PAWS Chicago Showcased as a National Model
Jun 03, 2024
As shelters nationwide continue to be overcrowded, PAWS Chicago
Shelter overcrowding is a national problem, as cities and counties across the country struggle with difficult conditions for homeless pets. Beginning last year, media around the country began reporting on the issue, detailing conditions at local shelters.
The next wave of reporting—looking at potential solutions—has begun. Recently, NBC Palm Springs spoke to PAWS Chicago Founder and Executive Chair Paula Fasseas to discuss the 27-year-history of PAWS and the importance of community outreach in containing shelter populations. The story noted the PAWS’s 98 percent save rate and called the organization “a national model for the No Kill movement.”
Fasseas stressed the importance of high-volume spay and neuter surgery programs for underserved neighborhoods, noting that PAWS performs more than 15,000 free and low-cost spay and neuter surgeries each year to control pet overpopulation. But the secret to our lifesaving work is you: Community engagement is key.
“The community...they want to help. We just have to give them a vehicle and that vehicle is an agency that is proactive, that believes in No Kill, and, when the public trusts you and partners with you, that are there to help you,” said Paula.
She added that if a region has a robust and affordable spay/neuter program for the community, that every other issue is “solvable.”