What We’re Doing:

When a Parvo outbreak at Petersburg Animal Shelter took the lives of nine dogs last year, PAWS applied for grant funding to purchase an industrial strength stream cleaner. Now, volunteers sanitize surfaces throughout the shelter, killing viruses and bacteria and preventing similar tragedies. PAWS replaced the air conditioner in the shelter’s isolation room when it failed during this past summer’s heat wave; secured grant funding to install safety dividers between dog runs so that animals don’t expend their pent-up energy barking at and fighting with each other, and purchased a new refrigerator, where medication and vaccinations are stored, when the old one stopped working. Again and again, PAWS is there for the animals who need help the most, responding quickly to these urgent, essential needs that the city’s budget is unable to fulfill.

PAWS held 14 adoption events where 84 dogs and 33 cats found forever homes in 2024, and helped place 158 dogs and 110 cats with other Virginia releasing agencies to alleviate overcrowding at the Petersburg shelter, preventing space-based euthanasia.