Guardian Membership
Your Exclusive First Look at the Impact YOU Made in 2024
With Guardians like you by our side, we’re able to work tirelessly, day in and day out, to create a better world for animals. Whether we’re rescuing animals in harm’s way, advocating for stronger animal welfare laws, helping communities in need or finding loving homes for animals looking for a second chance, you’ve been there to help make our work possible.
As a special thank you to our Guardians for your incredible generosity this past year, we’re sharing a few stories demonstrating the lifesaving impact you helped us make for animals across the country in 2024.
Helping Communities, People and Pets During Disaster
This year, our Disaster Response team assisted thousands of animals across multiple states when devastation struck. Starting in May, we assisted with relief efforts following flooding in San Jacinto County, Texas, evacuating 20 shelter animals to our Cruelty Recovery Center (CRC) in Ohio. Less than a month later, we quickly mobilized to evacuate more than 100 animals displaced by severe weather in North Texas, bringing all 100 to the CRC as well. In July, we urgently evacuated 40 homeless dogs from New Mexico animal shelters as wildfires and burn scar flooding devastated the area.
Shortly after, we deployed in response to the Park Fire in Northern California, assisting over 120 animals. In the days following, we evacuated over a dozen homeless dogs displaced by Tropical Storm Debby in Georgia, and about a month after that, we were back on the ground in Southern Louisiana in response to Hurricane Francine, assisting a longtime partner shelter with daily animal care and enrichment, behavior and veterinary assistance and adoption center operations.
In October, following the devastation of category 4 storm, Hurricane Helene, our team assisted with impact and needs assessments, animal search and rescue, evacuated homeless animals from partner shelters as well as our own, and supported communities with pet food and other critical supplies in the Southeast. We also operated an emergency hotline and animal shelter in North Carolina to provide daily care for displaced animals. Overall, we assisted over 25,000 animals through rescue, recovery and relief efforts through our Hurricane Helene efforts alone.
Providing Accessible Veterinary Care to Pet Parents Nationwide
This September, in an effort to expand affordable veterinary care to those most in need, we opened our third ASPCA Community Veterinary Clinic in New York City, located in Long Island City, Queens. This facility aims to provide access to affordable veterinary services for tens of thousands of underserved pet parents each year and improve the health and welfare of dogs and cats in the surrounding community.
The ASPCA Community Veterinary Clinic by The Rachael Ray Foundation™ is the fourth Community Veterinary Clinic we have opened in five years, with the first clinic opening in Miami, followed by clinics in the Bronx and Brooklyn, collectively serving more than 100,000 cats and dogs since 2019, and helping to make veterinary care more affordable and accessible nationwide.
Just three months following our grand opening, Alberto G. and his 9-year-old Bulldog, Delicious came through our doors for an appointment. Delicious suffers from chronic allergies with symptoms like dry eyes and constant ear infections.
To help with the current yeast infection in her ears, Delicious was prescribed a short-term steroid to reduce inflammation. Additionally, one of our veterinarians, Dr. Cucui, discussed a potential 6- to 12-week food trial with Alberto and shared helpful information and resources about diet and lifestyle management. She also recommended ongoing care with a primary veterinarian.
Finding Animals the Loving Homes They Deserve
Rescuing and protecting animals isn’t always easy but seeing those smiling faces after they’ve been adopted into loving homes makes all our hard work worth the effort. Here are a few of the animals who, with your support, got second chances in 2024.
At just 14-week-old, Niko was allegedly thrown off a bed, breaking numerous bones, and burned with hot water. He was unable to walk and was diagnosed with fractures of both of his hind limbs, as well as fractures to multiple ribs.
Severe burns covered more than 20% of his body, including the top of his head, forehead, left ear, around the eyes and on the muzzle. Over 60% of his back had been burned, causing blisters, skin discoloration, taut, leathery skin – and severe pain.
Niko was in excruciating pain, and we needed to help him quickly. Dr. J’mai Gayle, Director of Surgery at the ASPCA Animal Hospital, performed surgery to fix Niko’s leg fractures and oversaw his daily wound care.
Niko’s femur and rib fractures healed. But the deep burns he suffered damaged his hair follicles, and he’ll always have scar tissue, requiring that he wear a UV-blocking shirt on outside walks to prevent sunburn.
To continue healing in a less stressful environment, Niko went to foster with Dan, a music teacher in Brooklyn. Dan quickly fell in love with the puppy and adopted him shortly after.
Niko’s daily routine now includes playtime in his backyard, a morning walk and lots of off-leash time at a nearby park where he enjoys socializing with other dogs. He’s enrolled in a doggie daycare on days when Dan and his partner aren’t home.
In late January, Dorian was brought into the ASPCA Animal Hospital as a medically compromised stray. A Good Samaritan had found him and upon noting his severe injuries, brought him to the Hospital for immediate care.
Dorian was unable to walk, and through X-rays, we found he had multiple fractures of his pelvis and a fracture at the top of his hip joint as well. Because of his age and weight, Dorian wasn’t eligible for surgery just yet. His recovery would require crate rest and monitoring until he got big enough to undergo the surgery he needed.
Couple Manuel and Dennis heard Dorian’s story, and it broke their hearts. They knew they wanted to help so they went to meet Dorian. They quickly fell in love with the sweet kitten and adopted him, all while keeping him on cage rest until he was eligible for surgery.
In late March, Dorian was finally ready to have his surgery. Manuel and Dennis took him back to the Animal Hospital for a pre-op appointment where our veterinarians discovered that he had healed up all on his own and would no longer need surgery.
Dorian is now a normal kitten who spends his days running and playing with his feline sister, snuggling with his parents and living his best kitten life.
Fourteen-year-old Stella R. had one thing on her mind: animals. More specifically: acquiring a horse. Her family built a barn on the property before starting their search, but once they began looking, they were in for a shock.
“We went to [livestock] auctions at first, not knowing what happens,” recalls Stella. “We became concerned about the welfare of these horses.”
Stella learned that some horses may be purchased for their meat or by bailout operators, who acquire horses cheaply and claim they will go to slaughter by a specified date if they aren’t “rescued” by another buyer. The phony “rescue fees,” or bailouts, fuel the scam, providing significant income for the bailout operators to purchase more horses. While some horses bought at auctions are trucked immediately to Mexico or Canada for slaughter, others change hands several times over, moving from one auction to another, which exposes them to injury and illness.
The family quickly pivoted to equine adoption from a reputable shelter and found 15-year-old Quarter Horse, Roux. Roux was one of nine horses transported to the ASPCA Equine Transition and Adoption Center (ETAC) from the Department of Animal Services when their previous owner could no longer care for them.
Roux was underweight when she first arrived at ETAC, so once settled staff started her on a refeeding program to get her back to a healthy weight. Her physical condition improved, and she impressed trainers during her behavior assessment, accepting all handling. Her excellent manners led the ETAC team to realize she’d probably been a riding horse.
From the moment Stella met Roux, she knew it was a match and adopted her that day. Stella enjoys taking care of Roux and plans to ride her.
Thank you so much for being a Guardian and helping to make the world a kinder place for animals! We can’t wait to see what we will accomplish together in 2025!
Guardian Stories
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