About PAWS
Who We Are
PAWS is an all-volunteer, non-profit animal welfare organization, founded in Wakefield in 1982 by Esther Nowell. We serve many communities north of Boston.
Our mission is to:
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promote and protect the rights and well-being of all domestic animals and wildlife, and
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foster greater understanding of animal welfare and animal rights through education.
What We Do
PAWS members and volunteers work with our Board of Directors to provide the following services to our community:
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Humane Response Line: linking our members and the public to our volunteers to help find solutions for animal-related questions and issues.
- Pet Adoptions & Re-Homing: matching pets and people for companionship.
- Low-Cost Spay/Neuter: working with the community to ensure that pet guardians have access to affordable spay/neuter and vet-care options for their companion pets.
- Feral Colony Management: working with the community to ensure that free-roaming cats are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and provided with food and appropriate shelter.
- Community Outreach & Education: providing educational opportunities for our schools and community regarding animal welfare and animal-related issues.
Our Accomplishments
The following describes some of the ways in which we provide services to our communities and benefits to the health and welfare of our animals and their people.
General Services and Community Participation
- We respond to over 5,000 phone and email messages every year, resulting in an average of 400 cases that we are able to work with.
- We participate in town days in Wakefield, Reading, and Melrose by managing a booth with educational materials on various animal issues as well as information about our services.
- We participate in the Salvation Army's annual Christmas Shop in Wakefield, providing cat food, dog food and cat litter for the low-income Wakefield families serviced by this event.
Adoption Services
- Since 2000, we have found homes for more than 2300 cats, 95 dogs and 70 other pets (including rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets and birds).
- Since 2007, we have implanted more than 750 pets with HomeAgain microchips.
Medical Services
Since 2000, we
- spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and cared for over 3000 animals.
- trapped, sterilized, vaccinated and released 500 feral cats in our communities.
- provided financial assistance for 170 families whose pets needed care that they could not afford.
- partnered with VCA Wakefield Animal Hospital to provide an annual low-cost rabies vaccination clinic.
Educational Services
- Every year, we provide annual subscriptions to the KIND News (a monthly newspaper teaching humane values) to all Wakefield students in Grades 1-6 and their teachers.
- We also sponsor the annual Wonders of Animal Life program for all 5th grade students in Wakefield schools. Last year, this presentation included experts who each provided a 1-2 hour presentation covering the following subjects:
* Eyes on Owls (including live owl demonstrations)
* Living with Coyotes (including a film and slide show about local coyote studies)