The Learning Laboratory: Richmond SPCA

ASPCA Partnership At Work In Richmond, VA

As it embarks on its Partnership program, the ASPCA welcomes the Richmond SPCA of Richmond, Virginia, as the "learning laboratory" for its 2007 target communities. The Richmond SPCA will share its resources and expertise through learning and exchange programs to help these communities achieve their goals.

The no-kill, non-profit humane society is dedicated to the principle that every life is precious, and the organization saves the lives of more than 3,000 homeless animals each year. As a national leader in humane care and education, the Richmond SPCA is aggressively tackling the problem of pet overpopulation through education, adoption, rehabilitation and sterilization.

The Richmond SPCA and the Richmond City Animal Control formed an historic public/private partnership in the summer of 2001. They agreed that the Richmond SPCA would focus its efforts and resources on providing services that result in the saving of animal lives, and the City Animal Control Agency would concentrate on the public safety and law enforcement issues that are within their expertise. Together, the agencies adopted a shared long-term goal of ending the loss of life of both healthy and treatable homeless animals.  The Richmond SPCA promised that the life of every healthy homeless animal in the city would be saved by 2008.

Since January 2002, when the Richmond SPCA fully implemented the no-kill model that was first undertaken by the San Francisco SPCA, deaths of homeless animals in Richmond have decreased by more than 50 percent.  As a result of the Richmond SPCA’s faithful adherence to this model, no healthy homeless animal died in Richmond in 2006—the goal effectively achieved two years ahead of schedule! The Richmond SPCA finds homes for more than 3,000 animals annually, and its spay/neuter clinic performs more than 11,000 surgeries each year.

Today, the Richmond SPCA implements a variety of pet retention services:

• “Pets on Wheels,” which provides cats and dogs, at no charge, as companion animals to elderly and/or disabled clients of the local “Meals on Wheels” program
• a pet sheltering program for women who leave domestic abuse situations
• animal-assisted therapy
• pet shelter during natural disasters
• humane education programs

For more information, please visit http://www.richmondspca.org/. 

Related Links:

Shelter Spotlight: Richmond SPCA