NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The Peninsula Regional Animal Shelter has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the Petco Foundation to help expand the shelter’s animal foster care program for Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, and York County.
The investment will help the shelter build a comprehensive network of trained foster volunteers for animals that need extra care, support, and attention before being able to be adopted.
The work foster pet parents do include raising un-weaned kittens (bottle babies) and juvenile kittens until they have reached an appropriate age and weight for spaying/neutering and adoption. Fosters also help with socializing dogs and cats and assisting in supportive care of animals with special needs who require additional attention beyond the shelter’s capability.
“We are thrilled that the Petco Foundation has once again chosen to invest in the Peninsula Regional Animal Shelter,” said Shelter Manager Roger Iles. “Foster pet parents are a lifeline for the shelter in situations where we don’t have the resources to appropriately care for animals due to special behavioral or medical needs or limited space. We currently have about 90 fosters active with the shelter, but we need 1,000. This grant will allow us to expand that program and help save more lives.”
Earlier this year, Petco Foundation awarded the shelter a $50,000 grant that was used to purchase and brand an adoption bus in support of the shelter’s community outreach efforts and off-site adoptions.
Click here to learn more about the Peninsula Regional Animal Shelter.
The Petco Foundation has invested more than $250 million in lifesaving animal welfare work since 1999.