Effectiveness & Results

Reaching Millions Through Our Vital Programs

As the nation’s voice for the protection of children and animals, American Humane Association reaches millions of people every day through groundbreaking research, education, training and services that span a wide network of organizations, agencies and businesses. In the past 12 months American Humane Association protected millions of children and animals through our vital, effective programs:

HUMANE INTERVENTION™:

American Humane Association began doing animal relief in August, 1916, by accepting an invitation from the War Department to help animals used by the U.S. Army during WWI. Today, we work in association with American first responders, civic leaders, animal protection advocates, healthcare providers and families to prepare for and cope when crises arise and disasters strike. Our Red StarTM Animal Emergency Services teams rescue and shelter animals in crisis and provide lifesaving tips to protect children, families and communities before, during and after disasters. Red Star Animal-Assisted Therapy teams are on the ground year-round providing life-healing comfort for children with cancer, the aged, the infirm, and military families impacted by service.

RED STAR EMERGENCY SERVICES

The Red Star ™ Animal Emergency Services team is always prepared to assist communities in need at a moment’s notice. Since 1916, the Red Star ™ team has been helping animal victims of disasters both natural and manmade. Having evolved since World War I, the team is now equipped with over 200 specially-trained staff and volunteers ready to deploy across the country, an 82-foot Rescue Rig with a full Command Center, a fleet of response boats and vehicles and extensive rescue supplies. In just the past five years, these heroic teams have rescued and cared for some 70,000 animals! When they are not helping animals affected by disaster, they are training communities to be better prepared for disasters through our nationally-renowned Red Star Training program, which has trained over 2,600 people in less than three years!

RED STAR ANIMAL-ASSISTED THERAPY

Animal-assisted therapy is one of the best ways to provide comfort and a smile for those most in need of it. In the past five years, American Humane Association’s animal-assisted therapy programs have:

• Improved the lives of 60,000 children, including at summer camps for children of military families.
• Assessed 800 animals for therapy work (including dogs, cats, horses, mules, and even llamas!) and trained 600 handlers.
• Made more than 500,000 visits in 15 states across the country.

HUMANE POLICY & RESEARCH™ 

• American Humane Association has been driven by science-based research and outcomes. Here are just a few of the groundbreaking projects we have launched in the past year:
• American Humane Association Animal Welfare Research Institute (AWRI), led by our world-renowned Chief Veterinary Advisor Dr. Patricia Olson.
• In order to keep pets in loving homes and reduce the 3-4 million adoptable animals who are euthanized in the nation’s shelters each year, American Humane Association published with the support of PetSmart Charities the first phase a major report, “Keeping Pets (Dogs and Cats) in Homes: A Three-Phase Retention Study.”
• American Humane Association’s Children’s Innovation Institute worked with the support of Pfizer Animal Health to publish the first phase of “Canines and Childhood Cancer,” a major study examining and documenting the benefits of animal-assisted therapy on children with cancer. The initial literature review is being followed up with a full clinical trial at several hospitals across the country.
• AWRI published “People, Pets and the World We Share,” an eye-opening survey demonstrating the powerful bond between children and animals.
• American Humane Association supported the passage of the gas chamber ban for pets in Pennsylvania, inspired by “Daniel,” a winner of the 2012 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards.
• American Humane Association provided scholarships for 13 veterinary student scientists to conduct meaningful research to improve animal welfare around the world. Known as  Humane Scholars, these bright young minds traveled around the country and to such exotic locales as Zambia, Indonesia, and Grenada to study key issues affecting dogs, cats, pigs, goats, cows, horses, chimpanzees, and the critically-endangered Javan rhinoceros.

"Effects of Secondhand Smoke on Canine Lung Tumors"	"Animal Shelter Policy, Procedure, and Understanding of Ringworm in Cats"	"Comparison of SAFER® Aggression Assessment Results in Shelter Dogs"

HUMANE HOLLYWOOD™

Certifying Safety
Our “No Animals Were Harmed®” certification program monitored the treatment of 100,000 animal actors on more than 2,000 film and entertainment productions around the globe with a 99.98 percent safety rate. Animal actors, and their human counterparts, are grateful for the protections afforded by the only officially sanctioned animal welfare program in the entertainment industry.

American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards™

The American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards™ campaign generated more than 3 million votes in a national campaign to honor America’s most courageous canines.  Broadcast nationally on the Hallmark Channel, this year’s event was hosted by Tony and Emmy Award winner, Kristin Chenoweth and honored longtime supporter Betty White with the National Humanitarian Medal and Legacy Awards.  Military Dog Gabe (see photo below) was named the 2012 American Hero Dog.

HUMANE HEARTLAND™

The American Humane Certified® certification program is the oldest, largest, and fastest-growing monitoring, auditing, and certification program in the country ensuring the humane treatment of farm animals. In the past 12 months, American Humane Association added more than 50 million animals to our rigorous procedures, protections, and stringent treatment guidelines, for a total of more than 200 million animals on 7,200 farms in 42 states, including 90 percent of the cage-free egg production in the United States. We are also developing a curriculum to teach school children across the country about the value of treating farm animals humanely.