Operating since 2015, Wolf Trap Animal Rescue focuses on rescuing high-risk animals from euthanasia, neglect, and abuse. These animals primarily come from Mississippi, where hundreds of young animals are euthanized daily due to overpopulation. Lack of spay/neuter laws and large sections of rural land allow free-roaming animals to reproduce. Starving puppies and kittens are found and brought to local animal shelters, which simply can't provide the care or homes these pets need to survive. Ultimately, they get euthanized for space or due to illnesses contracted at the shelter. There simply aren’t enough people to adopt.
Wolf Trap Animal Rescue helps these animals by operating a life-saving transport, foster, and adoption program. Each week they relieve the shelters and communities from overcrowding and needless euthanasia by redirecting the intake of young, at-risk animals from the other shelters to Wolf Trap Animal Rescue. They're one of the only veterinarian-led animal rescue organizations with the primary focus being on the health of their animals. There’s an extensive 21-day veterinary quarantine in specialty-trained foster homes that allows for any potentially life-threatening illnesses to be immediately detected and screened out.
The foster program is designed to ensure the health of the pet and allow people to experience life with an animal before making the life-long commitment to adopt. Foster caregivers not only have priority in adopting, but also get to interview and select which home they feel would be the best fit for the animal in their care.
Wolf Trap Animal Rescue’s adoption process is as follows:
Adoption fees at Wolf Trap Animal Rescue are as follows:
Your adoption fee covers spay/neuter surgery, appropriate vaccinations, microchipping, deworming, flea/tick control, heartworm prevention for dogs, and 30 days post-adoption insurance.
This fee isn’t meant to cover costs incurred on a per-pet basis, but to cover the costs of all overhead expenses required to rescue these animals. This includes transport, personal protective equipment, employee expenses, medical expenses for critical care pets, food, and all foster supplies provided while in foster care.
Our writing team is hard at work researching this shelter's adoption process and fees, so this page will be updated soon!
In the meantime, here's some nice-to-know info that applies to nearly every animal shelter, humane society, and rescue.
Because shelter dogs are full of love!
Is it because they know you saved them and love you harder for it?
I can't say for certain, but yes.
Jokes aside, there are three things all shelter dogs need to thrive in their new home:
Older shelter dogs, generally 1+ years old, may have experienced a lot of trauma, which often results in one of 8 common behavioral issues:
These issues are correctable! Your dog isn't broken, they're just damaged. You can fix them with enough love, patience, and a good training plan.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, finding good dog trainers can be hard. Like everything else, dog training is moving only. but there are great online dog trainers that are proven to work and can help get your new pup on the right path.
You can learn a lot about an animal welfare organization just by looking at their name.
Adoption processes vary drastically from organization to organization, but here are some general tips that apply in most instances. Note that we'll use the term "shelters" here for simplicity but it includes all types of rescue organizations.
If you have any questions about adopting an animal (what you'll need, what to expect, etc.) feel free to contact the PetLists team!
If you're looking to adopt a new dog, our Dog Adoption Guide is a must-read. It has everything you need to know about bringing a shelter dog home:
And we're adding new guides all the time.
