2023 By the Numbers
2023 was a challenging year, with the national increase in dogs🐶 entering shelters, and our intake increasing by more than 2,000🤯 animals to a total of more than 17,000 animals entering the shelter.😢 But thanks to all of our staff, fosters, volunteers, rescues and donors, it was also a year with a lot of good accomplished for thousands of animals. ❤️
Here's a look back at 2023.🕰️ With your help in 2024, we can continue to work towards a time where every healthy or treatable and adoptable animal who finds their way to ACCT Philly finds responsible placement. 🥰
Thank you to every single person and partner who helped in 2023, those combined efforts led to 8 out of every 10 animals entering ACCT Philly being reunited, adopted or transferred to a rescue partner. 🏠🐾
👇🏻Check out more of what was accomplished in 2023 in the video below! 👇🏻
Are you in need of a Halloween costume? Check out a few of our favorites🎃 👻 #halloweencostume #happyhalloween
Meet Pocky aka Rocky ACCT-A-146784! 🐶Pocky is roughly 8 months old and is searching for a furever home! 🏡 Interested in Pocky? Come down to ACCT during our hours of 10am-6pm!
Don’t forget to come out to King of Prussia PetSmart for Clear the Shelters adoption event today until 5pm!! We have dogs🐶, cats🐱, and turtles 🐢 who are waiting for their forever home!🏡 Oh and adoption fees are WAIVED! 💙
Looking for cat 🐱to join your family? All 8 of these sweet, loving cats are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped. They are just waiting for you to take them home🏡💙
‼️We are live and beyond full‼️ We have had 40 dogs come in the last two days and have had 55 cats come in - putting us at over 130 dogs, and some dogs are in cages too small for them that are not able to be used long term. We are over our capacity and are in need of fosters and adopters, and our rescue partners are also full making it hard for them to be able to help our animals.
Thinking of buying a puppy or kitten? Why not adopt a dog or cat with all their vaccines and spend less than $100 doing so, and save a life while you do it!
Thanks to a generous Board member, we are having an incentive for fosters as well! The next 20 people to foster a large dog will get $100 per week for up to 4 weeks! We also have multiple offsite adoption event opportunities, but can only do them if we have enough volunteers to help our staff in handling animals at the events!
Everyone can do something to help:
🐾Adopt! Please adopt. You will be saving a life and We have more than 200 dogs 🐶and cats 🐱 looking for homes and are open from 10am-6pm. Ready to adopt? https://bit.ly/AdoptatACCTPhilly
🐾Volunteer! Our volunteers are critical to helping our animals, and we need more! Whether it's walking dogs, socializing cats, or helping drive animals to rescue, it makes a huge difference🥰 more at acctphilly.org
🐾Foster a dog or cat in need! Fostering saves lives! We need fosters for large dogs, bottle baby kittens and adults cats who are scared at the shelter. Even if you can only foster short term, it makes a world of difference, and can literally save a life. Please fill out an application today to get started: https://bit.ly/Foster4ACCT
How to help from home:
🐾Consider purchasing an item off of our Amazon wishlist 📝(and make sure we're your charity of choice on Amazon Smile especially today on Prime Day!): https://amzn.to/3Ca3M0l
🐾Donate: as the only open intake animal shelter, we take in animals in all conditions. We can only do this because of
Bentley 🐕came to ACCT Philly in the beginning of May as a stray who was wandering around Philadelphia. Upon scanning his microchip and reaching out to the primary contact, his owner's sister, Dee, picked up the phone and when we told her Bentley was in Philadelphia she was overjoyed and filled with emotions. 🥰From our call with her, we learned Bentley’s owner passed away and he has been missing for over 3 years from Memphis, TN😳
After speaking with Dee and expressing she wanted to reclaim Bentley as he is all she has left of her sister, we knew we had to figure out a way to get Bentley to her🤔
Over the last 20 days, we have tried to find transportation to help bring Bentley back to Memphis, TN including looking at volunteer pilots✈️Last week we were able to connect witWhiskers, Tails & Scales Transportrt on 5/28, Bentley was transported to Tennessee, and yesterday, he was reunited with Dee who was overjoyed to be reunited. Watch the video below of the heartwarming reunion🥰🥰
🐾We were able to make this transportation happen thanks to the donations to our P.E.T.S Fund.
