The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals

See schedule oshelter and veterinary services (svs): svs includes: The aspca animal hospital (nyc); aspca spay/neuter alliance (nc); northern tier shelter initiative; aspca adoption center (nyc); The animal poison control center (il); animal recovery center (nyc); canine annex for recovery & enrichment (nyc); kitten nursery (nyc); animal relocation program; and community medicine programs including spay/neuter clinics in new york city, los angeles, and asheville, north carolina and community veterinary centers in liberty city, miami, and in The boroughs of The bronx and brooklyn in new york city. 2020 svs highlights1. Overcoming The challenges of covid-19: responding To Animals in needthe covid-19 pandemic put unprecedented stress on animal shelters and pet owners across The country. To address The most urgent challenges To cats, dogs, and horses nationwide, The aspca launched The covid-19 relief & recovery initiative To bring lifesaving services To pet owners and Animals most in need. In 2020, The aspca committed $7.5 million To ultimately assist more than 320,000 Animals through free pet food distribution programs, urgent veterinary services, and grant funding To animal shelters and rescue organizations struggling To maintain their operations. Connecting pet owners with food and lifesaving servicesin response To The tremendous need for crucial pet food and supplies, The aspca launched regional pet food distribution centers in new york city, miami, los angeles, and asheville, north carolina, and also provided free pet food and distribution assistance for local animal shelters operating their own food distribution centers. for example, The aspca helped spearhead an emergency delivery of more than 16,000 pounds of pet food To hundreds of dogs in 35 Alaskan villages, whose access To food and supplies had been cut off due To The covid-19 crisis. The aspca also provided free access To urgent veterinary care for struggling pet owners at its permanent aspca community veterinary centers in miami and The bronx and at its temporary veterinary centers in los angeles, brooklyn, and asheville.in new york city, The aspca provided free emergency boarding for nyc pets whose owners were hospitalized with covid-19 or needed temporary pet care and partnered with new york city emergency management To establish and operate The city's covid-19 pet hotline. This phone service provided information, resources, and veterinary care coordination that assisted more than 19,000 city animals.emergency financial relief for animal welfare organizationsin 2020, The aspca covid relief & recovery initiative provided $7.5 million To help pet owners and animal welfare groups impacted by covid-19 through pet food distribution, urgent veterinary services, and grant funding To more than 80 organizations To ease financial strain and support ongoing programs, operations, and fundraising needs. The aspca also gave a total of $500,000 in grant funding To food bank partners in new york city, los angeles, and miami To provide approximately 2 million pet meals for pet owners impacted by covid-19.2. Community medicine: improving access To affordable veterinary servicesin august 2020, The aspca released data showing that more than 3 million households in The u.s. are likely To enter poverty due To The covid-19 crisis, possibly increasing The number of pets living in poverty To more than 24.4 million Animals. Responding To these insights and The life-threatening challenges they indicated, The aspca continued prioritizing programs and partnerships To make veterinary care more accessible and affordable To pet owners experiencing financial hardship.helping pets and owners in nycthe aspca is steadily building a network of aspca community veterinary centers across new york city To provide low-income pet owners with access To subsidized preventive and basic care for dogs and cats. That care includes vaccinations, spay/neuter surgeries, treatment for infections, and other common conditions.the first new york city aspca community veterinary center opened in The south bronx in march 2020 and remained open during The covid-19 pandemic, focusing on urgent and emergency medical cases. By The end of The year, The center had cared for nearly 9,500 cats and dogs. The center also served as a community resource, providing free pet