For the past 11 years, Where the Love Is Animal Shelter has served the Hamden area as the only shelter in town helping surrendered or abandoned dogs find forever homes.
Established in 2013 by Gabe Scirocco, the shelter is a nonprofit, no-kill facility. Scirocco’s shelter had humble beginnings.
“(Scirocco) started with just rescuing a few dogs and it grew from there,” said Kaitlin Duffy, a member of the adoption and surrender team. “She started taking in dogs from the South and it just kept growing.”
Where the Love Is has not just grown in the number of dogs it has helped, but in volunteers, too. The organization now has 17 volunteer staff members, like sisters Kaitlin and Shannon Duffy, both 37, both part of the adoption and surrender teams.
“It just kept growing and growing,” said Kaitlin, who along with her sister graduated from Quinnipiac in 2010. “As time went on (Scirocco) got more volunteers and expanded.”
Four months ago, the shelter cared for around 60 dogs, some at its Hamden location. Other dogs were placed in foster homes across Connecticut. Now, the shelter has 11 dogs in Hamden and five in foster homes as it focuses on getting its current dogs adopted.
Where the Love Is originally focused on rescuing dogs from Texas and Georgia, states with less strict spay and neuter laws, resulting in overpopulation.
“We were mainly taking in animals from Texas and Georgia … they will euthanize if they don’t have room,” Kaitlin Duffy said. “We’ve stopped taking in dogs from the South. We have to focus on the ones we have here.”
That shift came in recent years as the number of dogs needing rescue in Connecticut surged, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy.
Although there was an increase in adoptions during the pandemic, the shelter ensured its dogs were matched with the right owners.
“We were very careful about people’s reasoning, knowing that eventually things would change,” Kaitlin Duffy said.
While many might assume the rise in animal surrenders is due to owners no longer having time to care for their pets, Where the Love Is has found a different cause: financial instability.
“The serious increase in surrenders is due to financial and housing situations, which in many cases are the result of the economy and housing issues stemming from COVID-19,” Kaitlin Duffy said.
Before 2020, the shelter received one or two surrender inquiries a month, allowing it to rescue more dogs from the South. Now, it gets one or two a day.
“We are in that crisis ourselves,” Shannon Duffy said. “It’s not because animals are breeding like crazy, it’s because animals are coming from loving homes and now their owners can no longer afford housing.”
So what’s next for the shelter?
It is increasingly using social media to expand its reach and find homes for as many dogs as possible.
“Social media has been amazing; it’s extremely impactful,” Shannon Duffy said. “When we first started, we were such a small organization, and a lot of our adoptions came from word of mouth.”
Before its increased presence on social media, in-person events were the only way for the shelter to fundraise and for people to come see the dogs.
“To run big fundraisers was really challenging,” Shannon Duffy said. “But now because we can spread the word so quickly, the fundraising aspect is much easier.”
More help is also on the way for abandoned animals in Hamden. Mayor Lauren Garrett recently announced the town’s first ever public animal shelter is in the works.
While fundraising is still underway, the shelter would provide Hamden Animal Control with a dedicated building to house missing and abandoned animals found in the town.
“Space and resources are going to be crucial,” Kaitlin Duffy said. “The more professionals we have in the area that are knowledgeable about animal welfare is going to be a huge plus.”
To find more information about Where the Love Is, visit https://wheretheloveis.org/ or call 203-479-0061
2 replies on “Where the Love Is: Finding forever homes for dogs across Hamden”
Great job, Matt! Thank you for writing such a comprehensive article about our mission to find homes for as many dogs as we can. Where the Love Is Animal Rescue is a completely volunteer organization that depends on our supporters to keep us in business and publications such as yours to promote what we do. The world needs more journalists like you! (And more families to adopt these wonderful dogs!)
The first photo is Buddy. He’s a deaf, senior dog and we adopted him. He’s as sweet as can be!!!