To help more families reunite with their pets and/or keep their pets, please consider donating: https://bit.ly/3WHzZHH.
➡️This is also another great reminder to ensure your pet’s microchip is registered! You can update your microchip’s information for free at www.freepetchipregistry.com
‼️More than 70 large dogs need foster or adoptive homes by Monday, April 24th‼️Join us on our live as we introduce you to the more than 100 dogs 🐶desperately needing your help!
We need your help more than ever. We have been battling respiratory illnesses recently, and due to canine flu and pneumovirus spreading rapidly through our dog population, we need to do a "clean break." You can read the details here but in short: We need to decrease the number of dogs in the shelter to 50 in the next 8 days 😞😳
All adoption fees are waived for dogs over 40lbs now through the 23rd!
Most importantly, we need people who can foster a large dog (dogs over 40 pounds) for a month starting April 20th, and ideally who don’t have another dog. Thanks to a generous donor🙌🏼, individuals who foster for a month will receive a $400 Visa gift card at the end of the month
🐾To learn more about this crisis: https://bit.ly/3ojmJMx
🐾To foster: https://bit.ly/Foster4ACCT
🐾To donate: https://bit.ly/41asgDF
‼️We are live and beyond full‼️ the holidays didn’t stop animals from needing our help and we are over capacity for dogs 😞 please spread the word, it’s December and we are having some great adoptions, but like shelters everywhere the adoptions, rescue and foster placements aren’t keeping up with our intake and we need your help to avoid making difficult decisions. You can read more about the struggle shelters everywhere are facing here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/12/22/animal-shelters-overcrowding-prompts-some-revisit-euthanasia/10933722002/
Everyone can do something to help:
🐾Pet Owners: Please make sure your pet is vaccinated. 💉We are seeing so many dogs coming in with parvovirus, and cats with panleukopenia – both cost thousands to treat (and often it’s too late), and $20 to prevent with a vaccine.
🐾If your pet is microchipped, update their information with your most current phone number, e-mail and address. You can do so for free at www.freepetchipregistry.com
🐾Spay or neuter: Make sure your pet is spayed or neutered. It will help them live longer, prevent certain illnesses, and make sure they don’t contribute to the number of unwanted pets coming into the shelter. Whether it’s your pet dog, or community cats, please make sure they are spayed/neutered. If they are community cats, you can read more here about TNR: https://bit.ly/3ij6hUh
🐾If you find a lost pet, please look 👀in the area you found the pet to see if the owner is nearby before bringing it to ACCT. ➡️We have had more than a few dogs this weekend come to us, and they were missing less than an hour and found very close to home! Get tips on what to do if you find a pet here: https://bit.ly/ACCTFoundPetTIps
🐾If you're in a position to safely house the animal, bring them in to have them scanned for a microchip and file a found report, helping to keep them out of the shelter!
🐾If you've lost your pet, PLEASE visit the she
Tune in now for our pie eating contest, featuring our longest term residents! Ginger, Ben, Lore, Elvis and princess Za are ready to go to nose to nose, who do you think will win?
Tonight is game three of the NLCS ⚾️with the Philadelphia Phillies taking on the San Diego Padres - and our pawsitively adorable pets are getting in on the action! Phillies Phanatics Peanut and Wilder took on San Diego Humane Society’s Silly and Mina to talk (ok, meow and bark) some smack before the game!
We can relate to the Phillies being the Underdogs of tonight’s game but know they’ll be too dog before the night is over! And while we think the Padres will be hiss-sterical 🐱after tonight’s game, we are all on the same team when it comes to saving homeless pets! If you’re looking to recruit a new best friend who will always think you’re number one, save a life and adopt a local Philly pet in need at ACCT!