food and critical supplies To pet owners most impacted by The crisis. The second new york city community veterinary center opened its doors To pets in brooklyn in 2021, and an additional facility is scheduled To open in queens in 2022. Beyond new york city, The aspca's community medicine programs in los angeles and miami also provide services in communities with limited access To veterinary care. In addition To providing service through community veterinary centers, The aspca operates mobile veterinary clinics in brooklyn and The south bronx and supports The animal rescue community at its spay/neuter clinic in glendale, queens. The aspca also operates a fleet of mobile spay/neuter clinics that provides free and low-cost, high-quality spay/neuter surgery for pet owners in all five boroughs of new york city. Throughout a challenging year, The aspca served nearly 29,000 new york cats and dogs through these community medicine programs. A vital community resource in miamiin october, The aspca celebrated The one-year anniversary of The community veterinary center in liberty city, miami. Built in partnership with miami-dade animal services and miami-dade county, The center brings affordable and accessible veterinary services To pets and pet owners in miami-dade county, including The liberty city area - a critically underserved community where veterinary services are largely inaccessible. The center offers partially and fully subsidized basic and preventive care for miami cats and dogs. During The covid-19 pandemic, The center pivoted its services To assist miami-dade county pets who were sick, in distress, and in immediate need of veterinary care, waiving fees from march 2020 through march 2021 To support pet owners financially impacted by covid-19.in 2020, The miami community veterinary center saw over 4,000 appointments. The center also served as a resource center, distributing free pet food To miami pet owners in need. Assisting los angeles Animals in needsince 2014, The aspca has been working To assist Animals in underserved communities in The los angeles area, beginning with The opening of a stationary spay/neuter clinic in south los angeles. Over The last six years, The aspca has expanded services To include mobile spay/neuter clinics and mobile veterinary clinics dedicated To primary pet care in south l.a. and l.a. county. During The pandemic, The clinic in south l.a. Expanded services To treat sick and injured pets for people impacted by The crisis. In 2020, The aspca assisted 14,131 los angeles community Animals through its stationary and mobile spay/neuter and primary pet care clinics, including 9,581 spay and neuter surgeries and 5,542 visits To aspca primary pet care clinics. 3. Animal relocation amid The covid-19 crisisin 2020, as travel was scaled back or canceled around The world, The aspca was forced To temporarily pause its animal relocation program To prioritize The safety of aspca staff and The Animals in The ascpa's care. In june, The aspca introduced The covid-19 animal relocation preparedness guide To restart efforts and help shelters and rescues begin relocating Animals safely. Using both ground and air transportation, The animal relocation program transported nearly 28,000 Animals in 2020 from "source shelters" in areas with high homeless pet populations To "destination shelters" in communities where adoptable Animals are in high demand. The aspca animal relocation program worked with more than 40 source partner shelters and 60 destination partner shelters, as well as five waystations (facilities where transported Animals stay overnight To rest and rejuvenate while drivers get their sleep) in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Since starting The relocation program in 2014, The aspca has transported more than 163,000 companion Animals on over 6,800 trips throughout The u.s., making The aspca The largest national transporter of Animals for adoption services.in addition To its relocation efforts, The aspca provided $275,000 in grants To 20 organizations To support animal relocation in 2020.4. Animal fostering: helping vulnerable Animals transition To new homespublic interest in supporting shelters and homeless Animals during The start of The covid-19 crisis and onward was evident by enormous and unprecedented enthusiasm for fostering and adopting vulnerable Animals in communities across The country.

