Volunteer Services for Animals Information

Volunteer Services for Animals (VSA) was the first organization in the United States dedicated to helping cats and dogs in municipal animal shelters, places formerly thought of as a dead end for the unfortunate animals there. Since 1979, Volunteer Services for Animals has assisted in municipal animal shelters in Rhode Island cities and towns, providing adoption outreach services, companionship and medical assistance to animals waiting for new homes. Over the years, VSA helped improve conditions and the standard of care at the shelters. Most animal shelters now provide veterinary care for sick animals, and inoculations against rabies and distemper. VSA brought down the euthanasia rates by promoting spay/neuter and adoptions, but euthanasia of healthy, adoptable cats and dogs is not yet eliminated because there are still more homeless animals than there are homes. We haven't confined our efforts to the shelters. VSA helps companion animal owners with medical emergencies, and spaying or neutering. We advise and support the efforts of people who want to rescue a stray dog or cat, or want to help a feral (wild) cat. Our volunteers provide foster care to homeless animals, and put a lot of effort into finding them good, permanent homes. VSA provides pet food, when donated to us, to people caring for feral and stray cats, and to low-income people caring for dogs and cats. This allows people to keep their animals and to help more strays. VSA promotes local and statewide legislation helpful to animals. We helped pass legislation that animals adopted from municipal or private shelters must be spayed or neutered. We collaborated with other humane groups to ban the gas chamber in all municipal and private animal shelters in Rhode Island. We worked to pass much-needed mandatory cat spay/neuter legislation. We worked for passage of the law that prohibits convicted animal abusers from having, or living with, pets for up to ten years. VSA continues to suppress efforts by RI DEM to bring back the use of steel-jaw leg hold ...