Melissa Levy, Executive Director, PAWS

Our policy of requiring adopters who cannot keep their pet to return them to us for rehoming – or ideally just to involve us in the process while they keep their pet at home – has been in place because there was no service that offered structure and guidance, with vetting and careful matchmaking. Now that Get Your Pet exists and covers those bases, we are thrilled to make exceptions for adopters who use it. We actually plan to begin encouraging adopters to use it, since we would always prefer that animals not return to a shelter environment – for their sake and to keep that space free for animals who desperately need it.