Scotlund Haisley

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Scotlund Haisley
President & Founder
Animal Rescue Corps

Scotlund Haisley has been a leader in the animal protection field for twenty-five years. His experience and expertise is in operational and emergency management and administration, fundraising, innovative shelter design, and technical animal rescue, handling, and care.

On January 11, 2011, Haisley launched Animal Rescue Corps (ARC), a national nonprofit whose mission is to end animal suffering through direct and compassionate action and to inspire the highest ethical standards of humanity towards animals. ARC’s focus is assisting law enforcement and other government agencies across North America with situations of animal suffering, such as cruelty cases and natural disasters, that are beyond the community’s means to address with their own resources. ARC’s services also include assessments and consultations for other animal protection organizations and animal rescue training for volunteers, law enforcement, and animal care professionals.

Previously, Haisley led rescues as president of In Defense of Animals, most notably rescuing 55 monkeys and 118 beagles from a toxicology laboratory. As the senior director of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Animal Rescue Team, he traveled the globe to rescue an unprecedented number of animals from breeding mills, animal fighting operations, hoarding situations, the farming industry, other large-scale cruelty cases, and multiple natural disasters.

Before his position with The HSUS, Haisley led the Washington Animal Rescue League (WARL) in the District of Columbia for seven years. While at WARL, he conceptualized, designed, and raised more than six million dollars for the massive renovation of its existing facility and ongoing expenses to build the world’s first cageless animal shelter, revolutionizing animal sheltering, setting global humane standards, and tripling the number of adoptions. WARL drew the attention of the prosecuting attorney in the Michael Vick dogfighting case, who asked Haisley to care for and begin the rehabilitation process for 11 of the most abused dogs confiscated from Vick. Haisley also led rescue efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where he and his team spent six weeks in New Orleans rescuing more than one thousand animals.

Earlier in his career, Haisley was the captain of humane law enforcement for the Washington (D.C.) Humane Society and the Peninsula Humane Society in the San Francisco Bay area, and he was the shelter director for the Manhattan New York City Shelter. He also spent a year in India creating policies and operating philosophies for animal welfare groups in the country. Haisley was elected as a full-term board member of the Federation of Humane Societies in 2007, the Federation’s first year of incorporation. During his time on the board, Haisley acted as the chair of the Best Practices Committee. Haisley served on the Hill's Science Diet Shelter Advisory Board from 2005 to 2007 and has been an executive board member of the National Coalition on Violence Against Animals since 2012.

Haisley is also an accomplished painter and mixed media artist. His work, featuring subjects ranging from scenes of animal rescue to musicians and other public figures that have influenced his life, has appeared in exhibitions across North America.

Shorter version:

Scotlund Haisley is the President and Founder of Animal Rescue Corps, a national nonprofit that assists government agencies with cases of animal suffering that are beyond their means to address. Scotlund has led the rescue of thousands of animals from cruelty cases and natural disasters and is also an accomplished painter. To learn more about Scotlund and Animal Rescue Corps, visit www.animalrescuecorps.org.