ASPCA Dog of the Year And Other Humane Awards

Thanks to your nominations, eight spectacular humans and animals have been selected as the 2008 ASPCA Humane Award winners.

“The Humane Awards Luncheon honors those who have gone above and beyond for animal welfare and animal heroes who have dedicated their lives to help others,” says ASPCA President and CEO Ed Sayres. “It’s a wonderful event that celebrates the important role companion animals play in our lives.”

Let’s give it up for the winners! They are…

ASPCA Dog of the Year
You will never see Cole Massie, a 10-year-old boy from Los Angeles, CA, without Ilia, his furry sidekick. Cole has cerebral palsy, and Ilia, a five-year-old black Lab/golden retriever mix, is always by his side. Ilia is also one of thousands of service dogs who support people with special needs. In order to break away from being wheelchair-dependent, Cole underwent surgery in July 2008 so he would be able to walk without assistance. Ilia travelled over 7,000 miles on six planes to be by Cole's side for surgery. He supported Cole through medical treatments and physical therapy, and he encouraged the boy throughout his road to recovery. These days, Cole is able to use his entire foot, and Ilia is still by his side, walking alongside him.

ASPCA Cat of the Year
Libby, a ten-year-old tabby, was a dog’s best friend. She served as a guide cat to Terry and Deb Burns’ senior yellow Lab/shar pei mix, Cashew, who was blind and deaf. Libby helped her canine companion accomplish daily tasks, steered Cashew away from bumping into obstacles and patiently guided the blind dog to her food. The two were inseparable; Libby even slept next to Cashew at night. The only time they were apart was when Terry took Cashew for a walk. Unfortunately, Cashew passed away several years ago and to this day, Libby misses her canine companion. Libby was a true friend and hero to Cashew, and their deep-rooted friendship shows that animals of different species can understand and help each other overcome hurdles.

ASPCA Firefighter of the Year
On July 17, 2008, Adam Deem, a firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, was working the burned area from the Moon fire in Northern California, one of 158 fires started by lightning. While Deem was monitoring the trail, he noticed a six-month-old bear cub crying for his mother. The cub suffered serious burns to all four paws, and his fur was singed from the fire. With the mother nowhere to be found, Deem wrapped the frightened and injured bear in his firefighter’s jacket and took him to the Fire Incident Command Center. From there the cub, named Li'l Smokey, was treated for dehydration and sent to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, where he is recuperating.

ASPCA “Tommy Monahan” Kid of the Year
Mimi Ausland, a 12-year-old girl from Bend, OR, wanted to do more than just volunteer at her local animal shelter. After four months of careful planning, hard work and support from her parents, Mimi launched Freekibble.com in April 2008. Mimi’s primary mission is to provide food to dogs and cats at the Humane Society of Central Oregon. She made it fun for people to help contribute to her cause through playing a trivia game on her website. Since April 1, 2008, Mimi has donated more than 47 million pieces of kibble, which would feed approximately 1,900 dogs and 2,300 cats every day for a month. Mimi's program is now feeding animals at a total of eight shelters across the country.

This award is dedicated to Tommy Monahan, a nine-year-old Staten Island boy who perished last year trying to save his dog from a house fire.

ASPCA Law Enforcement Officer of the Year
Diane Balkin is Chief Deputy District Attorney for the City and County of Denver and has worked in the District Attorney’s office since 1979. For nearly 30 years, Balkin has been an advocate for humans and animals, working tirelessly to send a message that animal abuse will not be tolerated. While she has prosecuted all types of felonies, such as sexual assault, homicide and aggravated robbery, her passion is to promote animal welfare by prosecuting those who neglect or abuse animals.

Over the past year, Balkin successfully prosecuted a South Dakota dog breeder for cruelty to animals and saved 19 of his horribly neglected puppies who were left unattended in a truck. In another cruelty case, she prosecuted a Denver man who killed a Chihuahua with a shovel and then threw the pet's lifeless body in a dumpster. Both defendants were found guilty, and in the Chihuahua case, the defendant was sentenced to six years in prison.

Balkin, a member of the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine, speaks at conferences nationwide about animal cruelty prosecutions and trains veterinarians, law enforcement officials, students and citizens about the link between cruelty to animals and violence toward humans. She has been instrumental in changing Colorado laws to facilitate the prosecution of animal abusers, and her commitment and steadfast determination to raise awareness about animal cruelty have made an immense impact in Colorado, as well as nationwide.

ASPCA Henry Bergh Award
Dr. Phil Bushby, a board certified veterinary surgeon, is no stranger to the ASPCA. Thirty-six years ago, Dr. Bushby started his career as an intern and surgical resident at the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City. For the last three decades, he has been on the faculty at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he currently serves as Service Chief with a focus on spay/neuter programs. He also holds the Marcia P. Lane Endowed Professorship of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare and is a board member of MS-SPAN (Mississippi Spay and Neuter), an ASPCA Mission: Orange partner agency in Gulfport-Biloxi.

Bushby was an integral member of the Veterinary Shelter and Neuter Task Force and Shelter Residency Standards Task Force (organized by the ASPCA and PetSmart Charities). He spearheaded the MSU Disaster Response projects during Hurricane Katrina, and is on the road four days each week, taking students to eight Mississippi shelters to provide them with spay/neuter and shelter medicine experience. He recently traveled to Turkey to speak on spay/neuter issues.

Bushby’s goal is to expose veterinary students to shelters across Mississippi, educate them about the problem of pet overpopulation, and help them find ways to play a role in the solution. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

ASPCA Presidential Service Award
There’s no mission that’s impossible for Stache, a four-year-old black Lab. Stache and his handler, Jim McCans, have been involved in nearly two dozen searches, including a trip to Mississippi to find a Hurricane Katrina victim, and solving a missing persons case in Philadelphia. Within the last year, Stache and Jim were asked to provide assistance in Iraq, where they faced their biggest challenge—to search for missing American service men and women. Stache and Jim found nine separate recoveries, but not before a close brush with death when an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) exploded in their path in Owesat, Iraq. The blast left Stache with temporary hearing loss, but he has since recovered and returned to the states. Stache hasn’t forgotten the soldiers who befriended him during his stint in Iraq; he recently visited two soldiers who were severely injured from the same blast at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

ASPCA Lifetime Achievement Award
Mamdouha S. Bobst is a humanitarian, a philanthropist and animal advocate who has dedicated her life to helping others in need. She and her late husband, Elmer Holmes Bobst, are important supporters of health research and university centers both in the United States and in Lebanon.

Her generosity is not limited to humans, however. Bobst has donated funds to support the Animal Medical Center, where she founded the Mamdouha Bobst Hospital in New York City. The veterinary hospital treats more than 30,000 animals annually and offers routine care, emergency services and treatment for pets suffering from unusual or complex diseases. Bobst has also been an ASPCA supporter for several years and, with her late husband, helped finance the renovation of the ASPCA Adoption Center in Manhattan. In 2006, the renovation was completed, and today the building’s front lobby is named after them. Needless to say, Bobst’s contributions have saved countless numbers of animals in need.