About Us:

We are all concerned about animal welfare and have come together to advocate for the unwanted and mistreated animals in Southern Arizona. Yearly the number of homeless animals results in a burden to our community. Feral cats are considered a health issue, nuisance and annoyance in many neighborhoods. Stray dogs are considered destructive, a health problem and a safety issue. Every day rescue groups are asked to take in the discarded, raise the kittens of a feral, provide vet care for an injured animal, or take an unwanted litter of puppies or kittens from an accidental litter. All these sittuations draw on the resources in our community. At AWASA meetings we are addressing these issues with aggressive spay/neuter assistance, adoption of rescued animals, working to provide vaccines in low economic areas, and providing education of resources in our community. Over the last ten years our community has seen the growth of the Pima County Pet Fix program that began with $20,000 funds to assist targeted areas for spay and neuter. This program again will be administered by AWASA this year and the number of dollars have grown to over $200,000! For the first time in 2010 feral cats were surgically sterilized under this program and returned to managed colonies for future care. In addition AWASA secured a grant for $10,000 that was used to supplement spay and neuter of animals in the community. With a private grant we assisted Cochise County with feral cat sterilization when their Pet Plate Grant was exhausted. With dedicated volunteers we assisted the high school age students who competed in a video contest spreading the message of adoption and spay/neuter on Utube. A private grant funded the two top winners with scholorships and had their videos aired on public television. In addition to this we attended animal events to discuss our mission as well as arranged and manned free vaccine clinics to support the low income area in Tucson, as well as set up to assist petowners with their animals at the Hopefest.