MIKE ARMS

President of Helen Woodward Animal Center

By Mike Arms
Photos courtesy of Helen Woodward Animal Center

When I was growing up, I didn’t know that I had a deep love for animals, but I always knew that I liked them and would never dream of harming one. Right out of school, I found myself in New York where an employment agency convinced me that I should start my career working at an animal organization.

During my first seven months, I found my work at this animal facility to be very stressful emotionally, and I was tormented mentally by what I was witnessing. At this time, back in the late 60s, this facility was killing 140,000 animals annually. There was no discrimination—it could’ve been the cutest 8-week-old puppy or kitten or the most magnificent Golden Retriever or Siamese cat—and the holding period was 24 hours. If no one adopted or claimed a dog or cat within that short time, the animal was killed. What’s more, the street gangs in New York City were going through a phase back then. To prove how tough and macho they were, to show that they had no emotion, they would torture animals. I would get what was left. I decided to leave animal welfare, so I gave my two weeks notice. But when I was down to my last six days, my life took a turn.

There was a dog who was hit by a car on Davidson Avenue in the Bronx, and, on being told there were no drivers available to get this little one, I decided to take the ambulance out and rescue this pet myself. When I arrived at the scene and stepped out of the ambulance, I saw a little guy who looked just like Benji from the movies. His back was curved backward so badly, I knew the car that hit him had snapped his back and left him there to die.

As I reached down for the little dog, three fellows came out of an apartment building doorway and asked, “What are you doing?”

I said, “It’s obvious. I’m taking this little one to the hospital; he’s dying.” They said, “You are not taking it anywhere.”

“Is this your dog?” I asked them.

They stated, “No, we have bets on how long it’s going to live.”

“You guys are sick,” I replied and then proceeded to reach down, lift the little one up, and cradle him in my arms. He was shaking so badly I thought he might fall. So I just looked down at him, and he was staring back into my eyes as if he were looking into my soul. He held me spellbound for those seconds in time, and his body relaxed as if to say “I feel safe now.” As I turned to reach for the ambulance door handle, the three thugs beat me from behind, stabbed me, and left me in the street.

That’s when I found the compassion that these animals have for us—a compassion that we as human beings will never be able to emulate. This little one had one more act of kindness to give to mankind, and he blessed me with it. This little one should not have been able to move by any shape of the imagination, yet he found a way to crawl to my side and lick me back to consciousness. He would not give up on me until I opened my eyes again. And when I opened my eyes and stared into his beautiful brown eyes one more time, I began to realize what had taken place. I lay in that street and I cried and I prayed, “Don’t do it, don’t take my life today. Give me another chance, and I will devote my life to animals.” On that day, I realized how emotionally tied I am to these magnificent creatures.

Since that moment, I have helped to facilitate the saving of more than 7 million animals. I run Helen Woodward Animal Center as a business, the business of saving lives. Helen Woodward Animal Center is really the facility of the future, of which animal organizations, when they grow up, should try to emulate. In this country, or anywhere in the world, you may find a pet adoption center, but that pet adoption center will not have a fully equipped equine hospital, and vice versa. Or you may find a pet boarding facility, but they will not have a therapeutic riding program for the physically and mentally challenged. You may find a therapeutic riding program, but they will not have a small animal hospital. And you may find a small animal hospital, but they will not have a large humane education center offering day camps to teach children how to share the Earth with animals. We are the only facility in the world to have all these, and other programs, under one umbrella.

During my career, as the architect of our international pet adoption program, I have worked with my team at Helen Woodward Animal Center to create an Animal Center Education Service. Animal welfare workers including Board Members, Executive Directors, Managers, and Volunteers, have come from all over the world to learn the business of saving lives. We offer these workshops, which are three days of very intense training, every other month. We cover everything from adoptions, marketing, fund raising, board roles and responsibilities, public relations, and more. Most importantly, these workshops are free. At Helen Woodward, we find the value of life to be priceless; therefore, we cannot put a price on our training.

I have been asked to speak and present workshops at places throughout the world, including the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the Caribbean Islands. I have assessed many organizations and conducted many board retreats. My fee for these services is always zero. Animal facilities are not my competition; they are my friends, and helping them enhance the animals’ quality of life is what the Center and I are all about.

One of my proudest achievements is when I partnered with the Iams pet food company to create the Iams Home 4 the Holidays program. When this program started in 1999, the 14 organizations in San Diego that were involved collectively adopted out 2,563 animals. Last year, during the holiday season of 2010, close to 4000 organizations worldwide worked together, and we successfully brought attention to and found homes for approximately 1.1 million pets.

Helen Woodward Animal Center is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of animals as well as enhancing the well being of humans. There are so many successful programs at the Center; I think your readers would love to read more about our wonderful AniMeals program that helps feed the animals of shut-ins, so they do not have to relinquish their pets. If we were to go into detail about all of our programs, we would consume the entire magazine.

I was asked, “Do I have any personal pets?” My answer is that three dogs and one cat allow me to live with them. Two of the dogs, a Shepherd mix and Pit mix were adopted from an animal facility on Long Island. Their names are Queenie and Preem. Wilson, our Yellow Lab, had been rejected from the Guide Dog foundation for having a bad heart, but our hearts were too big not to take him. Finally, our cat Baby, the true ruler of the house, was found half dead of upper respiratory infection on the street in Long Island.

We would ask The American Dog Magazine readers several things: 1.) If you’re planning to add a pet into your home, please visit your local animal shelter. You just might be surprised at how quickly you’ll fall in love. 2.) If you have some time on your hands, go down and volunteer at your local facility. 3.) If you should find that, at the end of the month you have a little extra money left in your budget, donate it to your local animal shelter to help them with their work. It was people that caused the sad animal situation in this country, and it will take people working together to fix it.

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