We’re pleased to announce the presenters of this year’s Northeast Ohio Feral Cat Summit:
Ayse Dunlap is Director of Operations at the Cleveland Animal Protective League. She has worked in animal welfare for 18 years and joined the Cleveland APL in 2006. Prior to her time in Cleveland, Ayse worked at Chicago’s Animal Care and Control, PAWS Chicago, and the Animal Humane Association of New Mexico. At the Cleveland APL, Ayse oversees operations, including admissions, adoptions, shelter wellness, veterinary, humane investigations, and TNR programs that assist more than 14,000 animals annually. She also oversees the APL’s newest program, project CARE (Community Animal Retention Effort), which is focused on creating proactive initiatives to help keep pets in their homes. Ayse currently has one dog and three cats. All three cats were foster failures. Maybe one day she will learn not to foster cats!
Gregory Willey has been working in animal welfare for over fifteen years. He began at the Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter in 2001, serving as the Volunteer Coordinator and Adoption Supervisor. In 2009, he accepted the Executive Director position at Friendship Animal Protective League. Over his seven years at the Lorain County shelter, he has increased the amount of companion animals the shelter helps from 1,100 to 3,200 rescued pets. In 2014, Friendship APL initiated a community cat program with the City of North Ridgeville. In 2015, a similar program began in Elyria. Well over 1,000 cats have been trapped and neutered since the start of the program. An equal number of cats have been taken out of the cold and re-homed. Greg has always believed that animal welfare is a collaborative effort. He is proud of the work he has done alongside other shelters and rescue groups throughout NE Ohio.
Hope Brustein is the Executive Director of Geauga Humane Society’s Rescue Village. August 2016 marked nine years since Hope came to direct Rescue Village. In that time, the shelter has doubled in size, made multiple partnerships, and served over 30,000 animals, including horses and farm animals. Her passion for animals started as a child growing up in New York City. She started out in animal welfare as the Director of the Ulster County SPCA, initiating the county’s first Feral Cat Summit—brining together the humane society and rescues to work together to build a large and effective TNR program. She oversaw a small (but mighty) free-standing low-cost spay-neuter clinic that fixed over 5,000 animals per year. At Rescue Village, Hope has grown a mosaic of low-cost, high-quality spay-neuter programs for the public. She is especially excited about Fix It In the Farmland, which partners with Amish and low-income county residents. She became a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator in 2015 and loves being part of a humane community.
Wendy Mirrotto is the Founder and Executive Director of Kitten Krazy, Inc. and Quick Fix Low-Cost Spay-Neuter Clinic. After moving to Medina County, Wendy saw an overwhelming need to provide help to cats in her new community, so in 2004 she started Kitten Krazy in an 8’x20’ section of her garage. After several years and many construction projects to handle the growth, it was s determined a spay-neuter clinic was necessary; therefore, Quick Fix was opened in 2011. To date, Kitten Krazy has adopted out more than 3,000 cats and kittens and Quick Fix has altered approximately 30,000 cats and dogs.
Toby Franks has been doing Trap-Neuter-Return for over 11 years and has TNRed over 850 feral cats. Toby is co-founder of the Together Initiative for Ohio’s Community Cats, serves on the Board of Directors for Spay-Neuter Ohio, and is a member of Alley Cat Allies Feral Friends Network. He is past Clinic Director for One of a Kind Pets Spay-Neuter Clinic and was the recipient of the HSUS Community Cat Hero Award and the Alley Cat Allies Hometown Hero Award, both in 2013.
Becky Steinmetz has been a volunteer at the Parma Animal Shelter since 2005. She acts as Lead Cat Adoption Counselor and specializes in getting hard-to-adopt cats into forever homes. She has done TNR since 2005, working with Parma residents to help feral cats. She is also a member of Alley Cat Allies Feral Friends Network.
Tabitha Kucera is a registered veterinary technician (RVT) and a feline behavior expert. She has been a RVT for over seven years and volunteers with a number of organizations, including Tails from the City, Willowick Community Cats, and Lasa Sanctuary. While gaining experience in the veterinary field and in rescue work, Tabitha began to notice behavioral patterns in cats, specifically community cats, that caused her alarm. She decided to learn all that she could about feline behavior and physiology in order to educate others. Tabitha has experience in lecturing on community cats, TNR, and feline behavior. She offers consulting for people experiencing behavioral issues with their cats. She has earned both fear-free and low-stress certification and is a member of Alley Cat Allies Feral Friends Network.
Dan Spehar holds a Master of Science degree in Animal Policy and Advocacy. Since 2013, he has conducted research on community cats and TNR. He is co-founder of the Together Initiative for Ohio’s Community Cats. Dan is a long-time animal advocate and has served for the past three years as a District Leader Volunteer for the Humane Society of the United States. He has been a practitioner of TNR for over 13 years. Dan lives in Parma with his wife and six cats (three of whom are formerly feral kittens).
Download Northeast Ohio Feral Cat Summit – Agenda, Presenters, and Noets page (PDF)