A Historical Context for Animal Shelters Today

The 1913 photograph shows two young women in front of a large fireplace and a cat sitting on the floor at the feet of the seated woman. Photo obtained from the Library of Congress.

Philadelphia is known for its rich historical roots in the founding of this country and as the birthplace of many revolutionary scientific and social justice movements. One example is Elizabeth Morris, who founded one of America’s first animal shelters in 1874. Her legacy of empathy and compassionate care for animals still stands today with the Morris Animal Refuge.

I spoke with Alisa Rubenstein, a Lifesaving Manager at the Morris Animal Refuge, to learn more about the shelter's history and the evolution of animal welfare practices.

“It’s really cool to be part of her legacy,” Rubenstein said. At the time of Morris Animal Refuge’s founding, women were discouraged from voicing their opinions– no less founding an organization. “There used to be ASPCAs [The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] and then a women’s branch– they weren’t integrated,” Rubenstein explained. “It’s cool that a thing started by a woman is this thing that’s still around.”

As we continued to discuss the history of animal welfare, Rubenstein gave some unique insights into the mismanagement of shelters and best practices today.

“Public services don’t get a lot of funding, and when it’s not for people, it’s even less so,” Rubenstein said. With that in mind, many shelters are lumped in with city health departments. Although Philly doesn’t follow that structure, it explains a gap in many shelters' abilities to care for animals adequately.

Some shelter “bosses are in public health. They don’t know anything about animals, and that’s not their job.” Rubenstein said. As directors of public health services for humans, not animals, they don’t always have the suitable knowledge and background to regulate animal shelters. “It creates a lot of tension when I’m trying to advocate for the animals and they’re not in the same headspace as me.”

Another pain point has been restructuring older mindsets regarding animal welfare. Animal welfare movements were founded with good intentions, striving to help all animals in need. However, with good intentions can come condescending practices, and animal welfare organizations have misguidedly sought to “save” animals from low-income areas.

“Shelters have historically taken animals from poor communities and placed them in affluent communities,” Rubenstein explained. The idea was, “We take the animal from the person to help the animal,” which is not only dehumanizing to the people who love their pets but “now, you have a bunch of animals to take care of.”

“That’s a big reason why shelters have been overloaded historically, but it seems to be changing in the field, so that’s exciting,” Rubenstein said.

As for where Morris Animal Refuge stands today, they have a successful save rate of 98%. When starting at the organization, Rubenstein mentioned that “things were a little bit disorganized.” Best practices for animal care have been slowly shifting, and “we weren’t up to par with the latest recommendations for shelters.”

However, with a new operations director and restructuring of departments, Morris Animal Refuge thrived through its cohesive staff, a common theme among attributed success in animal shelters. “Having a qualified and knowledgeable staff” is crucial in ensuring a smoothly run shelter and that resources are allocated efficiently. “We all communicate really well together to get the animals out as quickly as possible,” Rubenstein explained.

As for what’s next, Rubenstein explained that the Morris Animal Refuge has been outgrowing the facilities they’ve had, operating in the same retrofitted brownstone since 1878. As they continue to navigate the essential care they provide for animals in the community, they’ll consider “a space that can take more animals, have more isolation space,” and update kennels that can house larger dogs most impacted by animal homelessness and abuse.