D.C. shakes up, expands animal services
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A puppy at an HRA adoption event. Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post via Getty Images
Animal care and control in D.C. is undergoing a huge, immediate shift in the new year as the city ends its 45-year contract with the Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA) and teams up with a new organization.
Why it matters: Pet owners and aspiring adopters and fosters will have more options and access to services between HRA (which will still operate independently) and the city's new partner, Brandywine Valley SPCA (BVSPCA) — which aims to transform animal care in the city.
Catch up quick: Months-long contract renegotiations between the city and HRA fell apart last year.
- Brandywine, a Delaware-based nonprofit and one of the largest animal welfare organizations in the region, is taking duties over from HRA.
- That includes adoption and shelter programs, reuniting pets and owners, spay/neuter and vet services, capturing strays and wild animals, and dangerous dog investigations.
Zoom in: DC Health and Brandywine will operate three facilities: a New York Avenue shelter recently vacated by HRA, a retail space and adoption center nearby in Ivy City, and a new 30,000 square-foot facility by Blue Plains that'll act as an operations hub.
- Brandywine COO Aaron Johnson tells Axios the facility is slated to partially open this month.
- The team plans to launch programs that have proven successful in other places, including "mega" adoption events with multiple shelters at a major venue "that gets people excited to adopt" and finds hundreds of animals homes.
The intrigue: The tight transition proved rocky. HRA had to vacate the DC Health shelter near Ivy City with animals in tow by Dec. 31 — over the holidays, when foster and volunteer numbers fluctuate.
- HRA tells Axios they kept over 200 dogs in their shelter near Brightwood Park — far beyond its 115 capacity — setting up kennels in a temporary warehouse.
- Thanks in part to a big social media push and community support, they found 135 new fosters and 44 adoptions by the end of the year, leaving just nearly 80 animals in the shelter.
Between the lines: Animal rights groups like DC Watchdogs are already raising red flags about overcrowding at HRA's shelter — and concerns about the location of Brandywine's new facility, which is close to the D.C. and Maryland border near Prince George's County and not easily accessible by public transportation.
- That said, after months of uncertainty over who'd take over the city's animal control, "We're cautiously hopeful about Brandywine," Watchdog member Kate Finman tells Axios.
The big picture: The pandemic and its fallout stressed animal welfare services in D.C. and nationwide. Meanwhile, a national veterinary shortage makes it hard to carry out medical services including spay/neuter programs.
Stunning stats: Last year, HRA took in about 7,000 domestic pets and 1,600 wild animals. Brandywine, which operates in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, cares for more than 20,000 lost, stray, owner-surrendered animals a year — all while maintaining a 93% "live release" rate.
HRA, for its part, never considered shutting down. The city's contract wasn't the bulk of its work, the nonprofit told Axios.
- It plans to continue and expand its adoption services, food pantries and mobile vet care operations, among other services.
- HRA also plans to open a pet resource center east of the Anacostia River this year to serve a vet and pet services desert there.