The San Francisco Bay Area supports one of the most active concentrations of animal welfare organizations anywhere in the United States. Across the region’s counties — from San Francisco through the Peninsula, the East Bay, and down to Silicon Valley — dozens of nonprofits provide shelter, medical care, rescue services, education, and advocacy for companion animals and wildlife.
The region has also been at the forefront of the national no-kill movement. Several Bay Area organizations developed models that influenced shelter practices across the country. The density of these organizations, and the way they coordinate across county lines, is distinctive.
Here are ten of the nonprofits that have shaped what animal welfare looks like in the Bay Area.
1. San Francisco SPCA
The San Francisco SPCA was founded in 1868, making it one of the oldest humane societies in the United States. For much of the twentieth century it operated as a traditional shelter. In 1994, it helped reshape the national conversation about what shelters could be when it signed the Adoption Pact with San Francisco Animal Care and Control — a commitment that no adoptable animal in San Francisco would be euthanized for space or time. The agreement became a model cited by animal welfare advocates nationally and is widely considered a turning point in the no-kill movement…