Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA

Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA opened its doors in 1950, and has always been a progressive, often-modeled leader. Our roots trace to a small association of animal advocates who found deplorable conditions at the local pounds and established the Society. Soon thereafter, this new organization contracted with San Mateo County to provide animal control services – the first such relationship of its kind. In the 1970s, PHS/SPCA became the first California humane society to have an on-site Spay/Neuter Clinic, a wildlife rehabilitation center and "get acquainted" rooms for the public to meet and play with shelter animals as part of the adoption process. By the late 1970s, the Society began teaching the humane treatment of animals to schoolchildren. In the 1980s, the Society began a mobile adoption program, and in the early 1990s, PHS/SPCA was among the first shelters to offer services for pets belonging to domestic abuse victims and a free animal behavior helpline for local pet owners. Recent progressive work includes a pet assisted therapy program which brings our volunteers and their pets to patients and residents in hospitals and other facilities, a department devoted to addressing animal cruelty, and a mobile spay/neuter program which provides free fixes for residents in targeted neighborhoods.