About SPCA Wake
The SPCA of Wake County (SPCA Wake) helps pets and people in over half of the counties across NC through collaborative partnerships. SPCA Wake is an animal welfare agency headquartered in Raleigh, NC. Donations keep families together, make frontline rescue work possible, and save pets and people in crisis across NC. SPCA Wake is an independent, 501(c)(3) animal welfare organization and shelter.
Our mission is to transform the lives of pets and people through protection, care, education, and adoption. Our vision is to create a humane community.
Funded by charitable support, we provide vital community programs that pick up where local government agencies leave off. For 56 years, we have provided comprehensive support services to companion animals in need with sheltering, care and adoption services.
We provide people-focused programs that keep families and pets together, including spay/neuter assistance programs, affordable access to basic pet vaccines and preventative care, pet food and supply assistance, professional pet behavior assistance, disaster relief and response efforts, and shelter diversion efforts.
Our Facilities
The SPCA of Wake County operates two separate animal shelters and each facility serves a different purpose.
The SPCA Curtis Dail Pet Adoption Center, built in 2003, is located at 200 Petfinder Lane in Raleigh and provides pet adoption, public education, and pet supplies through its on-site retail store. The Adoption Center location does not accept incoming animals.
The SPCA Admission Center, built in 1971, at 327 Highway 70 East in Garner, accepts incoming animals from the public by appointment only. We transfer as many animals as possible from high-intake government shelters, as well as other animal sheltering organizations around the area. Managing intake allows the SPCA to balance its shelter capacity and prevent the euthanasia of homeless animals for reasons such as space or time.
The SPCA opened The Saving Lives Spay/Neuter Clinic adjacent to the SPCA Pet Adoption Center in 2009. The clinic provides sterilization surgery for all SPCA animals prior to adoption, as well as pets owned by the public.
The SPCA Pet Admission & Resource Center is currently under construction and expected to open in early 2026. This facility will replace the existing SPCA Admission Center and will be located alongside the Pet Adoption Center on Petfinder Lane, together becoming the Susan and Randall Ward Regional Campus for Pets and People.
Our Programs
SPCA Wake is a limited-admission organization. In 2024, the SPCA of Wake County took in a total of 3,652 homeless pets.
SPCA Wake will never euthanize a pet due to lack of space and is committed to saving every animal taken in. SPCA Wake only euthanizes pets who are too ill or too behaviorally unsound to be rehabilitated and adopted. Matching loving families with shelter pets is the heart of what SPCA Wake does daily.
We focus our animal intake efforts on the animals most at risk of euthanasia at open-admission animal shelters where the sheer volume of incoming animals creates the most risk for euthanasia. Although most of our animal admissions are focused on partnering with and transferring from open-admission animal shelters, we work to divert as many animals as possible from entering area shelters, especially through intake of unowned litters of kittens and puppies.
All animals are spayed or neutered prior to adoption from the SPCA of Wake County. This is an essential part of our mission to address pet overpopulation and reduce the number of animals being euthanized in our community.
The Saving Lives Spay/Neuter Clinic enables SPCA Wake to transfer thousands of unsterilized animals from surrounding rural shelters who have few spay/neuter resources. Those pets are spayed/neutered and then adopted through the SPCA, freeing shelter partners to use limited resources for remaining animals. Dozens of area animal rescue groups also effectively utilize this low-cost spay/neuter option and take animals back into their care for adoption. The low-cost price point enables thousands of families to access this vital service.
In partnership with local veterinary clinics, the SPCA also sells redeemable vouchers for discounted spay/neuter services at participating area veterinarians. Over 1,000 vouchers are sold each year.
After a significant increase in demand for animal services following the COVID-19 pandemic, SPCA Wake launched the Pet Helpline in 2021—a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to make it easier for our community to find pet-related support. The Pet Helpline connects people with pet resources and programs while also providing insight into what programs and services our community needs most.
SPCA Wake's Pet Helpline provides assistance to keep pets in homes, out of shelters, and improve both human and animal lives. Pet Helpline staff collaborate with all SPCA departments to provide a solution or additional resources tailored to each case.
Pets and people in need receive free pet food and supplies through partnerships with 10 local agencies, including Meals on Wheels of Wake County. In 2024, SPCA Wake distributed over 218,000 pet meals.
Our Community Impact team also distributes needed supplies to other shelters and organizations around North Carolina, including disaster response efforts.
The SPCA’s volunteer Foster Program is a vital part of our effort to save animal lives. These volunteers provide specialized care in their homes for animals who are not yet candidates for adoption because of illness or age. A robust foster care program allows SPCA Wake to respond quickly to emergency pet intake needs, whether from partner shelters or disaster relief efforts. Approximately 1/3 of all incoming animals are cared for in a volunteer foster home for a brief time.
