THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED RAISE MORE MONEY FOR THE MEDICAL TREATMENT OF RESCUE PETS THAN EVER BEFORE

1. 2017 Waggy Award recipient: TIPPI HEDREN
Film star and animal activist TIPPI HEDREN founded The Roar Foundation in 1983 which supports The Shambala Preserve in Acton, CA. The Preserve has given sanctuary and urgent medical care to over 235 exotic felines, all of which have come to the Preserve after confiscation by authorities, such as California Fish and Game, U.S. Department of Agriculture, SPCA, and Humane Societies. TIPPI works tirelessly to educate the public about exotic felines and is an unrelenting force against their buying, selling, breeding, or trading.

2. 2017 Waggy Award recipient: MOBY
MOBY is an international music superstar who works closely with a variety of different charities, including the Humane Society and Mercy for Animals. He owns and runs “little pine,” an organic vegan restaurant in Silver Lake, CA. 100% of little pine’s proceeds go to animal welfare organizations. Moby has written, “Our reliance on animal agriculture is literally killing us and ruining our climate and our planet.” He agrees with Albert Einstein who said, “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”

3. HOST and previous WAGGY AWARD RECIPIENT JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL is an award-winning television anchor (CNN, HLN), author (iWant, Addict Nation, Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias), and online journalist (janeUnchained.com). On television and outside of it, Jane has also has dedicated her time and resources to various charitable and humane causes. She is well known for her animal rights advocacy and is a vegan and an environmentalist. In July 2009, Farm Animal Rights Movement awarded Jane the Celebrity Animal Activist Award. While working at Celebrity Justice, her reporting on animal cruelty earned that show Genesis Awards from the Humane Society of the United States. She earned additional Genesis Awards for her show Issues in 2010. PETA awarded her their “Movers and Shakers Award” in 2012.

4. Celebrity rescue pets were in attendance.

5. The undeniable glamour of the Taglyan Ballroom

6. Presenter GABRIELA COWPERTHWAITE, the producer and director of the critically acclaimed CNN documentary, Blackfish.

7. 2017 Waggy Award recipient: Karma Rescue’s PAWS FOR LIFE
The prison program, PAWS FOR LIFE, was developed by the Los Angeles-based non-profit Karma Rescue, and gives shelter dogs an opportunity to become “Canine Good Citizens,” an American Kennel Club designation that makes it easier for them to get adopted. PAWS FOR LIFE brings dogs to live with—and be trained by—inmates serving life-term sentences at California State prisons. Once dogs graduate from the 12-week training period, Karma Rescue places them in forever homes.

8. Actor, writer and professional imp, LESLIE JORDAN presents an award.

9. The remarkable BELLA OF PUG NATION. A happy dog with an inspiring story, and just one of the pets we helped this year.

10. Setting the stage for a great awards show.

The photos above were provided by David Alli of Don’t Blink Photography, Michael Douglass Photography, and Rodin Eckenroth of Getty Images.

Want to see more? Check out many more photos here.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored the event, the contributors who came to enjoy the event, and especially to our 2016 Waggy Award recipients for all their efforts on behalf of animal welfare.

1. CO-HOST CLIVE PEARSE is a familiar face to American television audiences of HGTV, America’s leader in home and lifestyle television programming. Clive is best known as the host of Designed To Sell and the network’s hit reality series Design Star. He also hosted the live HGTV Dream Home Giveaway shows. Clive is actively involved with animal welfare and volunteers time with Academy Award nominee, Linda Blair, as a Board Member of her World Heart Foundation. He also works closely with the rescue group, Hounds Of Hope.

2. CO-HOST LISA LAPORTA is widely recognized by millions from her considerable visibility through a string of successful HGTV shows including, Designing for the Sexes, Designer’s Challenge, Bang for Your Buck, Showdown, and First Time Design. For over 10 years, Lisa has been entering people’s lives and helping them deal with the toughest design dilemmas. Lisa’s animal companion, a miniature Golden Doodle named Pico, was found by her at an HGTV shoot on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. She was never able to locate his owners, but he’s lived with her happily ever after.

