Robert Potter League for Animals

Sheltering and adoptions: we welcomed 2,298 dogs, puppies, cats, kittens, and small pets to our animal care center this year. The League invests in behavior, foster care, and veterinary programs to ensure that Animals are rehabilitated and adopted. We found new homes for 2,012 Animals, and 199 lost Animals were reunited with their families. The Potter League provided free veterinary wellness clinics to residents of public housing, including physical exams, vaccines, and microchips to 187 Animals whose families would not otherwise be able to afford care. Our pet food bank and veterinary assistance programs support Animals who belong to families that are economically challenged. We supplied 32,375 pounds of pet food to food pantries and individuals and subsidized over $9,000 in veterinary care for newport county residents who could not afford care for their pets. The League's petsafe program provided emergency housing and care for 65 pets of victims of domestic violence, natural disasters, fires, and other crises for a total of 2,260 days. Collaboration is critical to our mission. The Potter League partners with the martin luther king center jr community center, the women's resource center, lucy's hearth, newport public housing, and coyote smarts.

Spay and neuter-the Potter League spay and neuter clinic performed 5,689 surgical procedures and provided 3,120 vaccines. Though our clinic already has very low pricing, we further reduced pricing through additional subsidies for a total of $78,321 to put spay/neuter within reach of everyone. Clients include individuals, animal shelters, animal rescues, and groups engaged in trap neuter and return of community cats

Education, behavior & training, and community awareness- behavior and training: as the animal resource center for newport county (ri) and beyond, the Potter League offers various programs to support our animal care and protection mission. Our efforts also aim to support the bonds between Animals and their families; we aim to keep Animals in their homes and out of our shelter. Towards this end, 2,627 dogs and puppies in our community attended various classes and playgroups. We provide one-on-one customized training for the more challenging Animals in our care, allowing them to learn acceptable manners. Our behavior helpline helped 555 people by phone and hundreds more by email. Our educators work with both adults and children to strengthen the human-animal bond. We held 259 lessons with 3,928 students in addition to our summer camp.

Veterinary care- in october 2020, the Potter League acquired the pets in need veterinary clinic (pin), rhode island's only full-service non-profit veterinary clinic. Located in east providence, the clinic sees the pets of people living in rhode island who receive public assistance. Without the clinic, most of the pets we see would have nowhere else to go. This year pin provided 4,383 appointments, including 104 surgical procedures and 48 dental procedures. Thousands of Animals in rhode island would have gone without care if not for pin.