In December 2009, the organization began to issue
Henry Bergh Leadership Awards to individuals making a difference to the no kill movement in the U.S. and internationally. Past recipients include: • 2009: • Bonney Brown, as executive director of the Nevada Humane Society, for raising
Washoe County, Nevada save rates to over 90%, despite high intake rates and an economic downturn; • Susanne Kogut, executive director of the Charlottesville SPCA, for creating a no kill community for three successive years in
Charlottesville, Virginia; • Ryan Clinton of FixAustin of
Austin, Texas, for successfully campaigning for a no kill city; • Mike Fry and Beth Nelson of Animal Wise Radio, for promoting the No Kill philosophy while running Animal Ark,
Minnesota's largest
no kill shelter; • Joan Schaffner, Director of the Animal Law Program at
George Washington University Law School, for hosting the No Kill Conference, and for a book on litigating animal law disputes; and • Claire Davis, President of the Coalition for a No Kill King County in
King County, Washington, for successfully advocating for reform to increase save rates at county animal shelters. • 2010: •
New York State Assembly member
Micah Kellner for efforts to reform state shelters and protect
First Amendment rights of volunteers; • Kelly Jedlicki of No Kill Mission, who advocated for
Shelby County, Kentucky to become Kentucky's first no kill community; • Jane Pierantozzi, who spearheaded the
Delaware Companion Animal Protection Act; • Mitch Schneider of
Washoe County Regional Animal Services in
Nevada, who led the county's 95% save rate despite an economic downturn; and • Robyn Kippenberger of the
Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for campaigning for
New Zealand to become a no kill nation. • 2011: • Ellen Jefferson of Austin Pets Alive in
Austin, Texas, who developed programs resulting in the largest U.S. city saving 90% of impounded animals; • Aimee Sadler of the Longmont Humane Society in
Longmont, Colorado, for saving 97% of dogs, and raising expectations of dogs that can be saved through behavior training, including maligned
pit bull breeds; • Peter Masloch of No Kill Allegany County in
Allegany County, Maryland, for advocating to transform a shelter that was saving only 15% of animals to saving 94%; and • Michael Kitkoski of
Rockwall, Texas, for successfully advocating for the city's resolution to become a no kill community. • 2012: • Denise Jones of Shelby County Animal Control for helping to create
Kentucky's first no kill community in
Shelby County, and ensuring it stayed no kill later when the status was at risk; • Karl Bailey of Seagoville Animal Control in
Seagoville, Texas, for ending the use of the
gas chamber and shelter killing; • Holly Henderson for high save rates at the Chippewa County Animal Shelter in
Chippewa County, Michigan; • Mike Fry for his work in the no kill Animal Ark in
Hastings, Minnesota, and the "Just One Day" campaign and • John Sibley of
New York City, for saving dogs with terminal illnesses in a hospice foster care program, and campaigning for shelter animal rights legislation in
New York state. • 2013: none announced. • 2017: Phil Peckinpaugh & Muncie Animal Care & Services. Under Phil Peckinpaugh's leadership, the vast majority of animals who come to Muncie Animal Shelter looking for a second chance and loving home roughly 97%—find it. That makes Muncie one of the safest communities for homeless animals in the United States. And it reached even higher by passing the strongest, most progressive animal protection law in the country, becoming the first American city to make it illegal to kill healthy and treatable animals. ==See also==