This month, PetSmart Charities® sponsored one of the largest conferences ever held for spay/neuter professionals in the country – the SNIP! Summit held in Asheville, North Carolina.

As the only national training center in the country for high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN), the Humane Alliance hosted this national conference to train professionals in all aspects of operating a spay/neuter program. More than 850 attendees participated in some of the 37 workshops, networking opportunities, and wet labs, which offered veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and administrators training in the latest techniques and best practices in spay/neuter services.

In addition to sponsoring the conference, PetSmart Charities also provided stipends to 43 groups so they could attend the conference. And, we partnered with the ASPCA to provide an additional 15 stipends to Florida groups who had not previously been exposed to the Humane Alliance model.

We had a chance to speak to many attendees at our booth and throughout the conference, and here is some of what they shared with us.

“What an incredible conference!  The multitude of sessions, great topics, great speakers were amazing! Thank you to PetSmart Charities for sponsoring such a great conference.” – Cynthia Chambers, Director, Broward County Animal Care

“Thank you so much for the scholarships for SNIP.  My staff is so excited and inspired. If you ever wonder if people appreciated the conference – holy cow! I can tell you they are ready to change the world.” – Sara Pizano, Director, Miami-Dade County Animal Services

Several of our PetSmart Charities staff delivered workshops. Bryan Kortis presented workshops on Building a Community TNR Program and Finding Funding for TNR Programs; Aimee St. Arnaud presented workshops on Surviving the First Year and Creative Marketing Campaigns; and Kit Jenkins delivered the closing session, Survey Says! What does the public REALLY thinks about Spay/Neuter?, including a game show “Are you smarter than the average pet owner?” ( Did you know only 39% of young adults 18-34 understand that un-altered cats and dogs =  unwanted pets.  They also were least likely to spay/neuter at an early age.”)

We’re proud to have supported the SNIP! Summit as well as the Humane Alliance’s on-going national training programs. We’re on our way to building a spay/neuter nation. If you want to see more, watch this video of the conference:

The SNIP! Summit Wrap Up Video from Humane Alliance on Vimeo.