The Marin Humane Society is a force to be reckoned with in the county - largely because of Diane Allevato, the agency's longtime executive director.

Allevato has been a fierce advocate of animal rights from the moment she took over on Oct. 1, 1980.

Allevato, 60, will step down this summer as head of the Marin Humane Society.

Two years ago, Allevato told the IJ: "We don't avoid controversy. We don't go looking for it, but we don't avoid it."

That was a rare moment of understatement for Allevato.

We have not always agreed with her tactics over the years, but her passion for her chosen field has always been impressive. We also have appreciated her ability to make news - often resulting in national headlines.

"Animals do not speak for themselves and you have to speak with force," she said this week.

She certainly has made herself heard forcefully over the years. She has crossed horns with West Marin dairy ranchers, local civic service groups over elephants with traveling circuses and the Marin County Fair over popular pony rides.

The Marin Humane Society even went after a local grocery store, claiming mistreatment when customers were sent home with live lobsters in plastic bags.

Her hard-nosed approach to defending the rights of animals often has generated controversy, but her love for animals and their welfare also has touched a nerve in Marin.

She has built the 100-year-old Marin Humane Society into an empire with more than 800 volunteers and more than 70 staff members. In addition to its advocacy role, the society, which is an independent nonprofit, has a contract to handle animal control services for Marin County.

The group's impressive facility in Novato includes an education center, an animal training pavilion, a rehabilitation facility for dogs and cats and behavior and training programs in a wing built in 2002.

Under Allevato, the society has pushed foster care for animals, surgical treatments, a microchip identification program and public education and outreach. She also has greatly increased spay and neuter programs.

The results have been impressive. When she took over in 1980, the society was handling more than 16,000 animals a year. That is down to fewer than 4,000 cats and dogs because of education and fewer births, freeing up more space to deal with sick animals.

The microchip program means that 85 percent of lost dogs in Marin are reunited with their owners, four times the national average. A quarter of lost cats are returned to their owners; the national average is 3 percent.

Allevato has stepped on some toes over the years, but she also has helped build the Marin Humane Society into an effective and influential organization, one that has been a role model in many ways for other humane societies.

The Novato resident will retire this summer, but she plans to stay in Marin and remain active with animal issues. We would expect nothing less.

And if her animal friends could speak for themselves, they no doubt would tell Diane Allevato, "Thank you."

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