Crisis foster homes provide temporary care for pets when their owners are displaced by hardship in order to reunite that family once housing, finances, or security is re-established.
We are fortunate to work with incredible volunteers who provide essential support to the daily operation of the SPCA, including animal care, behavior enrichment, medical care, adoptions, administrative support and special events. In 2024, volunteers provided over 13,000 hours of service — the equivalent of 7 full-time employees.
The SPCA of Wake County strives to create and support a lifelong bond between pets and their people. We believe in positive, reward-based training that strengthens the human/animal bond and builds trust. All SPCA staff are certified in Fear-Free animal handling techniques. Our on-staff Pet Behavior Coordinator works with individual pets to resolve behavioral concerns and improve the health and well-being of pets waiting for adoption.
According to data from our Pet Helpline, the #1 reason owners requested to surrender their pets in 2024 was due to behavior and training challenges. In an effort to help resolve behavior issues, we provide personalized, one-on-one behavior assistance through our Pet Helpline, a library of online pet behavior articles for common questions and training needs, and a list of force-free trainers to help pet owners solve pet behavior problems. Pet owners having to consider surrendering their pet due behavioral concerns can also receive free, in-person, one-on-one behavior support with a professional trainer through our partnership with Triangle Pet Behavior.
Sometimes, for whatever reason, keeping a pet in his current home isn’t an option. Whenever possible, we aim to help pet owners find adoptive families without that pet ever having to enter the competitive shelter system. In an effort to divert pets from entering area shelters, our Pet Helpline provides resources for safe and successful pet rehoming, including courtesy adoption listings viewable to families seeking a new pet on our website.
SPCA Wake hosts multiple pop-up Wellness Clinics each year providing free or $5 essential (rabies and distemper-combo) vaccines to help keep our community's pets healthy at an affordable price. These clinics also provide $5 microchips and free pet collars with personalized ID tags to help pets easily find their way back home should they ever get lost.
Pets are often beloved family members, and the death of a pet can be a traumatic, life-changing experience for many. The SPCA offers a Pet Loss Support Group for individuals or families grieving the loss of a pet, regardless of when that loss occurred. The Pet Loss Support Group encourages and supports open communication about the loss of one’s pet and honors the grieving process as uniquely individual.
One of the best ways to reduce the shelter euthanasia of cats and kittens (both stray and formerly owned) is by managing the outdoor & feral cat population to prevent excessive breeding of unwanted litters. In 2023, SPCA Wake added a dedicated staff person specializing in community cat management efforts. This program enables us to lend out humane traps for TNVR (trap, neuter, vaccinate, return), provide low-cost or fee-reduced spay/neuter surgeries for unowned community cats, and divert kittens born outdoors from further breeding so they can instead find loving homes.
SPCA of Wake County
A 4-Star Charity Navigator Recipient
SPCA Wake is proud to receive the 4-Star Charity Navigator rating (the highest possible rating)! Charity Navigator believes rating nonprofits dramatically improves the quantity and quality of information available to charitable givers/social investors. Charity Navigator ratings provide clear, objective, and reliable assessments of both the Financial Health and Accountability & Transparency of charities. By using these ratings, donors can learn how a charity compares on these performance metrics with other charities throughout the country. Donors can be more confident that in supporting those charities rated highly by Charity Navigator, they will be supporting organizations that are more financially healthy, accountable, and transparent.
SPCA of Wake County
Guidestar Platinum Transparency Rating
Our History
In early 1967, a Raleigh woman named Mrs. Martha Gappins passed away, leaving $5,000 to the Raleigh SPCA—an organization that didn’t exist. At the time, the state capital had no dedicated animal welfare society whatsoever. Determined to honor her wishes, Mrs. Gappins’ trustees reached out to two prominent figures in Raleigh’s philanthropic community, Dot Helms and Diana Maupin. Both women shared a deep love for animals and a firm belief that Raleigh desperately needed a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Their passion quickly ignited interest. More than 200 people attended the first organizational meeting, and within days, on June 7, 1967, the SPCA of Wake County was officially incorporated. Over the next four years, tireless fundraising and volunteer efforts led to the construction of the region’s first animal shelter in 1971, located on U.S. 70 in Garner—now functioning as the SPCA’s Admission Center. Decades later, in 2004, the organization expanded with the opening of a state-of-the-art Pet Adoption Center in Raleigh. This modern facility not only increased the number of lives saved but also introduced innovative programs aimed at strengthening the bond between pets and their future families.
Nearly 60 years since its founding, the SPCA of Wake County has sheltered hundreds of thousands of animals, evolving into a leader in people-centric and preventative animal welfare programs. As the organization prepares to open its cutting-edge Pet Admission and Resource Center, it marks yet another milestone in its mission to keep pets in loving homes and out of shelters.
Across generations, the SPCA’s work has remained a testament to the power of compassion, building a more humane community for pets and the people who love them.
