Animal Shelter in Baltimore🐾

Whether you're looking to adopt, volunteer, donate, or simply learn more, here you'll find a trusted list of animal shelters in Baltimore that open their doors—and their hearts—to animals every day.

The Maryland SPCA, founded in 1869, is a leading animal shelter and humane organization serving Baltimore City and surrounding communities. The shelter is deeply committed to improving the lives of pets and people by providing compassionate care, medical treatment, and life-saving adoption services.

Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS) is one of Maryland’s largest nonprofit open-admission shelters, dedicated to rescuing, caring for, and rehoming thousands of homeless animals every year. Based in Baltimore City, BARCS offers extensive pet adoption services and humane care to dogs, cats, working cats, small companion animals, and more.

What BARCS Provides:

• Adoption Services: BARCS helps match adopters with dogs, cats, and other adoptable pets, ensuring they are healthy, vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and microchipped before leaving the shelter.
• Adoption Process & Requirements: To adopt, applicants must be 18+, show proof of current address and photo ID, complete a thorough adoption application, and participate in an adoption class. Some pets (already spayed/neutered or past stray hold) may go home the same day.
• Low-Cost Veterinary Services: BARCS provides affordable vaccinations and microchip clinics to underserved communities.
• Foster & Volunteer Programs: They offer foster-to-adopt opportunities and volunteer programs like “Dog’s Day Out,” which allow shelter dogs to get time out in the community to help with socialization and exposure to potential adopters.
• Special Adoption Packages & Events: BARCS features promotional adoption packages, offsite adoption events (in Petco, PetSmart, pop-up stores) and regular adoption events to make pet adoption more accessible.

The shelters and rescue groups in Baltimore are working every day to care for animals in need—and they can't do it alone. Every small action makes a big difference in the lives of animals. Thank you for being part of their journey to a better life.