100 Years of Changing Lives

Since the Animal Rescue League of Iowa’s incorporation in 1926, more than a million animals have seen their way to a better life. Throughout the decades, the ARL’s core values of advocacy, rescue, community, and education have guided our lifesaving work, prompting continued expansion to better serve the pets who rely on us. Take a look back at a century of changing lives.

  • 1927 image of the founding women

    Founding

    The Animal Rescue League of Iowa is incorporated on March 30 by a group of six women after previously operating informally as a foster-based rescue organization. The founders had simply wanted to rescue homeless pets from the streets of Des Moines. Little did they know their dream would pave the way for the ARL of today and change the lives of over 1 million animals over the course of a century.

  • The first shelter

    Attending veterinarian and chief animal caretaker Dr. Simon Beattie offers his heated barn to the animals in the ARL’s care, creating the ARL’s first shelter location at 3407 Cottage Grove Ave. in Des Moines.

  • 1927 woman holding puppies

    The first large-scale rescue

    Just a year and a half after its founding, the ARL assists in its first large-scale rescue: 100 dogs found in a Des Moines home. A temporary shelter is set up at the state fairgrounds to house the dogs, and they are eventually signed over to the ARL for adoption.

  • Historical photo of the Animal Rescue League office

    A new shelter

    The ARL opens a new shelter at 919 14th St. after a successful capital campaign to raise $5,000 for a new facility.

  • Early advocacy

    In an early advocacy campaign, the ARL urges against giving chicks and baby rabbits as Easter gifts, a progressive stance for the time.

  • Animal Rescue League historical photos

    Expansion

    The ARL acquires three properties next to the 14th Street shelter, including one donated by Lela Gray, a founding member and the main public face of the ARL at the time. The goal was expansion, including adding a humane education center.

  • Interest in innovation

    For its annual meeting, the ARL brings in a progressive guest speaker who encourages animal rescue organizations to prioritize education over enforcement for a more lasting impact.

  • Historical photos of first shelter

    Focus on education

    As part of a push to expand pet-related educational efforts in the community, ARL Managing Director Max Finch begins offering dog care classes promoting responsible pet ownership and positive training methods. That same year, Finch begins hosting a TV program called “Pet Corner” designed to teach kids about pet care and encourage adoptions. Fun fact: Finch’s suggestion of a puppet character for the show prompted an early version of Floppy, the beloved dog puppet created by Duane Ellett, who worked on the show.

  • A new rescue vehicle

    Contributions from the community make it possible for the ARL to purchase a new “animal ambulance” to respond to animal service calls in the community. Rescue equipment includes a radio for communicating with Des Moines officials and ARL headquarters.

  • Standing by our values

    The ARL refuses a request by a local hospital to provide dogs for medical research, a policy it has maintained throughout its history, despite many challenges from outside parties.

  • Not just dogs and cats

    The ARL assists Polk County authorities in rescuing a 300-pound brown bear named Brownie that had been on display in a small cage at a roadside zoo south of Des Moines. It’s just one example of the ARL’s long history of helping animals beyond just cats and dogs, including exotics, barn animals and small pets.

  • A big move

    After Interstate 235 construction and urban renewal necessitated a move from the 14th Street location the ARL had called home for 40 years, the ARL purchases its current property at 5452 NE 22nd St. and begins operating there.

  • A new shelter

    The ARL opens a new, 13,000-square-foot shelter designed around pet adoption at the Northeast 22nd Street location. In a celebration prior to opening, the ARL hosts a catered, candlelight dinner party for supporters. The guests are served in the new kennels and entertained by a strolling violinist.

  • A new era of advocacy

    An advocate for animals throughout its history, the ARL begins a new era of legislative advocacy in the 1990s. One of the early initiatives the ARL champions is a 1993 law mandating that animals adopted from shelters be spayed or neutered as a way to address pet overpopulation.

  • Stronger animal protections

    Iowa’s animal cruelty laws are updated for the first time in 100+ years after a two-year advocacy effort by the ARL and others. The new laws include minimum standards of care and strengthen the rights of cities and counties to recover costs of caring for abused or neglected animals.

  • Looking to the future

    The ARL forms the Animal Rescue League of Iowa Foundation, aimed at providing a sustainable future for the organization and its programs.

  • Westward expansion

    With a goal of bringing adoptable pets into different areas of the community, the ARL West adoption center opens inside Iowa Pet Foods & Seascapes in West Des Moines. It is the first of many ARL adoption partner sites.

  • A full-time veterinarian

    After hiring a full-time veterinarian, the ARL begins to routinely spay and neuter cats, dogs, and other pets before adoption. Within five years, more than 15,000 pets are spayed/neutered, and in 2019 the ARL celebrates a milestone of 100,000 spay/neuter surgeries.

  • Foster program launched

    The ARL launches its TLC foster program to provide time in a home environment for pets who need special attention or a break from the shelter. The program later expands to include foster programs for all species and ages of animals.

