Betsy Banks Saul, co-founder of Petfinder.com, harnessed the power of the Internet in 1996 with a vision to change the way the public views shelter pets and ensure no pet is euthanized for lack of a good home. As the largest database of adoptable pets, Petfinder is a unifying force for homeless pets online, making them easier to find (and adopt), and is responsible for having found homes for over 17 million pets. Additionally, Betsy's initiative allowed smaller adoption groups without a physical shelter a free way to get the word out about their organizations. Betsy was named by Woman's Day magazine as one of fifty "Women Who Are Changing the World." She holds an advanced degree in forestry resources from Clemson University and serves on the boards of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs (bringing about non-surgical solutions for sterilization), the Petfinder.com Foundation, and Asparity Business Solutions. She shares her life with 10 different species, ranging from box turtles to horses -- and humans.
What is your idea of perfect happiness? The little slice of time I sometimes find on a Saturday or Sunday morning when I know all 23 inhabitants of my farm are fed and feeling good and I get to spend a little time doing nothing but enjoying green grass below me and a blue sky above. Then, for just a little while, my mind empties and all the challenges of the world slip away so I can feel deliciously small and inconsequential! I suppose this is just a momentary fantasy of the real perfect happiness I hope for -- when love and respect rule everyone's hearts and minds.
If you could come back as a dog or a cat, which one would it be & why? For sure a cat! Because they are given so much independence and they are so primal. No! I want to be a dog! For their friendships and the way they play. Wait. I guess at heart I'm more like a dog but I really look up to the cat. I want to be a dog with a cat for a best friend.
What is your pets most treasured possession? Both Charlie and Jim treasure their beds. Jim-the-hound-dog was a community dog in Costa Rica when I found him. Since he discovered beds in our home, he has never not slept in a bed. Never. Not in the yard. Not in the back of the SUV. He stands and waits until he is presented with a bed. Once, during his first month in the US, I took him to PETCO. We passed nonchalantly by the rows of food, chews and bones, and even the hamsters without so much as a glance. But when we passed an end cap stacked high above our heads with kitty beds, he stopped. He did a double take. He looked up and down the height of the end cap display and his whole body shuddered. An endless supply of beds -- his idea of perfect happiness. Charlie the cat has a round basket that is half his size. He looks like a giant carrot-cake muffin with white icing when he stuffs his orange-and-white tabby body into this tiny wicker basket-- his head tucks in, and rolls of kitty belly poof over the edge.
Your proudest achievement so far? Over 17 million adoptions in 15 years and everything that encompasses. Building a website that is still doing what it does 15 years later is neat. The fact that we've saved so many pets and enhanced the lives of so many people -- making it just a little easier for them to make their own difference (everyone from adopters, rescuers, kennel workers, volunteers, and our own staff) -- that continues to overwhelm me. I'm so proud of how animal welfare has evolved in the last decade and feel so honored to have played a role in that.
Who are your heroes in real life? In the animal world: Feral cat colony guardians, kennel workers, serial foster parents. These folks are doing the dirty work, and a day never goes by that I don't give thanks for them. Also, anyone working to eliminate the inhumanity in factory farms. Other than that, I have to confess to having a real thing for Genghis Khan, ever since I read the book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. I'm in absolute awe of his ability to get disparate groups to buy into his vision.
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