Mariah McCulley - Director of Operations at Animal Friends Alliance

This episode is sponsored in part by TICA and Doobert.com.  Stacy chats with Mariah McCulley, Director of Operations at Animal Friends Alliance, a limited admission, adoption guarantee shelter for cats and dogs in Fort Collins, CO. Mariah has experience with TNR, high volume spay and neuter clinics, adoption, and, her passion, fostering feral kittens. Animal Friends Alliance has a strong focus on providing community resources to keep animals in their homes. They provide subsidized cost spay/neuter, a kibble supply program, and a community cat program. Their work with TNR has seen success in reducing the volume of cats in Fort Collins and has now expanded to cover a wider range around Northern Colorado and into Wyoming and Nebraska. Mariah's passion is fostering feral kittens and she shares with Stacy some tips for successful feral fostering and how organizations can support their fosters and adopters. Some of her tips include separating feral kittens from their littermates and using play as a tool for giving confidence to kittens. She also notes it's important to prepare and support both fosters and adopters for potentially less socialized kittens, encouraging fosters to view the kittens through the lens of an adopter and making sure to be honest with adopters about what to expect. If you have questions for Mariah, you can reach her at [email protected]. You can find out more about Animal Friends Alliance on their website.