Rescue Ends Euthanasia in Dogs

Herro rolled the dice with her innovative plan in 1989, after inspiration struck unexpectedly. She found a Pit Bull wandering the freeway, apparently fallen from the back of a pickup truck.

"I decided to take it to a local pound, and when I saw the conditions, I thought something should be done," she said.

Although Herro knew little about spaying and neutering then "I think I called it 'birth control'," she said, laughing  she figured they were the keys to reducing the number of homeless cats and dogs at the pound.

She stayed up all night pounding out a simple proposal suggesting the city implement an aggressive spay/neuter program to reduce the stray population, then shot it off to the city council. Someone there thought she had a point.

"It fell into the right hands," Herro said.

Her plan became reality through approval by the city council and Mayor Jan Jones and a $500,000 donation from William Bennett, who owns the Sahara Hotel & Casino. From that point, Herro, then semi-retired, found herself at the helm of the Animal Foundation.

The spay/neuter clinic opened to enthusiastic response and soon was joined by a no-kill private shelter that accepted overruns from the city pound as well as walk-ins. In November 1995, Herro's organization won the city contract and has been working in that role ever since, while continuing with the spay/neuter clinic and implementing dynamic plans to place animals in new homes.

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