Our Beginning

Pet Helpers was founded in 1978 by Carol Linville when she began rescuing unwanted and abandoned pets. Now, Pet Helpers operates a 2,000 square foot adoption facility that has space for thirteen dogs and sixty kittens and cats. Currently, we rely solely on our low income spay/neuter voucher system to attack the pet overpopulation crisis. Despite our limited facilities, Pet Helpers’ innovative staff and board have been very effective in unrelentingly accomplishing their mission. We are the only fully staffed no-kill adoption shelter in the Tri-County.

Our Accomplishments

Since our beginning, we have found adopted homes for 10,000 cats and dogs, provided spay/neuter assistance for 25,000 animals including feral cats and in the last four years educated over 1,300 children about the humane treatment of animals. We were the first shelter in 1980 to begin a local public spay/neuter assistance program. In 1989, we initiated, supported and passed the first animal control and welfare ordinance in Charleston County. We pioneered Project Respect in 2006 which was the first introduction of humane education into the curriculum of Charleston County public schools. In 2007, we were the first Tri-county shelter to begin a dog relocation program. Every year we answer approximately 20,000 calls from the public to assist and inform them about animal issues.

Pet Helpers has a unique and long standing reputation for being willing to respond quickly to save animals when they are in imminent and certain physical danger. Throughout our history, we have stepped in immediately for animal abuse, cruelty or other emergency situations when other organizations were unwilling or unavailable to do so.

We are there when others aren’t. Over the last 29 years, Pet Helpers has grown from the effort of one determined person into a united coalition of hundreds. We strive to offer a truly humane alternative to the painful choice of euthanasia. With us, no animal is killed unless it is the best choice for serious medical or extreme behavioral reasons. Animals stay as long as they need to. If necessary, we become their permanent home. We strive to give the best treatment to all abandoned animals.

Our Vision

Unfortunately, we are currently very limited by our existing facility. The construction of a new Pet Helpers Adoption Center and Spay/Neuter Clinic is an essential next step in our growth. It will allow us to strengthen our visibility and expand our role as a leader in humane issues innCharleston. Its groundbreaking features, designed by nationally recognized animal shelter architect, Stephen Jensen of Blue Sky Collaborative Architecture (Massachusetts), make it more than a traditional shelter. It will serve as the new hub of our high impact organization and become a major force of a comprehensive, life-saving model for the Greater Charleston area.