https://network.bestfriends.org/tools-and-information/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-61 (Check out part one of our interview with Ed Jamison here).
In 2017, Ed Jamison left his position as Chief Animal Control Officer in Cleveland, Ohio, to take on the director position at Dallas Animal Services (DAS) in Texas. With an annual intake of more than 32,000 animals that year, he accepted what many would call a formidable challenge laid out by city officials to create a safer community for people and pets.
In 2018, they launched the Dallas90 campaign, a rallying cry to the community to step up and support the effort to save every healthy or treatable pet at the shelter. It was an ambitious goal, but DAS attained a 90% save rate for the 2020 fiscal year.
In this second part of our discussion Ed, we talk about the status of the DEI efforts, his new role with the nonprofit Operation Kindness, supporting, and the role he thinks rescue organizations can play to support municipal shelters, whether they be in the biggest cities, or the smallest towns in rural areas of the country.