Latest news with #RichmondSPCA
Axios
08-05-2025
- Axios
Scammers prey on Richmonders with missing pets
A new scam is targeting local pet owners who've lost their pet and posted online about it, the Richmond SPCA tells Axios. Why it matters: This might be the cruelest scam in history. How it works: Fraudsters are finding online missing pet posts and calling the owners to tell them their pet has been found, but is injured, Richmond SPCA spokesperson Tabitha Treloar tells Axios. They're using spoofed phone numbers so the call looks like it's coming from the Richmond SPCA. The scammer, impersonating someone from the shelter, says the injured fur baby needs urgent surgery. And the shelter, the fraudster says, needs immediate payment via Venmo, Zelle or another payment platform to cover the cost, which is usually thousands of dollars. What they're saying: "It's really devastating for pet guardians to be targeted this way — people are understandably vulnerable when a pet is missing," Treloar says. Threat level: It's not just the Richmond SPCA, which has gotten at least four calls from locals targeted by the lost pet scam in recent weeks. The Richmond Animal League had reports of two identical incidents last month, RAL spokesperson Allana Maiden tells Axios. Richmond Animal Care & Control posted about three incidents in which its number was spoofed for a similar scam in February. And it's happening nationwide, according to a post from Professional Pet Tracker, a Virginia-based pet finding service. Zoom in: In one of the incidents at RAL last month, a couple was told they needed to pay $2,000 to cover surgery for their injured and missing cat, Maiden says. They negotiated to pay just over $1,000 up front and the rest when they picked up their cat. When they showed up at the Chesterfield shelter to bring their kitty home, RAL had to break the news: they'd been scammed. And their cat was still missing. RAL never heard back from them to find out if their bank was able to reverse the charges, or if they found their cat. The bottom line: No shelter would ask for money to treat a pet over the phone, per their posts.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Virginia is close to becoming the nation's largest no-kill state
Teddy, who often come to the Richmond SPCA with his mom to visit cats and participate in education programs, pets a cat waiting for adoption. (Photo courtesy Richmond SPCA) The save rate for homeless dogs and cats in Virginia's shelters last year was 86% – just 4% shy of the nationally-recognized no-kill benchmark of 90%. Data from Best Friends Animal Society reveals at least 80 of the state's shelters are already no-kill, and most others are within reach of it, demonstrating a deep commitment among private and public shelter workers, rescue groups and community members to save all the homeless animals who can be saved – those who are healthy or treatable and not a risk to public safety. This progress puts Virginia close to becoming the nation's largest no-kill state, a lifesaving milestone that can be accomplished with continued support from residents across the commonwealth. To close the gap and achieve no-kill, Virginians can prioritize three key strategies: adoption, prevention and collaboration. If 5,726 more households – just 0.2% – had adopted a pet from a shelter instead of purchasing from breeders, pet stores or online retailers last year, we would have reached a statewide 90% save rate. Virginia's shelters are brimming with wonderful pets of all ages, shapes, sizes and personalities, each waiting for a loving home. Equally critical to adoption is preventing animals from entering shelters in the first place. Pet guardians should spay and neuter their companions; humanely manage unowned, free-roaming community cat populations; and proactively utilize shelter-provided resources designed to keep pets in loving homes. And lastly, the animal welfare community needs to intensify its collaborative efforts, delivering help and support to under-resourced shelters and facilitating pet transfers to alleviate capacity issues when they arise. The Richmond SPCA became no-kill in 2002, and we are driven to create and sustain a no-kill community. We help achieve this by providing high-volume spay and neuter services, pet food pantries, crisis boarding, low-cost veterinary care and training while also directly sheltering, rehabilitating, and rehoming 4,000 animals annually. And, over the last 10 years, we have welcomed about 25,000 animals into our care from more than 50 Virginia partners, easing the burden of overcrowding. No-kill for Virginia is not an aspiration. It's an imminent reality. We are on the cusp of guaranteeing a future where every healthy and treatable animal in Virginia's shelters finds a home. We are the solution – every one of us. And together we can accomplish no-kill for the homeless animals in our shelters because they deserve nothing less. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
