We are committed to saving healthy and treatable animals in shelters in our community and across the nation. By leveraging our expertise and building partnerships with under resourced shelters, we are saving more lives together.

 

 

Background

More animals are euthanized in California shelters than almost any other state in the United States. California’s average save rate for shelter animals is 82%, and more than 37,000 animals lose their lives in shelters in our state every year. Overcrowding, lack of resources, complex medical issues, and disease all contribute to animals in shelters losing their lives at such a high rate. Our goal is to increase lifesaving in California by rescuing and providing care for more animals both within our community and beyond.

Increasing our Partnerships

In shelters across California, tens of thousands of animals are euthanized every year. Through our Sue and John Diekman Regional Rescue Program, we rescue animals from our partner shelters that are struggling with the high numbers of animals entering their doors. Since we began the program more than a decade ago, we have expanded our reach considerably and now have 20 shelter partners all over the state. 

Scaling our work to save more lives

3,800

transferred to us

40 %

medical cases

5,900

total adoptions

Saving Lives Across California

Thanks to the success of our six shelters in Santa Clara County, known as the WeCARE (community alliance to reduce euthanasia) coalition, we have been able to expand our efforts beyond our own local community. Through our Sue and John Diekman Regional Rescue Program, we are able to rescue animals from overcrowded, underresourced shelters all over the state and provide them with the medical care and behavioral support they need. 

 

Watch the video to see a day in the life of a rescue run and learn how we were able to help one of our Central Valley partner shelters increase their lifesaving capacity.

Caring for our Community

Years ago, we made an ambitious goal to save every healthy animal entering animal shelters in our community. We partnered with local shelters in Santa Clara County to create the WeCARE alliance, and in 2011 reached our goal of achieving a 100% save rate for all healthy dogs and cats in the county. Together with our partners, we took that ambitious goal a step further to save more animals requiring extended care. We’re proud to say that across our community, the WeCARE alliance is now able to save more than 94% of all animals entering shelters in our county.

 

We are committed to ensuring that our local community maintains its ability to save all healthy and treatable animals entering Santa Clara County shelters. As the landscape of animal sheltering changes and new challenges arise, we will continue to take in vulnerable animals from our partners and keep our community a safe place for homeless pets. 

Saving Lives through Animal-Centered Care

Every animal that enters our doors receives physical, mental, and emotional care. We provide a wide range of preventative and specialized medical care, including simple services such as updating vaccines and more complicated medical intervention such as orthopedic surgeries or advanced treatment for severe illnesses. Every animal is given appropriate enrichment and behavior support to keep them as stress-free and happy as possible during their stay with us. Thousands of animals every year are cared for through our Shannon Wass and Dan Kelmenson Foster Care Program, where they can receive individualized attention from our incredible foster families. Finally, our adoption program matches people and animals to create new bonded families.

Saving Vulnerable Animals

Lillian came through our Diekman Regional Rescue Program in bad shape. She needed extensive medical care, and would need to spend weeks recovering from her surgeries. Through our animal-centered care, Lillian received the care she needed and found an amazing home. Watch the video to see her story!

Our Vision

We envision a future in which no healthy or treatable animals entering animal shelters in California are euthanized. Here at home, we have created sustainable partnerships with shelters in our county and will continue to provide assistance as needs change and new challenges arise. Beyond our local community, we are focused on creating new partnerships and growing our programs to help more animals in need and increase the lifesaving capacity of our shelter partners.

Personalize your impact to save lives

We’d love to talk to you about how your support can help us save the lives of more homeless animals, both within our community and beyond. Reach out to learn more about our work and the impact you can make.

Contact us