You may have noticed that there is a lot going on with our organization these days!  We’ve broken ground on our new facility, we’ve hired our CEO, but perhaps most remarkably, we’ve changed our name.

“Pawmetto Lifeline” is indeed the former “Project Pet”.  With much thoughtful consideration and consultation the decision was made by our Board of Trustees to take the next step in our evolution by changing our name to reflect our true identity in the community.

For almost eleven years we have been known as “Project Pet”, a small but growing organization formed to proactively address the issue of companion pet euthanasia in municipal shelters.  Our goal from day one has always been to substantially reduce, and ultimately eliminate, the need for euthanasia as the sole means of animal control in our community. 

The “project” to date has been to get to a point where proven programs can be put in place to start substantially reducing the number of animals that enter municipal shelters and are killed there every year.

This “project” entailed years of substantial research, lobbying and of course building a solid operations platform as a springboard for the future.  Through exhaustive efforts of many volunteers, the organization, in its almost eleven years, has been successful in communicating the real issues surrounding  pet overpopulation to the community and its leadership, gained support of the masses, raised funds to build for the future and saved over 8,000 lives in the process!

Though “Project Pet” is a name that to those who have been involved will always hold dear, it is time to acknowledge that the “project” that we took on eleven years ago has reached its successful end and now a new day dawns for homeless pets.  With the construction of our new facility the dream is becoming reality.

So what is in a name?  Pawmetto Lifeline is who we are and what we do.  We are truly the “Lifeline” for so many of our community’s homeless pets and in this next stage of our evolution that “Lifeline” encompasses the programs that will put an end to the mass killing of companion animals in the Midlands.  Through Pawmetto Lifeline’s efforts we will substantially reduce the number of companion pets entering municipal shelters through our targeted spay/neuter programs. 

Each year we will spay and neuter a minimum of 13,000 dogs and cats in the Midlands with a focus on serving populations that do not have ready access to affordable spay and neuter surgeries.  Through our unique transport program we will target areas of rural Richland and Lexington Counties with the highest number of stray and at large animals, actively go into those communities and transport owned pets to our facility for surgery, returning them to their homes the following day.  At full capacity, Pawmetto Lifeline’s spay/neuter clinic will perform 30,000 procedures each year!

While we slow the influx of animals into the shelter we will aggressively seek life for those unfortunate enough to find themselves there.  The capacity of our new facility will allow us to rescue a minimum of 3,000 dogs and cats annually from death’s door.

It’s not enough to simply adopt animals out; we must aggressively pursue the formation of the animal/human bond not only with the pets that we adopt but those that are already in the community.  This prevents animals from ending up in municipal shelters due to such things as simple behavior issues, for example.  Through our innovative training and behavior programs we will assist not only those that adopt from us, but all pet owners, helping to resolve issues before they become serious problems and provide them with a resource for addressing issues that may land pets in shelters.

Education is a key focus for Pawmetto Lifeline.  As an organization we will proactively pursue humane education opportunities in every school district in Lexington and Richland Counties combined with an interactive approach to animal education at our facility.  We’ve designed classrooms in our new facility specifically for this endeavor.

Though not all inclusive, these are a few of the main focuses of the new Pawmetto Lifeline.  Our research indicates that through the successful implementation of these programs, and more that are currently in development, we can transform the Midlands into a no-kill community, one where no healthy or treatable, adoptable pet is put to death in a municipal shelter within 5-7 years of opening our new facility.

We are so proud of what we have accomplished in these eleven years as Project Pet and are looking forward to many more successful years as Pawmetto Lifeline but we will only define success as the end of needless killing of companion pets.