Saving the Strays: How Petfinder.com founder Betsy Saul discovered her calling

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Saving the Strays

How Petfinder.com founder Betsy Saul discovered her calling



http://www.guideposts.com/story/petfinder-animal-adoption?

By Betsy Saul, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

You’ve heard of Petfinder.com—a website that helps shelters and rescue groups find loving homes for animals?

Maybe you even found your own pet through the site—we’ve facilitated more than 13 million adoptions.

But did you know Petfinder started as an inspiration that came out of the blue on the way to a New Year’s dinner?

As a kid I’d volunteered with a rescue group, but as an adult, I’d turned to a career in natural resources. Until that night, I had no idea I was about to get involved in pet adoption again.

Back in 1995 Google wasn’t a verb and Facebook didn’t exist. The world wide web was more of a wild world.

My husband, Jared, and I weren’t dot-commers. He was beginning his medical residency and I worked for New Jersey’s urban forestry. But we were intrigued by the sense that anything was possible on the web. We just didn’t think it was being used effectively.

The question was, what would benefit from its fantastic search capabilities? That’s what we were discussing in the car that night on the way to meet friends for dinner. The site we were dreaming of would be searchable, sortable and colorful.

We tossed around ideas. Maybe real estate listings? But that didn’t seem right. If we were going to try to use some of this new digital power, it should be worthwhile. “The ultimate website would harness technology for a socially responsible cause,” Jared said.

I nodded. We fell silent. What cause needed our help? Then we both said, in unison, “What about animal shelters?”

I got goose bumps when I thought of all the lives we could save. What were the chances the same inspiration would strike us at the same instant?

Sure, we loved animals and I’d “rescued” them when I was a kid (like the snake I found in the backyard and convinced my parents to let me keep), but now my focus was on planting trees and building green spaces in cities and Jared’s was on healing the sick. We didn’t even have a pet. Yet I knew every year, millions of abandoned pets—healthy, loving animals who wanted only for a home—were killed.

We couldn’t wait to tell our friends our idea. They volunteered to help.

Jared and I worked on Petfinder.com—that’s what we named it—whenever we weren’t at our jobs. He did the programming and I designed the site. Our friends helped spread the word to shelters.

[shireen]

1. wonderful site!

During Katrina, they played an important role in reuniting pets and their people.

[Mythsaje]

2. Anyone who has worked in rescue greatly admires the work they've done...

Or should, at least.

[alstephenson]

3. Good work, Betsy!

[petersjo02]

4. Little dog sitting right here beside me is one

I found on petfinder.com. We found and adopted him last winter after our previous shelter dog (in Milan, IL, died of an awful autoimmune disease. I enjoy going to petfinder to see what's up. What a great opportunity for networking on behalf of our beloved pets.

[sandnsea]

5. Sold to Discovery Communications for $35 million

in 2006. Good for her.

http://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services-miscellaneous-business/4788728-1.html

[Amerigo Vespucci]

6. Yes, especially because...

...her initial criteria was "who would benefit?"

Life is funny. While the greedy and self-serving do still profit in our world, every once in a while someone with the brains and the heart and the resources thinks of others first. This is one of those stories, and the payday at the end of it was well-deserved and well-earned.

[MichellesBFF]

7. I love that site

Found three of my kitties on it, all purebred Himalayans. Good on her, that's a great story, and I'd like to personally
thank her for helping us find 3 wonderful cats.