carepawty

As the only open admission, No-Kill shelter within the City of St. Louis, CARE STL  always has its doors open to our community. We provide second chances for our City's most at-risk animals and offer support, hope, and resources for our most underserved populations of people. This is our story, this is who we are, and this is why we need your help spreading the care.

Our job, as the nonprofit managing operations for our City’s Animal Care and Control shelter, isn’t quite the same as other rescues and shelters out there; each rescue has its own valuable purpose, mission, and services provided, and we greatly admire and respect each and every one. Here's what sets us apart, though: we have to take everything, we don't get to pick or choose who comes through our doors. We could tell you a graphic, horrific story about an injured, abused animal who came to us in near-death condition and end it with a "Here they are now! Healed, healthy, and in a loving forever home!" Sure, we could do that. We could give you hundreds of those. But that's not what sets us apart as a rescue; those types of intakes are just a fraction of what we care for on a daily basis. Healthy or injured; middle-aged or young;  4-legged, crocodilian, rodent, or fowl (and then some other fun wild card species); those with behavioral needs or perfectly behaved. We take them all, we care for them all as if they were our own, and we give them the second chance they so greatly deserve.

One of the most common questions we get it is, “Where do all these animals come from? There can't really be this many stray, neglected, and abandoned animals in our City.” The reality of our rescue world is this: yes, there are simply this many unwanted animals in the City of St. Louis, and they come into our care in a multitude of ways.  To illustrate what makes running the City “pound” different, here’s the breakdown of typical week’s intake. It’s not pretty, it’s oftentimes heartbreaking and tragic, and we grieve for those who were lost before reaching our care, but this is the reality of our shelter: 

Sometimes animals bite or accidentally get loose from their homes; they're victims of crime and abuse along with their owners; they're struck by cars or other vehicles and left for dead on the side of the road and their bodies are brought to us; wildlife runs or flies into a citizen's home and they're brought to us for disposal; they're abandoned on the streets or left behind in vacant buildings to fend for themselves when they’re no longer wanted; they're surrendered to our shelter by their owners who can't or don't want to care for them anymore; all these animals and more are who we serve. Sometimes their stay with us is short when they have owners who love and care about them and desperately want them back, and we celebrate those reunions; sometimes their stay with us is a bit longer due to animal cruelty investigation cases when they're the target of abuse, cruelty, and extreme neglect or if they need some special behavioral rehabilitation until they can be safely placed in a forever home. These are CARE's animals. We care for them, value each life as an individual. We care about the people who care about their pets - we offer lifesaving resources to help protect and preserve that sacred bond between a pet and their guardian. We offer classes and services for at-risk youth to help rehabilitate not only those animals suffering from abuse and trauma, but also the people of our community as well.

We're here simply here to create a more caring community for our City's pets and people alike. Please help us on that mission by giving today.