Petersburg Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to building a brighter future for animals in need in the city of Petersburg, Virginia. We support the city’s municipal animal shelter by providing life-saving resources that eliminate suffering, reduce euthanasia, curb overpopulation and increase adoptions.

PAWS has been advocating for a new animal shelter in Petersburg since our founding in 2009. The 50-year-old cinderblock structure, with its inadequate space and outdated infrastructure, is dilapidated — no longer able to safely house Petersburg’s growing number of homeless animals. When a series of code violations went unresolved, the shelter was condemned by the Office of the Virginia State Veterinarian in 2024. Recently, the city secured financing to build a new shelter.

Today, PAWS is focused on supporting the existing shelter and caring for the animals who live there while we wait for construction to begin. In the past year alone, we have made possible the purchase of a new refrigerator, a new air conditioner and new Karunda beds. We have secured grant funding to install safety dividers between dog runs and purchase an industrial steam cleaner to sanitize surfaces throughout the shelter following a deadly PARVO outbreak. We have held 14 adoption events where 84 dogs and 33 cats found their forever homes. We placed 158 dogs and 110 cats in other Virginia releasing agencies. Thanks to the generosity of a dedicated benefactor, we will soon have a new mobile adoption trailer which will enable us to take animals into the community where they are most likely to be adopted into new homes. In August we launched The PAWS Pantry Club, a monthly giving program that will empower donors to sponsor a bag of quality dog food that will feed one shelter dog for a full month, providing the consistent nutrition that is critical to their wellbeing.

In the fall of 2025, PAWS will launch a Spay/Neuter Program designed to help prevent the birth of unwanted animals in our city. The new program will make this vital procedure available at little or no cost to those who need it most, breaking the cycle of overpopulation and overcrowding that begins with the birth of an unplanned litter. It will save countless puppies and kittens from being born into lives of suffering and death on the street. It will directly reduce the number of animals abandoned or surrendered to the city shelter, where they risk euthanasia due to overcrowding. And, it will make is possible for Petersburg residents, especially the 25% who live below the poverty line, to know the joy of loving a pet.