Quick Facts About PAL
- 501(c)3 non-profit org.
- all-volunteer group
- assists a lower Westchester county city shelter
- created in 1996
- adoption rates have gone from 35/ year before PAL, to 420/year
- shelter euthanasia now down to around 10%
- funds all advertising
- maintains website
- finds foster homes
- cover costs for medical care shelter cannot afford
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The Pet Adoption League (PAL) is an all-volunteer group that assists a small local City Animal Shelter in lower Westchester County, New York. We work to find permanent, loving homes for the many adoptable dogs and cats that come into the shelter each year.
Before PAL was created in 1996 this City Shelter destroyed most of the adult animals, and all of the puppies and kittens, it took in. In 1995 a total of only 35 animals were adopted. But after PAL was formed and started helping out in 1996, 250 animals were placed in homes that year. For the last three years, adoption rates have increased to an average of 420 a year. And best of all, the shelter's euthanasia rate has dropped to about 10%.
It has taken tremendous work on a number of fronts to turn the shelter's adoption and euthanasia numbers around with this degree of success. PAL volunteers are at the shelter every weekend assisting the paid staff and overseeing the adoptions of dogs and cats. We make sure all dogs are evaluated for temperment. Each weekend the group holds at least one 'Adoption Day' at a pet store in Westchester - these have been tremendously successful at increasing our adoptions and awareness of our organization.
Members of PAL make themselves available for adoption appointments during the week, and trips to the vet as needed. PAL funds all advertising of our animals and maintains a web site. The group also finds foster homes for animals that might otherwise die in a shelter environment. These include very ill animals that require medication, orphaned kittens, post-op animals that need to recover from surgery, etc.
Sadly, euthanasia is still a reality when overcrowding happens at the shelter, when an animal's temperament makes it unsafe to place in any home, or when illness makes it the most humane option. However, PAL makes every effort to find a place for all animals in the shelter - unlike other organizations that will only talk about their "adoptable animals," Pet Adoption League tells the full story to the public, including discussing the animals who were too ill or too abused to save once we reached them.
We do this for two reasons: the first is that every life matters and should count in an organization's description of its work; and second, we believe that creating the impression that "we find homes for all adoptable animals" is misleading to the public and a disservice to those animals that could not be saved. |
