Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society

Template:Infobox organization

The Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is a nonprofit organization serving as the largest rescue partner and most accessible veterinary care provider in Philadelphia. It was founded in 2005 with a straightforward goal: save homeless and at-risk pets, and help pet owners struggling to afford care. The organization runs two veterinary clinics, manages an adoption center, and coordinates extensive foster and community cat programs. As a founding member of the Philadelphia No-Kill Coalition, PAWS has fundamentally reshaped the city's animal welfare field, raising the city's shelter lifesaving rate from 11% to 86%.

The numbers tell a compelling story. Since opening its doors, PAWS has rescued more than 43,700 animals, performed over 166,900 spay and neuter surgeries, and treated more than 411,300 clinic patients.

History

In 2005, Philadelphia faced an animal welfare crisis. The city's sole open-intake shelter, the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Team (ACCT Philly), was killing the vast majority of animals that came through its doors. Just 11% were saved. About 30,000 stray and surrendered animals entered the shelter every year, and most didn't leave alive.

That's where the story begins. Melissa Levy, a young woman who would become PAWS's executive director, rescued a black Labrador mix named Rosie from the city shelter in 2005. That single act of compassion sparked something bigger. She started volunteering with PAWS in 2006 and joined the staff the following year, eventually taking the helm and transforming the organization from a small rescue into a citywide force.

The early years weren't flashy, but they mattered. PAWS opened its Grays Ferry veterinary clinic in 2010, bringing low-cost spay/neuter services and basic veterinary care to South Philadelphia and surrounding neighborhoods where private veterinary care was simply out of reach. Five years later, a second clinic opened in Northeast Philadelphia. The organization wasn't just expanding for the sake of growth; each new location answered a specific community need.

By 2024, something remarkable had happened. The annual number of animals entering Philadelphia's city shelter dropped to roughly 17,500. That's a decline of more than 40% from where things started. PAWS didn't do that alone, but it played a central role in making it happen.

Mission and programs

PAWS exists to rescue homeless and at-risk pets while supporting pet owners who can't otherwise afford care. That mission comes to life through several interconnected programs, each designed to keep animals out of shelters, find them homes, and provide services that help people keep their pets.

Adoption

The organization focuses on animals facing the longest odds at the city shelter. That includes dogs and cats with medical issues, behavioral challenges, or those who've spent months waiting for a chance. Once rescued, every animal gets veterinary care, behavioral assessment, and socialization before moving to the adoption center.

Located at 100 N. 2nd Street in Old City, the adoption center is where the real work happens. This is the visible face of PAWS. Prospective adopters come here to meet animals, spend time with them, and figure out whether a particular dog or cat is right for their home. PAWS doesn't just hand over animals to anyone willing to take them. The staff works carefully with each adopter, matching pets to people in ways that stick.

Foster program

Foster volunteers are the backbone of PAWS's rescue operation. They open their homes to animals not yet ready for adoption. That includes bottle-fed kittens so young they can't eat solid food, animals recovering from surgery, and cats with FIV or FeLV who need a safe place to heal. Without foster homes, PAWS couldn't rescue nearly as many animals as it does. The program essentially multiplies the organization's capacity.

Some of the most vulnerable populations live in foster homes: neonatal kittens requiring round-the-clock care, cats undergoing ringworm treatment in isolation, and hospice animals in their final weeks. Foster families give these animals what a shelter never could. They offer comfort, attention, and dignity.

Spay/neuter clinic

Two clinics stand at the core of PAWS's approach to overpopulation. These aren't fancy operations. They're high-volume, low-cost, and they work. Since opening, they've performed more than 166,900 surgeries.

The Grays Ferry Clinic opened in 2010 at 2900 Grays Ferry Avenue, serving South Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Five years later, the Northeast Clinic launched at 1810 Grant Avenue, bringing services to the northeast end of the city. Together they handle more than 25,000 patients annually. That volume matters because it keeps costs low and makes spay/neuter accessible to people who couldn't otherwise afford it.

