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Who We Are
60-second, award-winning Public Service Annoucement
Who We Are |
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PHS/SPCA, a private non-profit guided by the humane ethic, builds healthy relationships between people and animals. As an ethical choice, we accept all animals in need of care and often provide a second chance to the neediest animals: those who would otherwise be turned away at so-called “no kill” agencies that accept only highly adoptable animals. We also serve as our County’s provider of animal rescue and control services and, as such, have no control over the number of incoming animals. Our record is outstanding. Since 2003, we have adopted 100% of healthy, adoptable dogs and cats. Our definition of “healthy” is based on the State’s definition: dogs and cats without medical or behavioral issues, those that are fully weaned and social. It excludes obviously unhealthy animals (those with injuries and illnesses or those behaviorally scarred from past treatment and mistreatment) as well as unweaned kittens and feral cats. Still, donations to our Hope Program allow us to make well, then place into new homes approx. 170 animals every month. In February 2008, the Society celebrated accreditation by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) following a comprehensive review of the shelter’s veterinary program. Community education and outreach, partnerships, and a dedicated volunteer group greatly extend our mission and work.
Our Challenge
Decades ago, our biggest challenge was animal overpopulation. In the mid 1970s, we took in 45,000 dogs and cats annually. Due to our efforts making spay/neuter affordable, we now see under 10,000 dogs and cats annually. To further drive down this number, we added a mobile spay/neuter program; we bring our “surgery suite on wheels” into targeted neighborhoods, offering free fixes! We’re addressing other challenges as well.- We’ve established a Humane Investigations Department and intervene when animals are mistreated.
- Not all animals arrive perfectly healthy; some require extensive medical care and/or behavior work. Donations to our Hope Program fund this life-saving work.
- Since we choose to have donations benefit animals directly, we need to be creative in terms of getting our word out. Staff columns in local papers, mobile adoptions, obedience classes, this website, school visits, summer camp, a Speakers Bureau, and an award-winning PSA airing on all network affiliates are among the many ways we expand our community profile.
Fifty Years of Innovation
PHS/SPCA has always been a progressive, often-modeled leader. Our roots trace to a small association of animal advocates who found deplorable conditions at the local pounds and established the Society. Soon thereafter, this new organization contracted with San Mateo County to provide animal control services -- the first such relationship of its kind. In the 1970s, PHS/SPCA became the first California humane society to have an on-site Spay/Neuter Clinic, a wildlife rehabilitation center and "get acquainted" rooms for the public to meet and play with shelter animals as part of the adoption process. By the late 1970s, the Society began teaching the humane treatment of animals to schoolchildren. In the 1980s, the Society began a mobile adoption program, and in the early 1990s, PHS/SPCA was among the first shelters to offer services for pets belonging to domestic abuse victims and a free animal behavior helpline for local pet owners. Recent progressive work includes a pet assisted therapy program which brings our volunteers and their pets to patients and residents in hospitals and other facilities, a department devoted to addressing animal cruelty and a mobile spay/neuter program which provides free fixes for residents in targeted neighborhoods.
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