‼️We're live, and we need your help‼️We know we sound like a broken record but we can’t do this alone, and our rescue partners are dealing with the same lack of fosters and adopters that we are, particularly for large dogs.
In the first 12 days of October, we took in 211 dogs, 70 of whom were surrendered. This is an average of 17-18 dogs a day. Today we have taken in 22 dogs. Historically, the highest average intake in a month was 20 dogs in October of 2018.
In those same 12 days of October we have transferred 73 out to rescue partners, 49 dogs were adopted, 26 returned to their owners and 21 dogs were euthanized who were not surrendered for euthanasia.
Our dog kennels are at nearly 140 percent capacity.
This is not sustainable.
We are the only open intake animal shelter and animal care and control provider in Philadelphia, and we cannot keep up. The animal sheltering and rescue community is breaking and we need your help. We know many of you are also facing very difficult times, and we want to help. But we need your help to do that.
We have over 110 dogs🐶 in our care right now. We have over 100 cats 🐱in our care. We are inundated with guinea pigs and rabbits🐇. We have staff holding dogs in the hallway because there is not a kennel for them. This summer we have had to euthanize dogs who did not find placement simply because of lack of space for incoming dogs, and each savable dog who is euthanized is one too many. We are in a crisis. The community is in crisis. But everyone can do something to help:
🐾Pet Owners: Please make sure your pet is vaccinated. 💉We are seeing so many dogs coming in with parvovirus, and cats with panleukopenia – both cost thousands to treat (and often it’s too late), and $20 to prevent with a vaccine.
🐾If your pet is microchipped, update their information with your most current phone number, e-mail and address. You can do so for free at www.found.org
🐾Spay or neuter: Make sure your pet is
*our sound went out so we will be doing a live of the cats tomorrow!*
Are you missing your pet‼️Since Monday we have taken in 189 animals, 53 of them dogs 😞 we now have more than 110 dogs and 140 cats (and several rabbits 🐇 and turtles 🐢 and chickens 🐓) which means we are beyond full.
‼️If you’ve lost your pet PLEASE come to the shelter to see if we have them, so they can be reunited with you
🐾If you don’t have a pet who is missing, consider opening your home to one in need by adopting or fostering!
🐾Can’t foster or adopt? Volunteer! Please visit acctphilly.org
With less than a dozen Animal Protection Officers working 24/7 for a city of 1.5 million, it's always busy and they never know what they'll get. Tonight, it was a difficult (and very dirty) rescue. It was just before midnight that Animal Protection Officer Tony responded to a call for an injured dog🐶 running loose in the creek. Good Samaritans had been trying to catch him with no luck.
Officer Tony literally crawled down a hill & quite a distance thru a creek until he was able to safely catch the dog🙌🏼, now named Valient. Both dog and officer are exhausted!
Valient is now back at the shelter, while Officer Tony is off to his next call to deliver two bottle baby kittens to an overnight placement! We’re so grateful to our APOs for going the extra mile (literally) to get animals like Valient to safety🥰
Ranger has had terrible luck so far, but we are hoping that with the help of Kelsey Fabian and PHL17 and all of you, that his kick will change!
The first thing you’ll notice about Ranger🐶 is his deformed front leg, but when he arrived as a stray last year, it was clear he adapted to it. The second thing you’ll notice is his ear to ear smile. Ranger has the best smile and loves people and tennis balls 🎾equally, as well as belly rubs and toys of any kind. It took him some time to find a home his last stay, as he needs to be an only dog, but he found a wonderful adopter.
Sadly, months later, his adopter unexpectedly passed away, leaving Ranger back at the shelter😞. He was clearly confused and missing his home, and that was over a month ago. He’s trying so hard to be hopeful but for a dog who loves people more than dogs, the shelter is a terribly stressful place. Ranger is a big boy with a big heart❤️, who is looking for a special someone to look past his leg and love him for who he is. He needs a home with lots of toys since he can’t go for super long walks, so the toys keep him busy! He gets around without an issue, and even handles the stairs at the shelter like a champ. 💪🏼
Can you help Ranger find his forever home🏡? You can fill out an application online and come to the shelter 10am-6pm. We do out of state adoptions as well as long as you can come to the shelter to meet him!