3. WAGGY AWARD RECIPIENT GRAHAM BLOEM is the founder of Shelter to Soldier, a 501c3 non-profit organization that rescues dogs from an otherwise uncertain future in local shelters and trains them to become psychiatric service dogs for post-9/11 combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and/or other injuries associated with traumatic service experience. Every day, 22 U.S. veterans and one active duty service member are lost to suicide. In an effort to address this international problem, Graham (who also serves as Training Director) and his team use their talents to train rescued service dogs to support his or her veteran handler.

4. WAGGY AWARD RECIPIENT JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL is an award-winning television anchor (CNN, HLN), author (iWant, Addict Nation, Exposed: The Secret Life of Jodi Arias), and online journalist (janeUnchained.com). On television and outside of it, Jane has also has dedicated her time and resources to various charitable and humane causes. She is well known for her animal rights advocacy and is a vegan and an environmentalist. In July 2009, Farm Animal Rights Movement awarded Jane the Celebrity Animal Activist Award. While working at Celebrity Justice, her reporting on animal cruelty earned that show Genesis Awards from the Humane Society of the United States. She earned additional Genesis Awards for her show Issues in 2010. PETA awarded her their “Movers and Shakers Award” in 2012.

5. WAGGY AWARD RECIPIENT MATT DABABNEH was elected to the State Assembly in 2013. He represents Greater Los Angeles’s 45th District, which includes Calabasas, Encino, and Sherman Oaks (among others). Matt authored the Research Animal Adoption Bill (AB 147) in 2015. The bill, signed into law in October, requires that California research laboratories receiving tax-payer funding offer healthy dogs and cats — no longer needed for research purposes—to non-profit animal rescue organizations. Said Matt: “California — a leader in animal welfare legislation — has passed a common-sense and compassionate law to ensure that research animals are given a second chance at life. No longer will it be acceptable to euthanize adoptable dogs and cats.”

6. PRESENTER LINDA BLAIR is an Academy Award-nominated actress (The Exorcist), an author (Going Vegan), and an animal welfare activist (Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation).

7. PRESENTER HARVEY LEVIN is a prolific TV producer (The People’s Court, Celebrity Justice), lawyer, legal analyst, and reporter. He is the founder of celebrity news website, TMZ.

8. PRESENTER MONIQUE MADRID is the creator and host of Two Girls One Pup, a pet-friendly comedy experience designated by L.A. Weekly as one of the “10 Best New Stand-Up Shows in L.A.”

9. PRESENTER MITCH O’FARRELL was elected to office in 2013 to succeed Los Angeles’s now Mayor Eric Garcetti as the Councilmember of the 13th district. He received a Waggy Award in 2014.

SEE MORE GREAT PHOTOS FROM THE 2016 AWARDS, THE 2015 AWARDS, AND THE 2014 AWARDS: Photographer David Alli caught it all. Were you there?

PREVIOUS WAGGY AWARDS

Our annual event honors innovators and leaders who have made a difference in animal welfare in the local community and around the world.

Images above from the 2015 Waggy Awards — 1: Cassandra Peterson hosted. 2: Recipient Linda Blair and Gomez. 3: Who can resist a cuddle? 4: Recipient, Congressman Adam Schiff. 5: Tailwaggers founder Todd Warner and Lana Parrilla. 6: Celebrity hunting on the step and repeat. 7: Former NFL star Owen Pochman and board member Jeff Yarbrough. 8: The super-glam Taglyan Ballroom. 9: Yes, there were dogs to snuggle with. From the 2014 Waggy Awards ceremony — 10: The poster for the award-winning film, Blackfish. 11: Recipients Manuel Oteyza and Gabriella Cowperthwaite, the producer and director of the critically acclaimed CNN documentary, Blackfish. 12: Recipient Los Angeles City Council member Mitch O’Farrell. 13: Founder of Lifeline 4 Paws, recipient Chris Hogan. 14: Board members Jeff Yarbrough, Emma Parker Bowles, Todd Warner, Dr. Liz Friedman, and Ann Marie Scott. 15. The boys in the band.