The MD SPCA
Progressive Programs for Pets and Their People
Quick, answer this question: How many major animal shelters are in the Baltimore area and which one is which?
Not sure? You’re in good company.
Here’s the answer. We have four large animal shelters, two each in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.
Last week, I wrote about BARCS, the city’s open admission shelter on Stockholm St.
The other shelter in the city is the MD SPCA, on Falls Rd. in Hampden.
The MD SPCA is not affiliated with the ASPCA. It’s a local private shelter, and is one of our nation’s oldest animal welfare organizations. It was founded in 1869 by a group of citizens concerned about Baltimore’s workhorses.
Today it finds homes for about 3,000 dogs and cats every year. Some are pulled from two local shelters, BARCS and the Baltimore County Animal Shelter. In this way, the MD SPCA acts as a rescue organization. But its work extends past rescue and adoption. A primary focus is on the human/pet relationship, in other words, keeping pets and their owners happy together so that animals don’t become unwanted.
For starters, the MD SPCA evaluates its animals for temperament and activity level, then asks lots of questions of adopters, trying to make the best match.
Because problems can arise after adoption, the SPCA offers wellness clinics and behavior classes.
The SPCA not only spays and neuters every pet that comes into the shelter, it also performs 5,000 spay/neuter surgeries for the public each year.
In an effort to expand its reach to those who might not come to the shelter, it has an off-site adoption center called Project Adopt in a store in White Marsh Mall. Every Friday-Sunday, Project Adopt offers cats and kittens for adoption. Last year it successfully found homes for 300 animals.
The SPCA also incorporates the public into its mission. It has a thousand active volunteers and a thriving foster program.
All of these programs and services are well recognized in our community and translate into real support. Residents and corporations contribute $2.5 million every year, 50 percent of the SPCA’s budget.
In 2019, the MD SPCA will celebrate its 150th birthday, working all these years to help animals and raise awareness, spreading a modern-day understanding of our obligation to care for our community’s animals.
And, oh, yes, it has found homes for thousands upon thousands of wonderful pets.
Watch this short video to learn more about the MD SPCA and the philosophies that guide its lifesaving work.
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