We also have two wonderful rescues that have offered to take him, but they need a foster home in order to do so, so if you can’t adopt but are able to foster please reach out and we will connect you!
We are live with our adorable adoptables and are completely full of dogs and have many cats and rabbits looking for homes so please consider fostering or adopting! In the last 48 hours Alone we have taken In 60 cats 🐈, 23 dogs 🐕, 1 rabbit 🐇, 1 dove and 1 snake 🐍
Sadly, because we are so full, we are having to make extremely difficult decisions, and at this point, dogs with minor behavioral or medical issues are being "timestamped" because we simply do not have the space to continue to house them as well as the incoming animals. This is not fair to the dogs, nor to the staff or volunteers who know and love them.
We are so grateful to all of them - the staff, volunteers, rescues, fosters and adopters whose efforts result in placement for the many dogs we have, but still need your help.
Here Is how you can help:
🐾If you find a lost pet, please look 👀in the area you found the pet to see if the owner is nearby before bringing it to ACCT. Get tips on what to do if you find a pet here: https://bit.ly/ACCTFoundPetTIps
If you're in a position to safely house the animal, bring them in to have them scanned for a microchip and file a found report, helping to keep them out of the shelter!
🐾If you've lost your pet, PLEASE visit the shelter, or send a friend or family member to check for you to see if we have your pet. Also check our website to view all strays and more tips: https://bit.ly/ACCTTipsLostPet
🐾If you or someone you know is starting to consider surrendering their pet, please contact our Help Desk so we can help keep the pet with their family and out of the shelter if possible: https://bit.ly/ACCTHelpDesk
🐾Adopt! We have more than 200 dogs 🐶and cats 🐱 and rabbits 🐇 looking for homes and are open from 10am-6pm. Ready to adopt? https://bit.ly/AdoptatACCTPhilly
🐾Volunteer! Our volunteers are critical to helping our animals, and we need more! Whether it's walking dogs, socializing cats, or helping drive animals to rescue,
We’re live with many of our adoptables! We have already had nearly ten dogs come in today by 2pm, and not a single kennel is open 😞 we also need to make space for more than a dozen dogs at our emergency shelter that we are closing on Sunday, so we need you to ADOPT! With more dogs coming In every single day we are hoping to place 75 by Sunday🤞
Thanks to BISSELL Pet Foundation which is sponsoring this emergency #emptytheshelters promotion, adoption fees are waived for ALL of our animals; dogs🐶, cats🐱, guinea pigs, rabbits🐇, and turtles🐢 until Tuesday! Dog adopters will all receive four free virtual training sessions with GoodPup to help set you and your new dog up for success!
Please spread the word - all dogs and cats are spayed/neutered, vaccinated and microchipped before going home. We do welcome out of state adopters too!
🐾 More about adopting here: https://bit.ly/AdoptatACCTPhilly
We’re live with many of our adoptables! We have already had nearly ten dogs come in today, and not a single kennel is open 😞 we also need to make space for more than a dozen dogs at our emergency shelter that we are closing on Sunday, so we need you to ADOPT! With more dogs coming In every single day we are hoping to place 75 by Sunday.
Thanks to BISSELL Pet Foundation, adoption fees are waived for ALL of our animals; dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits and turtles until Tuesday!
Please spread the word - all pets are spayed/neutered, vaccinated and microchipped before going home. We do welcome out of state adopters too!
Huge thanks to Kelsey Fabian and PHL17 for featuring long time resident Scout🐶 today! Scout has been looking for a loving home and as of this afternoon, is heading to our rescue partner Philly Bully Team! Please consider adopting him as doing so opens another space for an ACCT dog in need. Or adopting one of the many other amazing animals
We have looking for homes!
