ANIMAL WELFARE LEAGUE OF ALEXANDRIA
4101 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22312 www.alexandriaanimals.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: The mission of the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria is to inspire compassion for all living things, to provide shelter to animals in need, and to promote adoptions, animal welfare, and responsible pet ownership.

The mission of the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria is to inspire compassion for all living things, to provide shelter to animals in need, and to promote adoptions, animal welfare, and responsible pet ownership. AWLA believes in expanding our community to other animal shelters to share information, resources and support. AWLA facilitates the national capital regional animal shelter collaborative. A network of animal shelters in the national capital region, hosting group trainings on essential topics such as wildlife, customer service and veterinary care. AWLA also works closely with several other shelters in Virginia, serving as a committed partner to these shelters that lack resources. We transferred in 364 animals from other shelters, including dogs rescued from meat farms in South Korea, dogs saved from the Syrian conflict, animals displaced by hurricane Matthew and rabbits from a large-scale hoarding case in New York, among others.

ANIMAL CARE: In FY20, we cared for 1,704 animals (761 cats, 672 dogs, 236 small animals/livestock and 35 wild animals), and providing their daily care was our largest expense. Our team of shelter volunteers assisted AWLA staff to provide top-level care for every animal at the shelter. In FY20, 744 shelter volunteers donated 17,614 hours to the AWLA, roughly equivalent to 8.5 full-time employees. These volunteers performed a range of tasks, including helping with laundry and dishes; walking dogs; staffing events; cleaning animal enclosures; maintaining the yards and landscaping; cleaning carriers; transporting animals to vet appointments; stocking supplies; socializing cats and feeding animals. During the pandemic, volunteers also donated their time from home, helping our organization administratively as well as with enrichment activities for animals.In order to expand our sheltering capability and provide a unique, home-like environment for animals who might not thrive in the shelter (including newborn and sick or injured animals), we also coordinated a team of more than 171 volunteer foster providers to care for 454 animals (121 dogs, 319 cats and 14 other animals) in their homes in FY20. The AWLA strives to find placement for every animal that can safely and humanely be rehomed, and in FY20, we found placement for 95% of the pets in our care. To achieve this goal, our staff and volunteers went above and beyond to assist animals in our custody, focusing on animals' health, behavior, enrichment and more to provide them with the best care on their way to finding new homes. We also continue to work closely with other regional shelters and rescues in areas that may not have the same resources as ours, transferring animals to our facility to help those organizations with overpopulation and to increase our combined life-saving efforts. In FY20, we brought in 526 animals from several shelters and rescues in Virginia, as well as West Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and even Oklahoma and Louisiana.Many of the animals that come to us have health issues ranging from fairly minor to extremely serious, including infections, bone breaks/fractures, heart problems, diabetes and other chronic illnesses. Our shelter veterinarian is responsible for examining all of the animals at the shelter and determining how to best meet each of their medical needs. She works closely with multiple veterinarians in the community who provide the AWLA with their surgical and specialty services at a discount. In FY20, more than 200 animals with major medical concerns were treated by the AWLA.

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS: As the pandemic affected people and jobs in our region, we expanded our efforts to provide support to pet owners, so no one would need to make the heartbreaking decision to surrender a beloved pet for financial reasons. Through our Community Pet Pantry, we distributed nearly 10,000 pounds of supplies, as well more than 9,000 pounds of supplies to senior/housebound pet owners through our AniMeals program, and almost twice that amount through local events and to other regional shelters and rescues. The majority of these supplies were also donated to us from the community. Our Spay and Neuter Assistance program offered nearly 300 pet owners vouchers for this life-changing surgery, helping to control the population of homeless animals and prevent unexpected litters that might lead to animal surrender. And the AWLA's Crisis Care program continued to provide limited-term boarding for pets whose owners are undergoing emergencies like loss of housing or hospital stays. Through these programs, we help countless animals in our community stay where they belong -- in homes where they are loved.

ADOPTIONS AND SUPPORT SERVICES: In FY20, the AWLA administered 1,309 adoptions, including dogs and cats but also rabbits, birds, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, and even sugar gliders. We expanded our efforts to make sure all adopters are receiving the level of follow-up support they need, in case they have any behavioral or medical questions about their new pet, and our Behavior Hotline has offered guidance to dozens of pet owners to help overcome issues that might otherwise lead to the surrender of a pet.

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