Our Impact: Pets, People, and Community
Riverdale Animal Shelter is proud to reflect on another year of impact, resilience, and community support. Thanks to our dedicated staff and volunteers, network of shelter and rescue partners, and the unwavering support from our County Commissioners and community, we provided compassionate care, reunification, and adoptive homes for thousands of animals.
As families continue to face financial and housing hardships, our commitment to our pets, people, and community remains stronger than ever. Our resilience shone through as we navigated another year of these evolving challenges. In 2024, we responded to a record breaking 8,098 pet intakes, including a 33% increase in owner surrenders and 45% more dog intakes in comparison to cats. Keep reading for insights into ongoing efforts to support our pets and people - and the community that loves them.
Supporting Our Pets and People
- Provided over 121K days of sheltering to more than 8K companion animals.
- Nearly 10K pets vaccinated through shelter care or low-cost vaccination and microchip clinics.
- Cared for 253 farm animals and fowl, and broke ground on a small barn to meet the growing needs.
- 1,991 pets were reunited with their family after becoming lost.
- 295 community cats were vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and returned to their colonies, resulting in a 20% increase in Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) efforts.
- 690 shelter animals received care and support through our foster program.
- Our Customer Care team responded to 72K calls in 2024 - nearly 200 per day - serving our community with prompt and compassionate service.
- Thousands of companion animals found loving homes through 11 reduced-fee adoption promotions offered throughout 2024.
- 2024 was our first time breaking 4k adoptions, with 4,159 companion animals finding loving homes.
- Our healthcare team spayed/neutered nearly 3k shelter pets, a 7% increase from the previous year.
Engaging Our Community
- 15% increase in volunteer service hours and improved accessibility with doubling onboarding and training opportunities for volunteers to get involved with our lifesaving work.
- We saw a 46% increase in collaboration with the local animal welfare community, with 329 RAS animals transferred to trusted rescue and shelter partners.
- We continued impactful community engagement, offering pet related resources at 47 events, educational tours, and community activities.
- Riverdale Animal Shelter received support from our grant partners, resulting in a combined 66K in funding!
- 16K from the Colorado Pet Overpopulation Fund (CPOF) to support spay/neuter of shelter pets.
- 20K from the Animal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) to aid the community in Return-to-Owner services in 2025.
- 30K from the Animal Assistance Foundation (AAF) to implement innovative behavior support of shelter dogs in the coming year.
- Continued partnership with American Kennel Club (AKC) Reunite for emergency/disaster relief equipment.
- We welcomed back student interns from Mapleton Early Career Prep and 27J district high schools and began partnerships with the Community College of Denver and Adams 12 Five Star Schools.
More Data & Statistics
Riverdale Animal Shelter is an open-admissions shelter and follows the People and Animals in Community Together (PACT) sheltering principles. This means we take in animals regardless of age, breed, health, and/or temperament, and place all healthy and behaviorally-sound animals. We do not euthanize for time or space, nor is there a set time limit for how long a pet can remain in our care while awaiting its forever home. All team members are trained in fear-free animal handling techniques to kindly reduce fear, anxiety, and stress for all animals in our care.
We are a PACFA-licensed facility and proudly report data on a monthly basis to Shelter Animals Count, a national database of sheltered dog and cat statistics by county to help provide facts and data-driven solutions to save animal lives. Riverdale Animal Shelter partners with numerous rescue and shelter organizations to place animals with a variety of medical and behavior support needs. Together, we are making a difference.
