The Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL) is Iowa’s largest nonprofit animal shelter, caring for many thousands of pets each year. The ARL serves people and pets from across the state of Iowa through its programs, which include pet adoption, humane education, pet behavior training, spay/neuter, animal cruelty intervention and much more.

The ARL has grown dramatically since its founding in 1926 — expanding its programs that serve both people and homeless animals across Iowa. The most obvious growth is the number of animals the ARL provides shelter and care for each year. Intakes have increased annually from a few thousand animals a decade ago to over 17,000 animals in 2012.

Other areas of growth include the ARL’s programs designed specifically to address the reasons animals end up in shelters, including spay/neuter, behavior training, and humane education programs. The ARL’s positive reinforcement training program has expanded to offer year-round classes, as well as free behavior advice for dogs, cats, rabbits and other pets. The shelter continues to spay and neuter all dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets and pigs that are adopted from our shelter.