Pet Adoption Center Of Orange County
PROGRAMS
Community Resources and Events
A key component of our mission is to engage the community. The center acts as a central location for food and other donations, events, activities, seminars, and training classes, as well as pet adoptions. We collaborate with other nonprofits to increase the power of our actions, and be a catalyst for positive change. Through education, networking, providing collaborative efforts with other nonprofits for pet food and low-cost vet services to the needy, and hosting unique events which result in providing unusual exposure, we are able to maximize benefits which result from our efforts. In 2023, we began a collaboration to provide Pet Pantry services in conjunction with RSM Cares-The Bell Tower Foundation. We've been providing low-cost pet wellness vet care in conjunction with HEART mobile vet clinic at The South County Pet Expo and elsewhere. In 2024, we are launching a collaborative effort for low-cost spay/neuter services with a new nonprofit clinic, Forever Family, in Mission Viejo. We continue to grow the South County Pet Expo, providing a large-scale community pet education, adoption and resource event to the public in collaboration with the City of Lake Forest and OC Supervisor Don Wagner's office annually.
Long-term success has been measured by the year-to-year growth in size and participation at each event. Each year, long-term community partnerships have formed that lead to additional events, unique forms of outreach, and additional types of service provision, such as the Pet Pantry, and the impending low-cost spay/neuter clinic program. We have also seen a general increase in the total number of pet adoptions through various events from startup until 2023, when the current national post-pandemic animal welfare crisis exploded.
Pet Rescue and Adoptions
The mission of The Pet Adoption Center of Orange County is to be a facilities-based animal welfare organization, primarily focusing on rescuing shelter dogs and assisting owners in need of rehoming their dogs, and providing them with a home-like environment in which to decompress, rehabilitate, and transition on their way to their forever families. With this program, comes facility rent, operating costs, and maintenance requirements that are far beyond what a foster-based animal rescue group needs. The additional benefits of having the facility far outweigh the costs, in that more animals will be rescued, socialized and placed, and the public has access to a central location for education, pet pantry donations, events, volunteering, and community service. We have just begun our eighth year of operations, with ongoing needs for facility refurbishment and maintenance. Due to inflation, costs have significantly increased for rescuing and placing animals. Additional funds are needed for the care and medical treatment of the animals we rescue and care for at the center.
The ultimate changes that result from this program include: A reduction in the need for rescue of Orange County animals, as the center takes in, houses, and transitions dogs into their forever homes; An increase in public education and the overall level of humane treatment of OC animals through daily education and community services provided by the center; A reduction in the county's homeless domestic animal population, due to spay/neuter education and surgeries provided with adoptions and for the needy, as well as keeping more pets in their homes by providing them with pet food regularly; An increase in the percentage of homes in Orange County with pets. Ultimately, we save animals' lives and improve the quality of life for animals and the individuals who own them.
CONTACT
Pet Adoption Center Of Orange County
PO Box 80400
Rancho Santa Margarita, California 92688
Phone: (949) 858-1000