Regional Center for Animal Care & Protection — Local services in Roanoke

This is a long review, but it needs to be said..

If I could leave 0 stars I would. This place is disgusting when it comes to animal care. They claim they protect animals and do everything in their power to advocate for them but that’s far from the truth. I dropped off a stray 4/1/24 that I found while hiking. When I dropped her off I signed a paper saying I’m the one who found her and told the lady who took my info and I let her know I was interested in adopting once she passed her Eval and was all clear. As I was leaving I was told she had Ringworm and that I needed to go home and wash everything that came into contact with her. Fast forward two days, I called to get an update on her and they gave me no new information. All I was told is she was on a stray hold for 6 days and had ringworm. The Friday 4/5/24 two days before her stray hold was up I decided to just put in an adoption application just to be on the safe side to make sure she would be mine when she was all clear from her Eval. Fast forward a week later I called to get another update to see how she was doing and this time they told me she was in isolation now for 10 days due to her ringworm. They told me she was pretty sick. Fast forward a week later I asked for another update and this time I was told she also had roundworms and hookworms along with her ringworm. They told me they were giving her medicine for the ringworm along with the hookworm and roundworm. They also told me they were giving her lime sulphur baths. They told me that they would test her again in 21 days to see if she was still ringworm positive and if she was they would do another 21 days of treatment. Then they told me to call back in two weeks for another update. (She didn’t even get a full 21 days or a retest) Fast forward two weeks 5/8/24. I called on my lunch break around 1pm to get an update on her. I was told she was doing better and that her hair was starting to grow back on her head ears and paws. I was told they may be able to stop giving her the lime baths because she was doing well. They talked to me about getting her spay. They again told me to call back in two weeks to get another update and all seemed well. Fast forward to 3:30pm that same afternoon after I had just had a decent update, they called and told me they were going to euthanize her that afternoon. The lady who talked to me at 1pm was the same lady who called me at 3:30 telling me she didn’t know the dog was going to get put down that afternoon but if I didn't Foster her they were going to euthanize her. They gave me roughly 15 minutes to make a decision on what to do with her. 15 FREAKING MINUTES. I had Called almost every week and they didn’t think once to be like “hey we kill animals here her time is running out you need to make other arrangements”. They couldn’t even give me a day to make other arrangements. I got 15 minutes. Not once was she posted to any Facebook page (I follow All of them) saying that she only has a certain amount of time left before they kill her but best believe they do that for other dogs. I’ve seen it. If I would have known this was a Kill Shelter I would have never taken her there and she would still be here today. They’re disgusting and I dont reccomend this...

As a pet owner who spent over $2,000 for the basic care to my LATE 1-YEAR-OLD-Pit-hound named MOSIS - I TRULY DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS SERVICE! I was thinking that this service was skilled in rehabilitating slightly aggressive or behavioral challenged large puppies.

I had MOSIS since he was a month old puppy. My neighbor had a litter of Pit-hound puppies in which they were unbelievably giving away. I was hoping that they DID NOT have a boy puppy- yet they had only one LOUD baby boy puppy! Mosis was an energetic sweetie in which everything in his SIGHT was HIS.

As the cycle of MOSIS' life grew into a year, he received ALL of his needed EXPENSIVE dog control needs from ANGEL ( i.e. Chipped, fixed, rabies-vaccinated, etc) He was very protective towards me and my home when he was leashed outside during the days, and was living alongside my home in his aluminum-sided piece of 'real estate' .

Now, what MOSIS needed correction in was his eating habits. He would gulp down his dog food in 5-10 seconds! THE DANGER OF THIS WAS NEVER TO BE NEAR HIM WHILE HE'S EATING- OR HE WOULD SNAP YOU WITH A BITE!

It wasn't until a warm April 9th, 2024 in the afternoon that Mosis had to stay in my house and in his cage- alongside his brother CATS while they were ALL in their separate cages due to visiting family members coming into my yard and my home. As soon as the family members left, Mosis was anxious to get outdoors and to start eating his dinner. Mosis was energetic and upset with me because I was NOT moving fast enough to get him to his dinner. SO HE THEN BIT ME ON MY HANDS! IT WAS KINDA DEEP!

It was in this danger that I recollected the safety cost of him already breaking a strong cable leash, loosening a strong chain leash and wearing 2 harnesses apart. So, bleedingly, I chained him down for him to eat, and I then called 911. They alerted RCACP. The police and 3 RCACP came over. They gave me papers to sign in a AGREEMENT in which they were to QUARANTINE my puppy for TEN days.

Like a concerned owner, after 10 days I had to see how my 'once' puppy did in 'school'. Yet, I SO BROKEN HEARTEDLY LEARNED THAT THEY HAD PUT HIM DOWN WITHIN LESS THAN 24HRS OF HIM GETTING THERE!!! THEY SO QUICKLY DETERMINED THAT HE WAS VERY AGGRESSIVE! I even asked the lady on that call if I could have his body for a decent burial- yet everything was done like business clock work!

My grievance to this episode is that RCACP needed SKILLED workers to handle domestic pets for animal rehabilitation in order for adoption. I even told the male pound catcher that this 1-year-old puppy would make a great TRAINED police dog. Yet, the RCACP officer said that they had to be younger- like the reasoning behind a trafficker looking for a virgin. My experience with this organization was painful and an EXPENSIVE waste! I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE FOR DOMESTIC PETS WHO MAY ONLY NEED...

Very kind compassionate people that are there. What I didn't like they didn't create their just following the rule. I found a dog, many people knew this dog and it was a repeat offender. Just poor little dog is a regular of getting away without a collar and carelessness of a very bad owner who is not fined or penalized at all. Regional Center for animals isn't responsible for finding people. However Roanoke Animal control is. If they're working together and supporting one another there should be far more respect to the people who are taking in the animals. What I mean by this- Why should I be forced to fill out paperwork? Why should I be forced to give my personal information when Roanoke Animal control is not taking care of this animal that keeps on getting free? Why does it fall on my privacy as a good Samaritan to be abandoned for a person who could care less? I don't like it that I had to give my personal information and signature to returning a dog that everybody knew gets out regularly. It's unfair to a person that possibly could kill an animal because of the lack of care a human being would take with a pet. These guys are doing their job but Roanoke Animal control that works with them should do a much better job.

I actually would like to serve and volunteer to help these animals. The staff were very good and kind caring people. They were just stuck in the middle. But because these two organizations work together something needs to be done. It's poor animal control.

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