Causes: Animal Protection & Welfare, Animals, Children & Youth, Disaster Aid, Disaster Preparedness & Relief Services, Youth Community Service Clubs

Mission: To promote the humane treatment of animals and people through education, advocacy and services

Programs: Gbhs is the oldest and largest animal shelter in alabama and one of the highest open intake shelters in the us. Gbhs manages animal care & control (acc) for jefferson county, the largest county in the state, and a majority of the municipalities within the county. Acc impounds and cares for more than 12,000 abused, neglected, and abandoned pets. Our animal control officers are on-call 24/7 and answered more than 350 after-hours emergency calls. We vaccinate all animals upon intake and provide trap and return services for feral cats. Our average response time is less than 45 minutes and all officers are naca certified.

gbhs operates alabama shelter veterinarians (asv) that provides all medical services and spay/neuter surgeries for gbhs pets. Asv is home to auburn university's vet externship program in which 4th year vet students come for two weeks to enhance their soft tissue surgical skills. Asv vets and the auburn students completed 7,393 spay/neuter surgeries and more than 300 acute care surgeries for injured strays or abused animals. This is the #1 externship program at auburn. Asv had more than 13,000 animals in their care during this period.

gbhs' adoption and outreach center adopted out 6,278 dogs and cats during the current tax year, tranported 1246 dogs out of state, and fostered more than 1,100 animals. Our animals and volunteers presented anti-bullying and responsible pet ownership classes at more than 20 schools and in front of hundreds of students. Our pet pantry provided pet food and medicine to 400 poor and home bound citizens.