ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY INC

The Animal Welfare Society seeks to aid companion animals in need by offering intake services for pets in 18 local municipalities and operating a progressive Adoption Center to find these pets loving new homes. Additionally, AWS works with out-of-state rescue groups needing assistance placing their animals. The goal is to bring together pets and families though successful adoptions and reunions (for lost & found pets brought in by animal control officers).

In addition, AWS seeks to keep beloved family pets and their families together, despite temporarily financial setbacks or limitations. Despite the best of intentions, things can happen, and circumstances can change, impacting family members and their pets. We know this today more than ever with the pandemic, high inflation and housing affordability surfacing in the past few years. Budgets remain limited as the cost of living rises. For example, if a pet were to have an accident or an illness, many families would be challenged to provide veterinary care because it is so expensive. And in that case, the options are disheartening: either the pet goes untreated and suffers, the pet is humanely euthanized because the treatment is too expensive, or the pet is surrendered over to a shelter who agrees to pay for the treatment and re-home the pet. Pets are members of the family. As an animal welfare organization, we see every day how important pets are to peoples wellbeing and health mentally, socially and physical. The health benefits of having a pet are well documented in scientific studies and in anecdotal reports from the pandemic. Thus, we want to provide as many resources as we can to keep pets and their beloved family together.

Thus our Stay@Home program. Stay@Home is a suite of services available to qualified community members who need temporary support caring for their pets. Resources include behavior and training consultations, pet food and supplies, affordable veterinary services through the AWS Community Veterinary Clinic, temporary boarding in our animal shelter and other support as needed.

Through all AWS' programs and services, we support more than 20,000 pets and pet families in our community every year.

AWS, an animal resource for pets and their people, offers:

-Adoption, bringing homeless animals and people together. Each pet is spayed/neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and examined for health.
-Pets and Survivors to Safety, offering pet care for victims of violence fleeing a dangerous situation.
-Transport Program, bringing highly adoptable pets from overcrowded, under resourced shelters in other parts of the state/region/country/world to Maine for adoption.
-Canine Training classes by a professional staff. Group classes for dogs of all ages, breeds and abilities are taught by professional dog trainers, along with in-home private consults and one-on-one work.
-Spay/Neuter resources, offering affordable and accessible surgeries, reaching the most underserved and most rural areas of the state.
-In-house, full-service Community Veterinary Clinic serving pet owners in need with reduced fee care, ensuring that pet owners do not lose a pet due to veterinary expenses.
-Re-Homing Services, including working together to find resources for individuals needing behavioral, medical or other services to keep their animal at homes, spay/neuter services for unwanted litters, temporary boarding and animal admissions for pet owners who cannot keep their pet for any reason.
-Stay@Home, providing resources to maintain pet ownership and care, particularly for those facing financial hardship or housing insecurity. Resources include temporarily boarding, pet food pantry, affordable and accessible veterinary care, training lessons and other supplies.

Through fifty years of innovation, work, and problem solving, AWS is well-equipped to meet the todays animal welfare demands. Our team is composed of more than 40 professionals, including veterinarians, licensed veterinary technicians, animal care staff, canine behavior staff and administrative support staff.

Our work is at a leadership level across the state and the region, and our community of supporters is enthusiastic about our next steps in meeting our mission and serving our community's animal welfare needs.

In January 2018, AWS completed the first phase of a full campus renovation project. With community support, a 5,000 sq. ft. addition and a 9,000 sq. ft. renovation expanded the current in-house spay/neuter clinic to become a full-service Community Veterinary Clinic. The Clinic serves income-qualified pet owners by providing emergency and wellness care they otherwise would be unable to afford. A new canine training room, adoption lobby, and staff spaces rounded out the project. In its first full year, the Clinic saw more than 10,000 patients - providing thousands of surgeries and life-saving procedures, vaccinations and wellness exams.

In 2020 and 2021, despite the pandemic, AWS remained open for animal admissions, adoptions and veterinary care, though at a reduced capacity, based on state and federal guidelines and staffing. In 2021, AWS increased its community programs to work with more families in need of assistance to keep their pets happy and at home by formally launching the Stay@Home program, including the in-house pet food pantry.

The Board of Directors in early 2022 approved a new mission statement to better reflect AWS' approach to meeting the needs of the community's animals - and the people who love them, thus allowing us to introduce more community sevices.

2023 and 2024 saw the growth of the Stay@Home program with twice as many people reaching out for resources, particularly temporary boarding. Additionally, the foster program was expanded, with record numbers of pets staying in foster care while awaiting adoption or during their temporary boarding; additional foster opportunities have been introduced in 2024, offering short-term fostering (dog dates) for members of the community to take a dog off-campus for 1-4 hours.

2024 brought growth to the Community Veterinary Clinic with the addition of 3 more doctors, bringing the veterinarian total to 7, along with a dozen+ support staff. The Clinic provided more than 30,000 procedures to patients, everything from quick microchip insertions to complex and difficult surgeries. One vet became certified in ecocardiograms, allowing additional services to be offered. At the end of 2024, plans are underway to expand services more, including building another spay/neuter surgery suite to offer services to other Maine shelters and rescue groups, and thus increasing capacity for public appointments.


Finally, in addition to the aforementioned community initiatives, now in its 5th year, AWS' annual Woofstock Festival, a free family-friendly and dog-friendly event, has become a must-attend summer event and has brought thousands of community members to our facility, many for the first time. By increasing our community's knowledge of our organization (AWS is much more than "just" an animal shelter), we can better serve the pets and community members who need us most, thus creating a happier and healthier community for all pets and people.