Animal Refuge League

Our mission is to provide temporary care and shelter for stray, abandoned and relinquished animals, and to place as many as possible into responsible and caring homes.The Animal Refuge League also works to create awareness and support for the humane treatment of all animals and to end animal overpopulation through education and the promotion of spaying and neutering.

caring for animals in need since 1911

The Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland (ARL) is a private nonprofit animal shelter established in 1911. The vast majority of our funding is made through the generosity of the general public.

The ARL is first and foremost an adoption agency. Every year, we take in more than 4,000 stray, abandoned or owner surrendered animals. Our goal is to care for them as humanely as possible until we can reunite them with their owners or until someone chooses to adopt them. Our adoption process is extremely thorough in order to ensure that our animals are placed into a loving home for life. All animals adopted from the Animal Refuge League are spayed or neutered either before or at the time they are adopted from us. This progressive program also allows us to spay or neuter animals as young as eight weeks old. Pediatric spaying or neutering is enthusiastically endorsed by the American Humane Association.

Contrary to misguided beliefs, the ARL does not have a time limit on how long an animal may stay with us. In many cases, healthy and well-adjusted animals stay until a home is found for them. More than 80 percent of the animals that come to us find their way to a home.

In addition, the Animal Refuge League saves hundreds of injured and ill animals each year by arranging for care with local veterinarians.

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