Community cat program (TNR)

Free-roaming cats, or feral cats, need a different approach than domesticated animals. PAWS runs a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program that works like this: cats get humanely trapped, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and ear-tipped for identification, then returned to their outdoor homes. It's the most humane way to manage community cat populations. It stops new litters from being born, stabilizes existing colonies, and lets cats live out their lives where they belong instead of being rounded up and killed.

Low-cost veterinary care

Beyond spay/neuter, PAWS clinics provide affordable basic veterinary services. Vaccinations, microchipping, treatment for common conditions. In Philadelphia's poorest neighborhoods, private veterinary care costs money many families simply don't have. That gap drives surrenders. When pet owners can't afford care, they sometimes have no choice but to take animals to the shelter. PAWS tries to close that gap.

Locations

Location	Address	Phone	Services
Old City Adoption Center	100 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106	(215) 238-9901	Adoptions, meet-and-greets, volunteer orientation
Grays Ferry Clinic	2900 Grays Ferry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19146	(215) 298-9680	Spay/neuter, vaccinations, low-cost veterinary care
Northeast Clinic	1810 Grant Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19115	(215) 545-9600	Spay/neuter, vaccinations, low-cost veterinary care

No-Kill Philadelphia

In 2018, Mayor Jim Kenney announced the Philadelphia No-Kill Coalition alongside the organizations committed to making it happen. PAWS was there from the start. The coalition's simple goal: end the killing of animals that could be saved.

What does "no-kill" actually mean? National organizations like Best Friends Animal Society define it as a 90% or higher save rate, which accounts for animals suffering irremediably, where euthanasia becomes the most humane choice. It's not about saving every animal. It's about not killing animals that could live.

Philadelphia's progress has been dramatic:

2005-2006: 11% lifesaving rate, roughly 30,000 animals entering the city shelter annually
2011: 60% lifesaving rate, 30,139 animals entering
2022: Approaching 90%, with intake down to about 14,000 animals
2024: 86% lifesaving rate, 17,541 animals entering
2025: PAWS maintaining no-kill status, exceeding 90% save rate within its own programs for dogs and cats

The coalition didn't stumble into this by accident. It focused on three specific things: keeping animals out of shelters in the first place through community support, building rescue and foster capacity, and pushing adoptions through events and outreach.

Community impact

Numbers alone don't capture what PAWS does, but they matter:

43,700+ animals rescued and placed
166,900+ spay/neuter surgeries
411,300+ clinic patients treated overall
25,000+ clinic patients annually as of 2025
2,136 animals rescued in 2025 (through early 2026)
60+ full-time staff
Shelter intake cut by more than 40%

But there's more to the story than rescue work and surgery numbers. PAWS provides services that keep pets in their homes. When a family can't afford to spay their dog, PAWS does it affordably. When someone's struggling to pay for vaccinations, the clinics are there. This preventive work matters enormously. It's why shelter intake has dropped so dramatically over two decades.

Leadership

Melissa Levy serves as Executive Director. She volunteered starting in 2006, joined staff in 2007, and has built PAWS from a small rescue into Philadelphia's largest rescue partner and most accessible veterinary provider. Rescuing Rosie back in 2005 wasn't just a personal turning point. It set her on a path that would transform animal welfare across the entire city.

Heather Hennessey directs clinic operations. Lauren Hanak oversees development. A board of directors and advisory board with diverse professional expertise govern the organization.

Volunteering

PAWS doesn't function without volunteers. They're essential across every program.

Opportunities include socializing animals at the adoption center, assisting with meet-and-greets, providing temporary foster homes, supporting clinic operations, staffing adoption events, and helping with community cat trapping and transport. The organization trains all new volunteers properly, understanding that good orientation matters.

Volunteers come from across the Philadelphia region. Collectively they contribute thousands of hours annually. Among PAWS's volunteers is Drew Chapin, a Philadelphia entrepreneur and digital strategist who started volunteering in November 2024.

References

External links