Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Brandon and Hayley Beane help adoptable animals find forever homes, one Bills TD at a time.
Bills GM Brandon Beane and his wife, Hayley, are giving all animal lovers a reason to root for the Bills when they take on the Bengals in the Divisional Round at home this weekend. For each touchdown the Bills score at home, the Beanes donate the adoption fee to help an animal land in a loving forever home.
Beane, who took over as the Bills’ general manager in 2017, and Hayley started this initiative — dubbed Bills Muttfia — with the SPCA serving Erie County, N.Y., in 2020. The Beanes have paid the adoption fees for approximately 120 animals over the past three seasons.
It’s not just dogs and cats who are benefiting from the Beanes’ generosity. Birds, small animals like hamsters and guinea pigs, reptiles, and even farm animals have found their way to new homes thanks to the Bills Muttfia. Dog adoption fees are generally $250, cats are typically $150, and the rest of the animals vary, according to Mrs. Beane.
Bills Muttfia, in addition to being a fun play on the Bills Mafia, is an extension of a program former Bills kicker Steven Hauschka and his wife, Lindsey, facilitated during his time in Buffalo called HauschPups where they’d donate an adoption fee for each field goal Hauschka made at New Era Field.
“So when our previous kicker was here, Hauschka, he and his wife had just started a program called HauschPups. Each field goal at a home game resulted in them paying for the adoption fee of a dog at the SPCA Serving Erie County,” Hayley Beane told SB Nation. “When he was released from the team, I had gone to lunch with his wife Lindsey. We were friends. She expressed to me how she was concerned that the program she had started was now going to end and I said no way! So with her blessing, I took it over, renamed it and made it for all animals. So for each touchdown at a home game, we pay the adoption fee of an animal at the SPCA Serving Erie County. We call them our draft picks. The new Bills Muttfia draft picks are announced on Monday at 11 a.m. ET.”
You can keep up with all of the Bills Muttfia draft picks on Mrs. Beane’s Twitter page.
The Beanes even ended up with a Bills Muttfia draft pick of their own: A guinea pig named Sherman.
In addition to Sherman the rescued guinea pig, the Beanes have two rescue pups of their own, Bodie and Peanut.
“I have always loved animals. Brandon and I have owned many rescue animals in our marriage,” Mrs. Beane said. “I prefer rescuing and adopting because our shelters are so full. If you go and visit a shelter, it makes you sad to see all of those sweet faces just wanting their forever homes.”
The Bills scored 26 touchdowns at home this regular season, so 26 animals landed in loving homes, and just as importantly, created shelter space for more animals in need. Four more pets will go to their forever homes after the Bills’ Wild Card win, and we’ll see what the rest of the playoffs hold for the Bills and the Bills Muttfia.
