Animal Allies – a look back at 2024
DULUTH, Minn. — Animal Allies has had a busy year. We visited with them to reflect on how their year went and their plans for the future.
It has been tough for animal shelters across the country. The financial pressure of inflation has been a challenge for shelters.
The cost of living is on the rise which means it is difficult for pet owners to have the funds needed to properly care for pets.
Basic costs for food, spaying, neutering, vaccines and other veterinary care are more expensive.
This has led to the shelter being booked out on animal surrenders, and strays can always come through the doors without warning.
Even with these setbacks…good news is on the horizon.
“So even though it was a hard year for us in the sense that a lot of animals, seeing some tough cases and things like that, kind of the best piece of it has been the community support. It just never seems to fail no matter what we post or ask for help with the community always shows up. It’s been amazing just this last week of the year posting the animals that need homes and the ones that have been here a while and seeing nearly everyone get scooped up was just really, really cool.” Nicole Facciotto, Adoption Manager.
Over 1000 animals were adopted from Animal Allies this year,
But it’s not just the adoptions and social media support,
though last week’s efforts left a lot of empty kennels and cat spaces.
The volunteers also made a massive impact this year.
“Our volunteers are huge, you know, we are here operating 365 days a year, so when we get the help of volunteers on top of that it just really ensures we can be fast and reliable for these animals. seeing volunteers come in when its below zero or it’s a holiday again it’s just so heartwarming and reminds us of the support that we have. And it’s benefitting us as an organization but really makes all the difference for the animals that are here.”
The support from the community also goes right back into it.
Part of Animal Allies work is to assess what the community needs from them,
and as mentioned earlier, costs are on the rise putting a squeeze on pet owners.
“That will be a big focus for us, is more ways that we can have additional community resources besides just being here and doing our day to day, if that’s finding options for low cost spay/neuter or vaccine clinics, just ensuring that we are always learning and seeing what our community needs and doing what we can to provide that is kind of our goal for 2025.”
To volunteer, donate or adopt. you can visit AnimalAllies.net
