Baseball legend Tony La Russa's true passion: animal rescue
Thursday February 18th, 2010
When the time comes to memorialize Tony La Russa, they'll say he's one of the greats. He leads a team of talented professionals--some of the best around--and to many, he's a hero. I just hope that history won't forget his contributions to the world of baseball as well.
You see, Tony La Russa is a true animal advocate. In addition to managing the St. Louis Cardinals, he founded and heads Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF)--one of the most successful animal shelters in the country. And if you think he's just some wealthy sports figure who threw money at cause and slapped his name on a building, you're sadly mistaken.
Listen to the Road to Rescue interview with ARF founder Tony La Russa on Animal Radio Network.
Rescue dogs: a view from inside
In the off-season, he's at ARF nearly every day, and he and his wife Elaine--who's he quick to credit with so much of ARF's success--have envisioned and brought to fruition some of the most innovative developments in animal sheltering.
Inspiration into reality
If the story were a Hollywood movie, they'd say it was too sweet to be believeable. A feral cat living under a baseball stadium wanders out into the middle of play one evening. The team manager wants to turn the cat over to a municipal shelter, but grows concerned she'll be put down when he learns that space there is so limited. So, he starts his own no-kill animal shelter.
Sure, that's a simplified version, but that feral cat (later christened Evie, after Oakland As team owner Evie Haas) was truly the inspiration for La Russa's founding of ARF in 1990. It was hardly, however, La Russa's first foray into the world of animal welfare. For years, both he and his wife have actively advocated on behalf of animals, traveling to shelters around the country helping raise money and awareness. And they've both been vegetarians since 1977, a rarity, if not complete anomaly, in the world of professional sports.
Animals rescuing people
Though ARF in name is an animal shelter--a place to adopt a cat or dog--to call it that only paints a small part of the picture. It's more like a community center with classrooms, a summer camp, and a spay/neuter clinic. You can even hold your child's birthday party there. What's more, the campus is a place one actually wants to spend time. The facilities are gorgeous with clean warm condos for the animals and acres of beautiful walking trails.
And while ARF's mission is about rescuing as many companion animals as they can, they've developed an entire curriculum devoted to "animals rescuing people." Called People Connect, this set of programs was designed to tap that innate comfort--and sheer joy--animals elicit and channel that directly to people in nursing homes, schools, and rehabilitation centers.
Clearly, La Russa's spirit is the driving force behind the innovation and success of ARF. When I ask him whether he's more passionate about baseball or about animals, he tells me it's not even close. "I spend eight months out of the year doing baseball, twelve months doing ARF," he says. "Our family, myself - we choose this passion."
I have to admit I don't watch a lot of professional sports, and before our interview, I only had the vaguest notion of who Tony La Russa is. But I can tell you that from here on out I don't care who La Russa is managing, I'll always enthusiastically be rooting for his team. Because clearly, he's constantly going to bat for mine.
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cCan't say I'm a big St Louis Cardinals fan but after reading this I will always be a Tony LaRussa fan. 4 months ago by Anonymous |
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WOW! I not only love Tony 'cos he's manager of my husband's favorite baseball team (yes my hubby was born in St Louis) but now I get to REALLY love him for having the same passion as me! God bless you Tony and Family! God bless ARF and All passionate Animal Lovers! xo xo 4 months ago by Anonymous |
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If you own a dog you should love this and if not then you may think about adoption in a different way you might have ever given thought to it before because now guess what when you have a breed how cool would it be to press "run the dogs" and your meetup dog park has all new people with the same breed so they get to see a new environment one of wow look same as me and you guys speaking about the breed and who knows from there and the thing is no one has to know you got the dog especially for meeting because you cannot tell one way or the other so all is cool and not like , oh ....he or she just got that dog because ya know what when you ADOPT the dog could be ya know 8 months to a few yrs. housetrained full of love me all the time nurturing and with flying being such a PITA local Fun is in VOGUE . & one of those techniques plays right into the hands of , you guessed it ...using www.dogrunclub.com See how it all works together ? Come on people ......this is the best thing since sliced bread ......Feel it ? Sense it ? Imagine the videos from the phone of 20 of any breed together ? having picnics with "strangers" who may have also adopted .....I mean the possibilites are endless for saving dogs and gaining real friendships because DOGS TO THAT ! SPEED DATING FOR DOGS ~ In order for this free web site to work I have to have all dog owners register ......Then later on after I get 20000 people I will release the iphone app for a slim $5 .....and 10% or .50cents will be donated to various DOG CAUSES one of which will be Service Dog Training so if your connected to those type schools and would like to inform them to contact me it would be worth there while due to this expanding worldwide as it should and will . I will also if as successful as I think this will be donate to adoption techniques perhaps no one has heard of or tried yet as well as your own causes if it makes sense. Try www.dogrunclub.com You have your zip code , a park, hit "run the dogs" where an email goes to other owners , & you meet USA & CANADA --*FREE TO JOIN*-In order for this to catch on you " have to join the site" then no one has to pay for meetup or "club membership", what is this a golf course ? I mean we want to get our same breeds together because we favor whatever breed we own , right ? When I have enough people freely joined on the web site I will release an iphone app called dog run and 10% will go to shelters and Service Dog Trainers in the USA and Canada so sign up ~ SPEED DATING FOR DOGS!~ I am hitting all stations full blast .......You have to tell your DOG people that if they join in the long run it will come back to charity not all but... some so I need volume to join .......sooner the better . over 1 year ago by Anonymous |
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Very refreshing that Tony and Elanie La Russa care so much for animals and lead by example! I volunteer for Heidi's Legacy Dog Rescue in Florida doing transport for dogs in kill shelters to foster homes. All rescue groups need more exposure, donations, volunteers and contributors to build new shelters where these animals can be rescued from kill shelters instead of being euthanized within days of arrival. We need celebrities like Tony to bring light to the plight of animals who have no chance of survival in kill shelters.Perhaps someone will be inspired by his story. Lea Elise Swartz - Heidi's Legacy Volunteer www.heidislegacydogrescue.com over 2 years ago by Anonymous |
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