The Future of Animal Welfare Depends on Working Together, Not Working Alone
The Future of Animal Welfare Depends on Working Together, Not Working Alone
Every animal welfare professional has experienced it.
A shelter is operating beyond capacity. Another organization a few miles away has available resources but little communication. A pet owner is preparing to surrender a beloved companion because they don’t know help exists. Volunteers are exhausted, staff are overwhelmed, and everyone feels like they’re carrying the weight of the community on their own.
It’s easy to believe these challenges are caused by limited funding or growing intake numbers. While those realities certainly play a role, they aren’t always the biggest obstacle.
Sometimes the greatest barrier to progress is the belief that we have to solve every problem ourselves.
During her conversation on the Top Dog Podcast, Kerri Burns, CEO of Santa Barbara Humane, shared how nearly three decades of experience—from policing and disaster response to leading one of California’s most innovative animal welfare organizations—has convinced her that collaboration is one of the most powerful tools the industry possesses. Her journey demonstrates that when organizations replace competition with cooperation, extraordinary things become possible.
The Best Leaders Never Stop Learning
Kerri’s career didn’t begin inside an animal shelter.
She worked in social services, served as a police officer, wrote grants for public health programs, and eventually joined PetSmart Charities, where she reviewed funding requests from animal welfare organizations across North America. Looking back, those experiences may seem unrelated, but each one helped prepare her for the leadership role she holds today.
Rather than following a straight career path, Kerri allowed each opportunity to teach her something new. Law enforcement strengthened her ability to remain calm during emergencies. Grant writing exposed her to innovative programs happening across the country. Counseling studies deepened her understanding of human behavior and communication.
That willingness to keep learning eventually became one of her greatest leadership strengths.
She believes one of the biggest mistakes leaders make is assuming they already have the answers.
“I think in animal welfare, I see a lot of people… ‘I’ve got this. I know what I’m doing. I’ve been here before.’ It seems to come from ego and not a space of being open and learning.”
For Kerri, effective leadership isn’t about proving you’re the smartest person in the room. It’s about remaining curious enough to keep asking questions, listening to others, and adapting when new ideas emerge.
Disaster Response Changed Her Perspective on Community
A turning point in Kerri’s career came unexpectedly.
While working at PetSmart Charities, a devastating wildfire broke out in Arizona. Because of her background in law enforcement and emergency response, she quickly organized supplies, coordinated logistics, and soon found herself behind active fire lines helping rescue animals.
Over the next decade, disaster response became a defining part of her career. She worked during Hurricane Katrina, major wildfires, floods, and large-scale animal rescue operations throughout the United States and abroad.
What stayed with her wasn’t only the devastation.
It was what happened afterward.
Families who had lost nearly everything often experienced overwhelming relief the moment they were reunited with their pets. Entire communities—regardless of political beliefs, income levels, or backgrounds—came together with a shared purpose simply because animals needed help.
Those moments reinforced something Kerri still believes today.
Animals have an extraordinary ability to unite people.
“Animals have so much more to teach us than we’ll ever learn in our lifetime.”
That lesson continues to shape how she approaches leadership, partnerships, and community engagement.
Every Conversation Is an Opportunity to Keep a Family Together
Many organizations measure success by adoption numbers or live release rates.
Santa Barbara Humane certainly celebrates those milestones, but Kerri believes some of the most meaningful victories happen before an animal ever enters the shelter.
When someone arrives intending to surrender a pet, her team doesn’t immediately begin paperwork.
Instead, they begin a conversation.
What problem is the family experiencing?
Is it behavior?
Housing?
Medical care?
Training?
Access to affordable resources?
By spending twenty or thirty minutes listening instead of rushing through the intake process, staff often uncover solutions that allow pets to remain with the families who already love them.
The results have been remarkable.
Kerri shared that these conversations help divert approximately 30 to 40 percent of potential shelter intakes by connecting owners with training, resources, or community support instead of immediately accepting the animal into the shelter.
It’s an approach that requires patience, but it also reflects a larger shift happening throughout animal welfare.
Rather than asking, “How quickly can we process this surrender?” organizations are increasingly asking, “How can we help this family succeed?”
Sometimes the best way to save an animal’s life is to keep them exactly where they already belong.
Strong Organizations Build Strong Communities
Under Kerri’s leadership, Santa Barbara Humane has expanded far beyond traditional shelter operations.
What once performed only a handful of spay and neuter surgeries each day now completes close to one hundred. The organization has significantly expanded adoptions, developed a veterinary training hospital, welcomed students from around the world, and regularly transfers animals from overcrowded shelters in neighboring communities.
Those accomplishments didn’t happen because the organization simply worked harder.
They happened because the team kept asking one important question:
“Why not?”
When someone proposes a new idea, Kerri’s first response isn’t to explain why it won’t work.
Instead, she encourages experimentation.
If an idea succeeds, the organization grows.
If it doesn’t, valuable lessons are learned.
That mindset has helped create a culture where innovation feels safe rather than risky—a quality increasingly important for organizations navigating rapidly changing community needs.
Collaboration Is the Future of Animal Welfare
Perhaps the strongest message throughout Kerri’s interview is her belief that the animal welfare community has spent far too much time working against itself.
Too often, organizations view neighboring shelters as competitors rather than collaborators. Historical disagreements, personality conflicts, and organizational pride can prevent meaningful partnerships from developing.
Kerri believes the animals deserve better.
“We have failed ourselves by bringing in our ego and bringing in those types of non-collaborative efforts.”
She points out that communities differ dramatically across the country. What works in one shelter may not work somewhere else, but that shouldn’t prevent organizations from learning from one another.
Sharing ideas.
Sharing resources.
Sharing successes.
These are the practices that move the profession forward.
Animals don’t care which logo appears on the building helping them.
They simply need people willing to work together.
Leadership Is About Building People
Although Kerri oversees a large organization, she remains deeply committed to supporting individual employees.
She makes a point of walking through the shelter every day, checking in with staff members, asking how they’re doing, and listening to their ideas.
More importantly, she asks a question many leaders forget to ask:
“How can I help you do your job better?”
Whether someone dreams of becoming a veterinary technician, dog trainer, or future executive, Kerri believes organizations should actively help employees grow into those roles.
Leadership isn’t about telling people what to do.
It’s about creating opportunities for them to become more than they thought possible.
That philosophy extends to her vision for the entire industry.
If more leaders invested in mentoring people instead of protecting territory, animal welfare would move forward much faster.
What This Means for Dooberteers
Kerri’s career reminds us that animal welfare has never been just about animals.
It’s about people learning to work together.
It’s about listening before reacting.
It’s about helping families stay together whenever possible.
And it’s about recognizing that compassion isn’t a limited resource—it grows when it’s shared.
Whether you’re fostering your first puppy, transporting animals across state lines, volunteering on weekends, or leading an organization, collaboration begins with a simple choice: seeing others as partners instead of competitors.
When communities embrace that mindset, everyone benefits—especially the animals.
Listen to the Full Episode
Want to hear Kerri Burns’ inspiring journey from disaster response to animal welfare leadership?
Watch on YouTube:
Listen for the audio versions:
If you’re passionate about helping animals, join the Doobert community where volunteers, fosters, transporters, and animal organizations work together to save lives every day.
Visit Doobert.com to get involved, volunteer, foster, or transport animals in need.
And don’t forget to subscribe to the Top Dog Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode.