AAWL’s 24th annual ‘Walk to Save Animals’

The Arizona Animal Welfare League, also known as AAWL, is hosting its 24th annual ‘Walk to Save Animals’ at Tempe Town Lake. The event, which is coming up on Saturday, November 5th, will help raise money for life-saving programs. Joining us now from the Animal Welfare League is Kimberly Vermillion.

“This is a day that’s dedicated to the dogs,” Vermillion said. “We have a bunch of different activities going on. We have an activity center for dogs that do lure coursing, agility, all kinds of things, along with a bunch of different resources and different things to shop as well.”

The goal is to raise money for life saving programs, but what are these programs?

The walk helps fund the adoptions, rescues, vaccines and the low-cost community vet clinic that is open to the public, according to Vermillion.

“Throughout the year, we rescue over 4,000 cats and dogs. And the walk to save animals makes a huge difference to be able to fund those programs,” Vermillion said.

What is Most Common with Incoming Animals?

“We see a variety of different dogs and cats come through our shelter. We get through owner surrender requests. We also work closely with a lot of different rural rescues. Luckily, because of the support we have from our community, we’re able to take on a lot of difficult medical cases, and that is through our Medical Miracle fund, so we’re able to do that,” Vermillion said.

A lot of fosters are dedicated to help medical fosters, where the foster time can range from a couple of weeks to several months, Vermillion said.

A lot of people wanted a pet during COVID, and now that people are no longer in isolation, a lot of pets are being given up.

“We are pretty full at AAWL. We are always looking for more people to come in to adopt because that means we can help our partners more, and we’re able to help our community members more too,” Vermillion said.