Tucson Animal Shelter Director Honored With National Award

TUCSON, AZ — A Tucson-area animal shelter director was honored with a national award for her life-saving work.

Kristen Hassen, the director of the city-sponsored Pima Animal Care Center, is the 2020 winner of the Maddie Hero Award from Maddie's Fund, a national nonprofit.

“Kristen is a hands-on practitioner, problem solver and, she recognizes the value of bringing great people together to get things done.” Mary Ippoliti-Smith of the Maddie’s Fund Executive Leadership Team said in a statement. “She has also become a mentor for animal welfare colleagues and challenges them to be revolutionary changemakers for good.”

The award is the perfect send-off for Hassen, who is leaving her post Nov. 1 for a new job in Texas leading American Pets Alive. She has been with the Pima care center for three-and-a-half years and told Patch that the award was a welcome surprise.

"You see animal cruelty and neglect, you see people who just can't afford to keep their beloved pet," she said. "Some days you feel like you just can't do it anymore, and on days like this, you realize that the work that we've done there is really a beacon of hope to so many other people working in shelters."

The award also comes with a $10,000 grant, which Hassen said she hopes will go towards toys, treats and harnesses for the dogs, and enrichment items for the cats at the shelter — things they don't have any funding for at the moment.

She said Tucson is a particularly difficult place to run a shelter because the warmer weather allows animals to breed more, overwhelming the shelters. But the city has seen things turn around in recent years. Hassen said the city used to euthanize 15,000 shelter animals per year about 10 years ago. Last year, fewer than 1,000 were euthanized for the first time ever.

Hassen and her team have developed innovative programs to help get animals into homes faster, such as their pet support call center, a data-driven approach and community outreach efforts. The Pima Animal Care Center is now one of the most life-saving shelters in the country.

"Tucson is a really difficult place to save lives because there's just a high intake of animals," she said. "And the fact that the whole community came together to to say that animals lives are important, and that we were able to achieve results, I'm really proud and excited that's been recognized."