Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County

History

The Animal Welfare League (AWL) was founded in 1965 as a non-profit Humane Society. Its purpose was and is to promote responsible pet ownership and to teach respect for all living things.

In 1969 the AWL contracted with Montgomery County and all of the incorporated towns in the county to provide animal control services. The reason for this was that the league felt it could best meet its goals by working directly with pet owners on a regular basis.

The AWL consists of twelve board members (all volunteers) who serve a three- year term. The board meets as a whole once a month to make decisions regarding the operational policies of the Animal Shelter.

The animal shelter, located at 1104 Big Four Arch Road, was occupied effective October 4, 2000. The property was donated to the League by R.R. Donnelly. Funds from the AWL including grants, donations and bequests financed the building. The shelter handles approximately 2400 animals a year. Half of these dogs and cats are brought in by their owners who no longer want them and half are strays. Approximately 10% of these animals are claimed by their owners, 13% are adopted into new homes and the remaining 77% are euthanized.

A fee is charged when animals are adopted from the Shelter. All but $10.00 of this fee is used to pay the veterinarian to spay or neuter the animal. A lower adoption fee is charged if the animal is already spayed or neutered. It is mandatory that all dogs and cats adopted from the shelter be spayed or neutered as soon as the animal is old enough.

The shelter tries to place as many pets as possible into responsible homes, but many more animals are received each year than there are homes available. Unfortunately, a humane death is the best thing we can give these unwanted animals. The pet overpopulation problem can best be solved by convincing people that their pet should not breed and add to the problem, and by teaching them how to be responsible pet owners. Ten years ago, the shelter handled 2800 animals a year. That figure is now down to 2400. With continued public education, the League hopes to see that figure drop every year.