To many, a pet is a companion that a person will have for years and years of their life. Whether it be a dog, cat, lizard, bird, etc., a pet can quickly become one’s best friend, as their unconditional love for people is a gift that many seem to overlook.

Although every prospective pet would have a home and a family to spend their lives with in an ideal world, the reality is all but a stark contrast.

According to the ASPCA, each year, 6.5 million companion animals end up in shelters per year, and of those millions, several hundred thousand of them end up being euthanized, as well.

Although there are many shelters around the Cincinnati area that are striving to improve the lives of countless animals and greatly lessen the amount of unadopted prospective pets, one that has caught the eye of many around Cincinnati is Cincinnati Animal CARE.

Opening in January of 2018, Cincinnati Animal CARE has been a beacon of hope for unadopted animals for almost four years now. The shelter has quickly grow to be one of the most benevolent shelters in the city, and it was even ranked in the Top 10 shelters in the country by American Pets Alive!

My original intent for this article was to take a tour of the facility and to get a better sense of the day-to-day work life is like at the shelter. I was also going to interview a member of the shelter’s team so that some questions that I had concerning the shelter could be answered.

However, due to schedule constraints, this tour and interview were unable to take place.

In the end, I decided to go ahead and still write the article because I think that the shelter is an amazingly benevolent organization and in need of some serious recognition.

The shelter originally opened as Clermont Animal CARE, but as noted above, it later reopened as Cincinnati Animal CARE in early 2018.

The shelter strives to create bonds between itself and the community, the county, and the animals. It uses euthanasia as only a last resort, and they provide many resources for the animals at the shelter in their strive to get them adopted.

The shelter has recently taken in 188 animals since the beginning of October, and the shelter is quite full now to say the least. Because of the ongoing surplus of animals that are being brought to the shelter, adoption and fostering are solutions to the issue that could bring alleviation to the stress being placed on the shelter.

For those interested in helping out the shelter, there are many ways to assist during this time of need for them. A first way that one can help out the shelter is by considering adoption. By adopting, a person can not only help out a shelter but also give a lifetime home to an animal that does not yet have one, as well as form an unbreakable bond with their new pet.

Another way is by considering fostering. By providing a temporary home for a dog, cat, etc., a person can help accustom an animal to what life is like in a home instead of the shelter. Additionally, many times, a person who is fostering an animal can also end up adopting if they choose to do so at the end of their fostering period.

Finally, another way to support the shelter would be to volunteer. By providing a little extra assistance around the facility, volunteers can help to make the work at the shelter be less stressful, especially in this time of great pressure on the shelter.

Cincinnati Animal CARE is an example of just how far generosity can go. By dedicating their time and energy to improving the lives of the many animals living at the shelter, the team at Cincinnati Animal CARE are making a world of difference in the lives of the animals living there, as they are being cared-for and given the opportunities to move beyond the shelter and eventually find their permanent homes with a loving family, something that everyone can only hope will come true for every animal there.