See schedule opolicy, response and engagement programs (pre): pre includes The behavioral rehabilitation center (nc); The Cruelty recovery center (oh); The aspca learning lab (nc); national field response; legal advocacy; humane law enforcement, which includes The aspca-new york city police department (nypd) partnership and community engagement in nyc, los angeles, and miami; equine welfare; farm animal welfare; behavioral science team; animal forensic sciences team; legal advocacy; aspca grants; and government relations (national, state, local)2020 pre highlights1. Disaster and Cruelty response: helping Animals in crisisthe aspca responds To locations where Animals are threatened by Cruelty or who are at risk due To natural disasters, even during a global pandemic. Rescuing suffering Animals though The covid-19 pandemic impacted The aspca's ability To travel at The start of 2020, The organization remained committed To helping at-risk Animals in their communities. In november, The aspca collaborated with two texas-based animal welfare organizations To assist with The care and placement of 40 dogs found in substandard conditions and removed from The property of overwhelmed pet owners near san angelo, Texas. The aspca removed The Animals, including puppies, and transported 20 of them To The fort worth area for immediate care. The remaining Animals were transported To The aspca behavioral rehabilitation center in weaverville, n.c., where multiple aspca teams provided care, including medical and specialized behavioral treatment, To prepare The dogs for adoption.helping Animals threatened by natural disastersin september, The aspca was asked for assistance by local organizations and deployed a team of responders To lake charles, Louisiana, To help provide emergency sheltering, daily care, enrichment, medical and behavioral care, and reunification services for Animals displaced by hurricane laura, a category 4 hurricane that ultimately killed 42 people in Louisiana, Texas, and arkansas.the aspca also helped transport more than 100 Animals who had been homeless out of The hurricane-impacted community, freeing up much-needed shelter space and resources for local lost pets until they could be reunited with their owners. The aspca also collaborated with wings of rescue To evacuate hundreds of other homeless shelter Animals threatened by a string of hurricanes and tropical storms that impacted The gulf coast during The year, including hurricanes delta and sally, and tropical storm beta. The unowned Animals were evacuated at The request of multiple shelters in Alabama, Texas, and Louisiana and relocated To shelters across The country, where they were made available for adoption. In addition To providing boots-on-the-ground support in The aftermath of disasters, The aspca awarded $1 million in grant funding To 22 authorized disaster response agencies in 12 different states that support companion Animals, equines, and their owners in communities impacted by natural disasters. 2. Government relations: supporting local and national policies that help Animals in needwhen The pandemic began, many local and state governments rightfully recognized The essential role animal shelters play in their communities by including them in safety orders To allow them To continue operating. Supporting these safety orders were among several legislative advocacy measures The aspca worked on To ensure Animals in communities were cared for and not forgotten. Despite The unprecedented challenges that arose during The pandemic, The aspca government relations team continued To make significant progress in passing better laws and regulations for The benefit of Animals. State legislationin Florida, The aspca led efforts To protect domestic violence survivors and their pets, securing The passage of a new law that ensures family pets can be included in orders of protection from domestic violence. With The passage of this lifesaving new law, Florida joined more than 30 other states enacting meaningful public policies To protect humans and pets from violence in The home.as states locked down in early 2020, severely hampering access To veterinary care, telemedicine became a valuable clinical tool. In California, The aspca successfully secured The adoption of emergency regulations permitting The use of telemedicine by veterinarians and worked To ensure The allowance of telemedicine within stay-at-home orders enacted across The country. The aspca also successfully lobbied for a new law requiring every county in Florida that maintains designated emergency shelters To have those shelters accommodate people with pets.in Missouri, The aspca continues To collaborate with local animal welfare organizations To overturn laws that target specific breeds and prevent future ones from being enacted. The aspca's effort To champion a statewide law prohibiting breed bans in 2020 resulted in The bill passing out of The full state house of representatives. Federal legislation in december, congress passed The fy 2021 appropriations bill, retaining critical protections for Animals and adding new provisions that help both people and animals.new protections signed into law include: - language directing The usda To move forward with a rule To protect Animals in disasters, ensuring that animal welfare act license holders have emergency plans in place - encouragement for The usda To note animal care violations in federally inspected puppy mills on inspection reports- $14 million in additional funding aimed at shifting The bureau of land management's wild horse and burro program toward humane care and preventative management To ensure federally protected horses and burros can roam freely on their rangelands- funding for lifesaving grants To keep domestic violence survivors and their pets together - additional funding and language urging new measures To strengthen The horse protection act, which forbids The cruel practice of soring- funding for The usda's