|
The Animal Welfare Association (AWA), is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization providing shelter for orphaned animals, low-cost spay and neuter services, pet assisted therapy and humane education for the community since 1948. For more than fifty years, AWA has been committed to the prevention and eradication of animal suffering. Each year, more than 9,500 animals receive care through AWA programs.
Animal Sheltering and Adoption
AWA provides care and shelter for orphaned animals with a capacity of 65 dogs and puppies, 150 cats and kittens, and 60 rabbits and small animals. The shelter accepts animals of any species for which appropriate care and housing can be provided, or as an emergency shelter until a more suitable placement can be found. Open seven days a week for adoptions, AWA is well known in the sheltering community for having a very successful adoption program. In addition to adopting animals from the shelter in Voorhees, AWA participates in Petco's adoption program, adopting cats and kittens from the Petco in Turnersville, NJ. Our off-site adoption team of volunteers participates in numerous community events, fairs and parades throughout the region. In a typical year, we participate in more than 60 community events, giving AWA animals exposure to thousands of people who otherwise may have never considered coming to the shelter.
Upon entering the shelter, animals receive physical exams, are screened for illness and vaccinated. They also undergo periodic behavioral assessment and if needed, participate in an in-house behavior monitoring and rehabilitation program. Environment enrichment is provided to all animals in the form of toys, regular walks or grooming and one on one time with a staff member or volunteer. Significant veterinary care and rehabilitation resources are afforded to animals assessed as sound in temperament who are suffering from physical damage or recovering from treatable illness. Our policy is to euthanize (put to sleep) only dangerous or potentially dangerous animals, animals that do not respond to medical intervention or have terminal illness.
Visit our adoption page here.
Spay and Neuter Clinic
AWA offers low-cost surgical sterilization and vaccination to animals owned by the public. We sterilize dogs and cats from area shelters, rescue groups and feral cat caretakers at deeply discounted prices. The clinic also sterilizes shelter animals, including puppies and kittens as young as 8-weeks old, prior to adoption, ensuring that no animal adopted from the AWA shelter will ever reproduce. In 2001 AWA reached the incredible landmark of 100,000 spay or neuter surgeries to date. AWA veterinary staff regularly performs more than 10,000 surgeries each year.
Visit our clinic page here.
The Camden Project
Initiated in 2000, the goal of this project is to address the animal welfare crisis in the city of Camden. On the whole, the state of New Jersey has a good record on animal welfare issues, engendered by strong anti-cruelty laws, an active network of animal protection agencies, and a community that is for the most part, informed and sympathetic to animal issues. But in the city of Camden, animals are endangered by the often-lethal combination of inadequate resources, lack of accessible and affordable veterinary care, and ignorance about the needs of companion animals and the responsibility for their care.
There is little access to information regarding pet care and stray, unwanted animals roam the streets, threatening the health and welfare of both the people and animals who live there. Even the animal shelter serving the city, typically a resource for residents, is located far beyond the city limits. Street animals are often doomed to short lives of suffering. Strays face starvation and dangerous traffic on busy streets and expressways. They are sometimes tortured, or used for fighting, or to "train" fighting dogs. Unable to reach shelter and clinic services in outlying areas, caring pet owners often do without basic veterinary services, such as spaying or neutering and vaccination, exacerbating the problem.
As one of the most economically distressed cities in the country, Camden is a priority for AWA’s spay and neuter efforts. AWA’s programs have provided both Spanish and English materials on animal care, free food and pet supplies as well as low-cost vaccinations and sterilization directly to city residents for their pets.
Pet Assisted Therapy
Each week, volunteers take pet assisted therapy animals to visit senior citizens in area nursing homes. Studies have shown that pet assisted therapy is a tremendous tool in improving patient communication, cognitive function, self esteem, physical movement, mood and sociability. Residents at these assisted living facilities and nursing homes look forward to their regular visits with AWA’s “four footed therapists”. In one special case, a woman hadn’t spoken a word to the facility staff for two weeks after her husband passed away. In just one visit, much to the amazement of the grateful nursing home staff, the elderly woman not only spoke but she smiled as well. Pet assisted therapy is about touching lives, one at a time.
Shelter Partnering
By coordinating with other shelters and rescues through our Shelter Partnering Program, AWA is able to assist many animals from overcrowded shelters who otherwise were destined to be euthanized due to lack of space. Shelters with animal control contracts are required to accept incoming animals regardless of the space available. When they do run out of space, they are faced with the unfortunate task of euthanizing healthy animals to make room. Assisting animals from these shelters has a two fold benefit. Animals are saved from an early and unnecessary demise and caring, hardworking shelter employees are spared the barbaric job of killing healthy animals.
Humane Education
During the school year, AWA presents humane education programs to school classrooms and youth groups throughout Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington Counties. It is the philosophy of the Animal Welfare Association that teaching compassion and kindness to children today will make tremendous in-roads to a more humane tomorrow.
Needs and Program Assessment
The AWA is constantly engaged in assessing the needs of the animal and human populations it serves and monitoring the utilization and effectiveness of its services. Statistics are collected and analyzed to ensure that services are efficiently targeted; and new programs are designed to target the areas of greatest need.
| 
