Animal Rescue League (The Peggy Adams)/Palm Beach County Humane Society

Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League provides services to over 10,000 cats, dogs, puppies and kittens each year. Operating continuously since 1925, we have been positively impacting animal welfare and addressing overpopulation in Palm Beach County though a variety of services.

Through the adoption and spay/neuter programs, our vision is to ensure that there are no homeless animals and every animal has a home in Palm Beach County.

Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League, Humane Society of the Palm Beaches, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, receiving no state or federal funding. It is dependent exclusively upon private donations, grants, bequests and fundraising events to provide quality programs and services to the community. Your donations directly support the services and programs in place to help animals in need. Donate with confidence to this highly rated charity.

In 1924, a group of eight prominent ladies met on the porch of the home of Amy Lyman Phillips in Palm Beach, to decide what to do about the ongoing problem of animals left behind by winter visitors returning north. From that informal meeting emerged a league of concerned and dedicated people helping animals.

Our beginnings were humble. By 1925, we were incorporated. Makeshift cages were orange crates, and pens were fashioned from chicken wire at the abandoned TB hospital on the grounds of what is now Palm Beach International Airport. The hurricane of 1928 flattened this modest shelter, but donated funds and volunteer labor helped rebuild it.

With the onset of World War II, the City wanted to expand the airfield. Rather than condemn our property, they traded us a larger parcel at 24th & North Tamarind in West Palm Beach.

The new shelter had a small building with two large runs for male and female dogs, and a communal cat room. The generosity of two individuals allowed for the construction of a building for cats and a cottage. Bits at a time, several other donors stepped forward, affording us a modern kennel building, an annex with large covered runs, a new holding wing and a building for a meeting room.

As our work continued to expand, we gave up our meeting room when John D. MacArthur gave us money to convert it to a medical clinic, with accommodations for a veterinarian on the second floor. In August 1973, we started a Spay-Neuter Clinic for the shelter’s own animals, and by December of that year these services were expanded to provide low-cost services to owned animals in the community. To date, over 125,000 animals have been sterilized.

With each expansion, more funds were needed for operational expenses. We had yearly tag days, annual Letters of Appeal fund drives, and bake sales. But even with our best efforts, it was a continual struggle. We had occasional rummage sales, so it was a logical progression when we opened a Thrift Store at 1905 South Dixie Highway. Volunteers were plentiful, and we used our cars to pick up merchandise whenever possible. Little by little we were able to add to our support.

For most of our 80 years of existence we have been so busy taking care of animals, we have not publicized our efforts, but the word has been spread by our deeds. Jessie Stewart, as a tribute to then Executive Director George Hulme, left us a bequest that enabled us to purchase our property on Military Trail. Catherine MacArthur

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