office of inspector general To investigate illegal animal fighting this legislation also retains critical animal welfare provisions from previous years, including longstanding anti-slaughter protections for domestic and wild horses - a provision The aspca has championed for more than a decade.in 2020, The aspca and its partners made significant progress in advancing The safeguard American food exports (safe) act, federal legislation that would permanently ban horse slaughter in The united states and end The export of American horses for slaughter. This bill has broad bipartisan support in congress, including The support of more than half of The u.s. house of representatives. In february, after multiple lawsuits by animal welfare groups, including The aspca, The usda was forced To repost animal welfare records it had abruptly purged from its online database in 2017. The aspca continues To build awareness of The usda's poor enforcement of The animal welfare act and commit To action and advocacy that ensures The usda protects Animals under its care.the alarming spread of covid-19 among slaughterhouse employees exposed massive vulnerabilities in The food system, especially regarding The speed of production at these facilities. Rather than suspend line speed increases To accommodate social distancing, The usda allowed more slaughterhouses To operate at extreme speeds at The height of The pandemic. To address these disturbing issues, federal lawmakers introduced The safe line speeds during covid-19 act, which would revoke any line speed increase approvals issued To slaughter plants and suspend line speed increases during The covid-19 crisis.3. Equine welfare: exploring and applying The best ways To help at-risk horseshomeless horses don't typically get as much exposure as homeless dogs and cats, but they are just as vulnerable To a wide range of unique, life-threatening challenges. The aspca is developing innovative programs and groundbreaking partnerships that help more horses and other equines find new homes and careers, keep them safe and healthy, and protect equines who fall victim To Cruelty or other crises. The right horse initiative, which became an official aspca program in november 2019, builds and reinforces partnerships among equine rescues, shelters, and The equine industry To innovate and promote equine adoption. In its first year as an official program of The aspca, The right horse initiative helped more than 3,500 equines find safe and loving homes.

See schedule opublic education and communications: essential To The aspca's mission is bringing awareness To its programs and educating The public, illustrating how people and organizations can engage and get involved in helping To protect Animals from Cruelty. The aspca had more than 51 million page views on aspca.org in 2020, bringing awareness To more than 3 million supporters and The public on action they can take on behalf of Animals. Social media postings are a key part of The aspca's education process, and they updated The public on regulatory wins and provided details of The aspca's anti-cruelty efforts. The aspca's promotions generated nearly 27 million social media impressions in 2020. The public was updated on action that can be taken - letter writing, phone calls, social media outreach and petitions To legislators - To ensure that Animals are given The greatest possible protection under The law and made aware of how each person can help this effort. In 2020, more than 100 advocacy e-mails were sent To aspca supporters urging them To take action on a variety of animal welfare issues. With The help of advocates, The aspca secured new animal protection laws and regulatory wins for Animals at The nation's capital and across The country in state legislatures. In 2020, The aspca distributed nearly 2 million copies of aspca action, its member magazine, and 15,000 copies - combined print and digital - of its annual report. Aspca action includes information on aspca events and programs as well as pet care behavior and advice. Legislative and animal advocacy news keeps members up-to-date on current and future initiatives and how they can help ensure that Animals receive necessary protection under The law. This magazine is available on The aspca website, which has many additional educational resources for The public. The aspca provided vital insight, hope, and support during The pandemic through media placements that highlighted its substantial pandemic-response programs around The country. Many of these articles covered one of The most encouraging responses To The pandemic: a dramatic increase in animal fostering enthusiasm, which helped shelter Animals directly and alleviated pressure on strained animal shelters. In 2020, The aspca appeared favorably in 15,323 articles and broadcasts across traditional media outlets and blogs, including placements in high-exposure outlets such as The new york times, The associated press, The new york post, forbes, cnn, nbc news, The hill, The Washington post, usa today, and good morning america. Among The featured topics were aspca efforts related To its covid-19 response programs, adoption and fostering trends and campaigns, legislative efforts To support impactful animal welfare policies locally and nationally, and initiatives To stop animal Cruelty. The aspca also engaged many celebrity influencers To support its lifesaving efforts in 2020, including ricky gervais, brooke shields, melissa etheridge, adrien brody, andy cohen, and edie falco, who contributed their voices To increase awareness of The aspca's programs for dogs, cats, horses, and farm Animals in need. The aspca's national communications and education efforts have helped To significantly elevate The status of Animals so that they are more consistently regarded as deserving of care and are treated with The kindness and respect that they deserve. This elevation of status helps make lasting change through legislative protections as well.