THE BUSINESS OF SAVING ANIMALS W R I T T E N B Y: J U L I E M U R R AY
So, you decided to get a pet for yourself or your family. You have already made the responsible decision to “Adopt, Don’t Shop” and now you have to decide which shelter or rescue organization you want to visit. There are several choices here in the Lowcountry and you may think all of them are funded and run in much the same way. Upon doing my research for this article, I found out just how different one shelter can be from another –in terms of intake numbers, contributions, government funding and operating costs. No matter what, though, it is clear that the mission of each one is the same…to save animals and help them find their forever homes. We’ll give you the facts! The first thing you may want to consider is what “type” of shelter you want to visit. There are three main types found in the lowcountry: LI M I T E D IN TA K E This type of shelter has a finite capacity and cannot admit all animals. They are usually privately funded and most of their animals come from owner surrenders or are transferred from other,
Not all rescues and shelters are created or run equally... we’ve sifted through the data and here’s what we found in the Lowcountry.
more crowded shelters. Most do not euthanize adoptable animals, and each animal can stay at the shelter for as long as it takes them to be adopted. Because of this, with each animal that is considered for intake, a decision must be made whether or not they are considered “adoptable”. (ex. Pet Helpers) COUNT Y OR M UNICIPAL SHELTER These are typically open-intake, which means they take in animals from the general public or those seized by animal control agents on patrol. They are run by city or county governments and funded by tax dollars. Sadly, the funding they receive is frequently not enough for the number of animals they are tasked with caring for so often they pair up with non-profit organizations to help make up the difference. (ex. Berkeley Animal Center) NONP ROF IT- RUN P UBLIC SHELTER These shelters contract with a municipality to run adoption and animal care. These types of shelters
