Possessing the unique ability to provide not only public safety to the community, Laurie Hollywood, former Director of Stamford Animal Control, also was the recipient of the American Red Cross Heroes and Employee of the Month awards. She developed compassionate and progressive shelter programs for the City of Stamford, CT. Over nine years, Laurie transformed a status-quo catch & kill “dog pound” into a caring “animal shelter.” She practiced the modern “No Kill Equation,” a successful model recognized across the country. Laurie increased shelter adoptions (as high as 97%) and decreased euthanasia (as low as 3%). This compares to the entire State of CT, which has a 24% annual kill rate within its municipal shelter system: in 2013, a staggering 2,341 of 9,752 animals were killed. Continuously short-staffed and working within a hostile work environment, Laurie was removed from her position in May 2014. We firmly believe this was a politically motivated act of corruption, cronyism, nepotism & discrimination stemming from Laurie’s resistance to a kill philosophy as had been Stamford’s policy prior to her arrival, when 65-70 animals were killed each year. OPIN is honored to have learned from and received Laurie’s guidance and knowledge and to have had the opportunity to help her deploy the many life-saving programs benefiting the Stamford Animal Care & Control facility pets and people in the community. No Kill – Using a goal of 95%, No Kill means no savable animals are killed. Since the No Kill philosophy does not mandate that vicious dogs or irremediably sick animals be made available for adoption, it is wholly consistent with public health and safety. Visit this website to find the statistics for all Connecticut cities and towns. Visit: www.no-kill-stamford-ct.com
