It’s the holiday season at Pets Alive. A wonderful time. People send us cards, letters, pictures, treats. Boxes and gifts for the humans and animals here, appear each time the mail is delivered. Truly it is a magical time of year. Magical. Just like Pets Alive is. A magical place and a special place.

This is the time where we look back and reminisce about the year that has passed. The animals that have passed through our doors. They always arrive the same way. Pulled from euthanasia lists all over the country – in our backyard, or from somewhere else – they arrive the same. Huddled in the back of their crates. Eyes wide. Sometimes shaking. Confused. Scared. Unsure. And to each one we tell the same thing “You are safe now. You will never know hunger again. You will never be the victim of abuse again. You will never have to live in fear again. Come into our arms, through our doors, and now, maybe for the first time, know love and warmth, plenty of food, and soon – a forever home.”

We watch as they transform.

With every animal that comes to us, we watch this change take place. That skinny, huddled, terrified animal, blossoms under the care of our staff and volunteers. Soon they lose that anxiety and are filled with joy, tails wagging, faces grinning. They are happy, greet us each day, go for walks, for outings and find a friend to live with while they wait for their people. We live for the moment that they are in a car, going up our driveway, head out of the window as they look back. I imagine at that moment they are saying “Thank you. I wouldn’t have made it without you.”

That “you” is not us. It is YOU, our friends, our partners in rescue.

YOU, our volunteers, sponsors, adoptive families. YOU who give your hearts to help the animals find freedom and know love.
Together WE saved over 2,000 animals this year. Together, we stepped in to save the troubled Elmsford Shelter and welcomed them into the Pets Alive family. Because of your support, we have saved the dogs of Dead Dog Beach in Puerto Rico. Together, we helped more shelters become no-kill, training and supporting them, taking in their overflow. We have made a tremendous difference. With your help, and the help of our network we saved hundreds of animals that we couldn’t take here. We helped draft Oreo’s Law and together we will work to see it passed this year, so that no animal that has another option will be killed in shelters in NY. At Pets Alive in Middletown, we saved 120 beagles from a testing laboratory. All have been adopted! With your help we rescued over 90 animals from hoarding situations and found them all homes. We have worked to get animals, that other rescues would not take, off the euthanasia lists of the CACC in NYC. We will break ground on a medical facility to help our animals and the local community animals. We acquired the “Magic Bus” to help us get our volunteers and animals to adoption events. We redid every outdoor kennel, doubling our capacity while making the runs twice the size.

When we first came to Elmsford, there were 600 cats there, 400 of which lived in cages. All are now free to roam in rooms with friends. And 300 have been placed. There were over 350 dogs there, over 150 were seniors. Many of the seniors have been placed and we are down to a total of 220 dogs. We are in the process of getting a vet on staff full time, and building a surgical suite on site. Since becoming Pets Alive Westchester, the adoptions have increased from a few a month to between 50-70 a month. Volunteers are starting to come regularly and help us with fund raising and off site events. Elmsford is also becoming a magical place. All of these changes have helped us to cut operational expenses there by over 60%, and we are steadily rebuilding relationships in Westchester. To be successful though, we still need your help in Westchester.

We appreciate your support and ask that you continue to support us in the coming year. We have some funding challenges and as usual it is one of our biggest worries. Your help is what keeps us going.

Thank you for the cards, emails, notes, telephone calls, pictures and other expressions of your support and affection. We read them all and they have made a tremendous impact on us.

From our families to yours, and from our Pets Alive family to yours, we wish you a joyful holiday season and look forward to a 2011 where we can save more animals and make more of an impact on the community and the country.

P.S. You can make your impact last all year.
Please consider sponsoring the life on an animal at Pets Alive.
These monthly sponsorships truly help keep us alive.