  • Pets and Women Succeeding

    The ARL partners with the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women to create the Pets and Women Succeeding (PAWS) program, where offenders work with dogs in the prison to prepare them for adoption. It was the first of multiple ARL partnerships with Iowa correctional institutions that benefited cats, dogs and horses, along with their caretakers.

  • An expanded city partnership

    In a new era of partnership with the City of Des Moines, the ARL begins operating the city’s animal shelter, providing reception, animal care and veterinary staff. In 2009, the partnership expands, with the ARL also contracted to operate animal control services for the city.

  • Animal Rescue League main entrance exterior

    A modern shelter

    The ARL opens a modern 43,000-square-foot shelter at the Northeast 22nd Street location that includes a barn and paddock. An indoor horse-training arena is added in 2014, a two-story Clowder House for cats is built in 2017, and housing for cats in the Camp Purr working cats program is constructed in 2018.

  • Puppy Mill Bill

    The “Puppy Mill Bill” is signed into law at the ARL. Championed by the ARL, it allows state inspections of federally licensed dog breeding facilities if there is a complaint, something state inspectors were previously prevented from doing. Iowa inspectors received their first complaint the day the bill was signed.

  • Pet behavior and training books

    The ARL publishes “For Love of Dogs” and “For Love of Cats,” the first pet behavior and training books by an animal shelter.

  • Davis County Rescue

    The ARL assists Davis County authorities in removing more than 300 animals from a hoarding situation. The animals included birds, barn animals, rodents and other species.

  • Nationwide disaster and emergency response

    During a devastating hurricane season, the ARL’s Emergency Response Team, including staff trained in water rescues, deploys to Texas with the ARL’s rescue boat to assist national animal welfare groups with disaster recovery after Hurricane Harvey. Teams later deploy to Florida and South Carolina to assist with recovery after Hurricane Irma. ARL responders assisted in rescuing more than 100 animals from flooded areas and brought more than 70 dogs that were already in shelters prior to the hurricanes back to Iowa for adoption.

  • Operation CatSnip

    The ARL launches its trap-neuter-return (TNR) program, Operation CatSnip, after the Des Moines City Council approves an ordinance allowing for the creation of a TNR program to humanely and effectively reduce community cat colonies in the city. In just five years, 3,000 outdoor cats are spayed/neutered, preventing thousands of unplanned litters.

  • Madrid cat rescue

    The ARL assists Boone County authorities with an extreme case of animal hoarding, removing 380 cats – 186 living and 194 deceased – from a Madrid property in a massive rescue operation that spanned 13 days. It is the largest cat rescue in ARL history.

  • Cat café partnership

    Coffee Cats Café opens in West Des Moines with ARL cats available for adoption in the cat lounge. In just five years, the partnership with Iowa’s first cat café results in more than 1,700 adoptions.

  • Improved animal cruelty laws

    Greatly improved companion animal cruelty laws go into effect in Iowa after a six-year advocacy effort by the ARL and others. The law toughens penalties for animal cruelty convictions, increases the minimum standards of care and adds requirements for mental health evaluations, among other improvements.

  • The largest rescue to date

    In the largest animal rescue in ARL history, the ARL removes 500+ dogs from a Wayne County puppy mill in a multi-day operation after the breeder is ordered to surrender them as part of a court-enforced settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit for repeat violations.

  • ARL Animal Services expansion

    The ARL Animal Services division begins operating out of a new city building at 1441 Harriet St. in Des Moines. It includes an expanded pet resource center, a medical suite and an on-site adoption center, expanding services for pets and people.

  • Dallas County rescue

    The ARL assists Dallas County authorities in seizing 46 horses from a property, the largest horse rescue in ARL history.

  • Second Chance Ranch facility and land

    Transforming the future of animal rescue

    As calls for animal rescue assistance pour in from across the state, the ARL launches a major expansion of its rescue programs that includes the purchase of a 21-acre ranch at 3296 NE 54th Ave., a mile east of the ARL’s main campus, and the launch of a $6 million Transforming the Future of Animal Rescue capital campaign to renovate the new ranch and convert the previous shelter barn into a Rescue Intake & Rehabilitation Center for pets from large-scale rescues.

  • Afford A Care pet clinic south

    ARL Afford-a-Care Clinics

    The ARL purchases two Des Moines veterinary clinics, renamed ARL Afford-A-Care South and ARL Afford-A-Care East, with the help of a generous donation. The clinics offer expanded options for affordable veterinary care in the community and help broaden the ARL’s capacity to support its free and low-cost community programs.

  • Looking to the next 100 years

    For a century, you have helped the Animal Rescue League of Iowa be there for pets and the people who love them – in every corner of the state. Now, you can join the journey to transform the future of animal rescue as we look toward the next 100 years of changing lives.

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