Florida Urgent Rescue, Inc

Our goals are to rescue animals from kill shelters and other urgent situations. Our primary focus is on helping rural shelters with limited resources. One shelter we support is outdoor kennels on the grounds of the prison. Another is behind the landfill. In many cases, the only way these animals get out alive is if a rescue group pulls them. In short, we try to help the animals who need the most help.

We focus on helping at risk animals who need the most help. While many rescues focus on a specific breed, we help any animal who needs our help, regardless of breed, size, age or medical condition.

We rescue dogs who were hit by cars, dogs with gunshot wounds, orthopedic injuries, and cancerous tumors. We rescue senior dogs, and pregnant dogs. We take in cruelty and major medical cases, with no idea what treatment or financial cost we'll have when we rescue them. We also trap and rehabilitate long term stray dogs, and we assist other rescues and private individuals trying to trap and recover missing dogs. 40% of the adult dogs we rescue are heartworm positive, and we pay for 100% of the heartworm treatment costs. Because we rescue sick and injured animals, our veterinary expenses account for a large percentage of our expenses. We spend far more on veterinary expenses than we take in through adoption fees.

As a foster-based rescue, we don't have a shelter location. Instead, all of our animals are in foster homes living with families. As a result, we know a lot more about each animal, and we can do a better job matching the temperament of the dog or cat with the personality and lifestyle of the potential adopter.

Our fosters and volunteers take animals to vet appointment, adoption events, and meet and greets with potential adopters. We start every adoption with a one week sleepover, so the adopter knows everything there is to know about that animal before making the decision to finalize the adoption. If for any reason the adoption doesn't work out down the road, we always take the animal back.

Our fosters are spread out throughout Northeast Florida, so we have veterinary relationships with several vet clinics. We have negotiated rescue discounts with our participating veterinary partners, including free exams and discounted services.

Our senior managers have run startup businesses for many years, so we're taking advantage of their startup experience to keep operations efficient and effectively manage our resources.

When we launched Florida Urgent Rescue in Nov 2015, our goal was to rescue 40-50 animals a year. We far surpassed our original expectations, rescuing more than 2,600 animals. We've successfully established agreements with veterinary partners, including our heartworm treatment program; we've set up a network of foster homes for the animals we rescue; and we've established a volunteer base to assist us in transporting animals, conducting home checks, and participating in adoption events.

We've also expanded our FUR Urgent Transport program, helping to rescue animals in danger in natural disasters and other emergencies. In addition to rescuing animals in 12 hurricanes and natural disasters, we assisted with disaster relief in other emergency situations. We also completed multiple rescue missions on the ground in Ukraine, rescuing animals in danger, reuniting refugees with their pets, and relocating refugee families with pets. We also provided disaster relief assistance on the ground in Antakya, Turkey after the devastating earthquakes.

In addition to saving more lives, we are implementing operational improvements to help manage our growth. We've hit the ground running, and we're ready to continue growing the organization to save more lives.