Released on = January 22, 2007, 6:44 am

Press Release Author = No Kill Advocacy Center

Industry =

Press Release Summary = Susanne Kogut given top honor by the national No Kill
Advocacy Center

Press Release Body = Charlottesville.If you are a homeless dog or cat in the U.S.,
Charlottesville, VA is the place to be. Susanne Kogut has been named the nation's
Animal Shelter Director of the Year for 2006. Under her tenacious leadership,
Charlottesville, VA finished the year saving 92 percent of all dogs and cats, better
than any other community in the nation.

"Susanne Kogut is quite simply the nation's best animal shelter director in 2006,"
said Nathan J. Winograd, director of the No Kill Advocacy Center. "She has achieved
success at the most important job a shelter has-saving lives."

In April 2005, Kogut-an attorney who did not have prior experience running an animal
shelter-took over as head of the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA, an agency which
contracts for animal control sheltering in Charlottesville, Virginia. Historically,
the Charlottesville SPCA was the subject of relentless public criticism for what
many in the rescue community saw as poor customer service, inadequate care of
animals, and unnecessary killing. By hiring a new director who embraced the No Kill
paradigm, they finished 2005, Kogut's first year, saving 87 percent of ten dogs and
67 percent of cats.

According to Winograd, "Overall, five million dogs and cats are killed annually in
U.S. shelters. Most shelter directors are killing roughly 60-70 percent of all cats
and half of all dogs. But Kogut isn\'t like most directors. She embodies the spirit
of No Kill which is always demanding and achieving improvement. And in 2006, she
achieved more by saving 92 percent overall, better than any other community in the
nation."

Animal Shelter Director of the Year award criteria. What does it take to be named
the nation's best by the only national organization dedicated to a No Kill nation
and staffed by experts who have achieved No Kill success themselves? Nathan J.
Winograd, the director of the No Kill Advocacy Center, explains: "The No Kill
Advocacy Center's award has one major criteria: success at the most important job a
shelter has-saving lives. Since Directors who continue to kill the bulk of the
animals can only be classified as "failing," they are not eligible to receive
recognition. We do not reward failure. And because Kogut saved 92 percent of all
animals at an open door animal control shelter in the South, the simple fact is that
she has virtually no equal nationwide. This year's choice was one of the easiest
decisions we have had to make. Congratulations Susanne. And thank you for proving
what a shelter can accomplish when it dedicates itself to the No Kill endeavor." The
award comes with a $500 donation to the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA to be used to
sterilize feral cats.

Kogut can be reached for comment at (703) 623-9379.


Web Site = http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org

Contact Details = P.O. Box 74926 . San Clemente, CA 92673 . (949) 276-6942 .
www.nokilladvocacycenter.org