Few people know the importance of an animal shelter in their community. People assume that animal shelters are created to reunite pets with their owners or help them get adopted. However, animal shelters provide many other services for their community.

Animal shelters keep streets clean and safety preventing the spread of infectious diseases from animals to humans. Animal control personnel in association with law enforcement officers pick up, impounds, and disposes of stray animals that irresponsible owners release in the streets.

According to the journal “Animal Shelters and Animal Welfare,” Patricia Turner, Jim Berry, and Shelagh MacDonald, “stray or uncrowned, free-roaming animals, and in particular, cats, continue to be a societal challenge in North America”. In addition to significant health and welfare problems of the animals themselves, there are public health and safety concerns with free-roaming animals and key environmental concerns” (Aug. 2012).

Animal shelters services “-offer cat trap rentals,enforce animal laws in the community, and investigating animal cruelty cases, neglect and/or abandonment with the collaboration of law enforcement agencies” according to Animal Control: Shafter California’s official website.

Most shelters have sterilization and immunization programs available for the community. One of the many services that animal shelters offer is follow-up bite reports to provide important details relevant to the prosecution and the defense of a dog bite case. They also have public educational programs for people in the community to create awareness and increase involvement in animal care and animal control in their community. According to Jennifer Thomsen in Social Enterprise as a Model to Improve Live Release and Euthanasia Rates in Animal Shelters she states that “-the number of dogs and cats entering U.S. animal shelters each year significantly declined over the last decade, with ~6.5 million dogs and cats entering U.S. shelters in 2019, down 9.7% from an average of 7.2 million in 2011 in the U.S., similarly, U.S. euthanasia rates declined from ~2.6 million in 2011 to 1.5 million in 2019”(2021).

How can you help? You can join animal shelter volunteering groups that spend time with stray pets to help them transition back into home life. Reducing the cost of hiring staff members and helping pets integrate into a foster family easier. Animal Shelters make sure animals receive compassionate, humane and high-quality medical care, and dignity in death. You can show your appreciation for these animal shelters by spotlighting the value they bring to your community, donating time or other resources.Your support can help these facilities improve their services in your community.