Shelter’s Edge
About Pune Dracker
- Biography
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Pune Dracker
Director, Content & Editorial Services
I knew I wanted to be a voice for animals with my first article for ASPCA Animal Watch—“Born to be Wild?: To spay and release feral cats or not, that is only part of the question.” (Wow, things sure have changed since 1993, when TNR was still a relatively new concept.) Since then I’ve written and edited thousands of animal-related articles for adults and children; launched and written content for the ASPCA’s award-winning children’s website, ASPCA Animaland; grew ASPCA News Alert from a couple thousand subscribers in 2000 to more than a million today; managed content on ASPCA.org; helped launch the ASPCA’s text messaging program and, most importantly, helped get people to stop calling animals Its.
What gives me hope: Kids who want to be animal cops, the emerging field of shelter medicine and forensic vets whose evidence can help send animal abusers to jail
What gets my goat: The inherent disadvantage cats have of showing off their best selves in shelters
Important idea I want to promote: “If you’re bored/struggling writing it, they’re gonna be bored/struggling reading it,” and the concept of serious play in regards to online storytelling
Owned by: Siamese shelter alums Bing and Derrick, 4 albino convict cichlids