelines will be distributed by ASV to attendees, thanks to a generous grant from ASPCA.
Because this is the Annual Meeting, the election of officers will also be conducted and a report on the status of MAC will be given.
About the Association of Shelter VeterinariansThe Association of Shelter Veterinarians was originally founded as a grassroots group of several dozen shelter veterinarians looking for a means to network. The organization has grown into a formal organization consisting of over 750 member veterinarians and 22 student chapters from all around the globe. The ASV Mission Statement is to improve the health and well being of animals in shelters through the advancement of shelter medicine. You can read more here: www.sheltervet.org/
The ASV’s mission is “to improve the health and well being of animals in shelters through the advancement of shelter medicine”. The project the group has undertaken is writing the Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters. The Guidelines are the outcome of two years of work including an exhaustive review of scientific literature by a task force of 14 shelter veterinarians. The authors hope that shelters and communities will look to this document to ensure that all animals in shelters everywhere are properly and humanely cared for. The Guidelines are intended as a positive tool for shelters and communities to review animal care, identify areas that need improvement, allocate resources and implement solutions so welfare is optimized, euthanasia is minimized, and suffering is prevented.
Of the 14 task force members, three are from Massachusetts:
About Dr. Smith-BlackmoreDr. Martha Smith is a graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. Following veterinary school, she completed an intensive internship at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in small animal medicine. After a short stint in private practice, Dr. Smith began her career in shelter medicine. She has worked in multiple shelters and in multiple areas of shelter medicine as a staff veterinarian for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Her current position is as Director of Veterinary Medical Services for the Animal Rescue League of Boston. In addition, Dr. Smith has been active in teaching veterinary students through problem based learning modules since her graduation. She has traveled internationally promoting population control through establishment of spay and neuter facilities and training, and been an advocate for the humane treatment of racing greyhounds. Dr. Smith joined the board of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians in January of 2007 and is currently the President of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians.
