About PAWS New England

PAWS New England is a non-profit all breed dog rescue group. PAWS rescues unwanted, abandoned, neglected, and abused dogs from high kill shelters and works to educate the public about the need to spay and neuter pets to prevent overpopulation. We hope you will enjoy this 13 minute video that details our mission, shares some heartwarming stories, and describes the ways in which you can help us!

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PAWS New England is comprised of a small group of volunteers from New England and Tennessee trying to reduce the euthanization rate (previously 90%) at the Tipton County Animal Control shelter in Brighton, Tennessee.  This shelter is forced to euthanize thousands of animals each year due to irresponsible pet owners that do not spay or neuter their dogs in the area. Many of the dogs euthanized are dogs that would be consider "highly adoptable" in New England: puppies, pure-bred dogs, and dogs that have excellent temperaments who are already trained. PAWS tries to bridge the gap between hundreds of families in New England who would love to adopt these special creatures and the tremendous odds that they face getting out of the shelter. Millions of dogs in America are euthanized each year due to lack of space and lack of funding to try and find them better homes...

About Tipton County Animal Control

Tipton County Animal Control is a facility with 39 runs for dogs. Regularly, this shelter 60-80 new dogs every week. These numbers are further complicated by an extremely low local adoption rate as well as a dwindling local shelter budget. The animals at Tipton County receive no veterinary care and there are no partnerships with local vets to access low cost spay/neuter programs and cost efficient vaccinations. Rescue groups are quite hesitant to pull from such a shelter because they must assume all the cost of vetting each and every dog. Furthermore, the vast majority of dogs pulled are afflicted with anything from distemper to heartworm. Saving dogs from Tipton County is a costly venture, but PAWS remains committed to this rural shelter who essentially operates without any help. We do our best to facilitate small changes by pulling as many dogs as we have funds to save and on a larger scale by seeking out grant money and local veterinarian volunteers willing to make the vast changes needed to drastically lower this pound's euthanasia rate.

Our Mission

Our mission is to save as many animals as possible, removing them from the shelter, having their veterinary needs met prior to traveling and then finding them loving homes throughout New England. We do this only with the assistance of many people volunteering their time by going to the shelter, transporting the dogs to the vet, fostering dogs who need special care, and arranging for their new and happy homes in this area. Most importantly, we cannot do any of this without those people willing to open their homes and hearts to these lovely creatures.