My Nonprofit Reviews

These guys do great work. Not only rehabilitation, but also with education and research. If you're in the area is free to visit and they have an optional area where you can see them doing necropsy (animal autopsies) to find out why they did and collect samples for research. Just know that their work is seasonal and there is more to see in the spring and early summer than in the fall and winter.

I have mixed emotions of my time spent at ADOPT. I volunteered in their spay/neuter clinic for 3 years and loved it. The doctor there is very supportive and willing to answer questions. They mainly do spays and neuters for their own animals or cats and dogs from animal control or local rescue groups. Sometimes they do spays and neuters for verified low-income families as well. The days were long and the pace was sometimes crazy (they've since split the day into shifts and slowed down), but at the end of the day I always felt like I did something positive by helping to curb the pet overpopulation problem. In fact, I liked my experience at ADOPT so much that I left my IT career and went back to school to become a Vet Tech to work with animals full time! So, that's the good.

The bad is that the shelter's Board has major problems with in-fighting and it's gotten particularly bitter lately. In fact, I'm sorry to say that last I heard their focus was completely shifted away from the animals and toward the "us versus them" mentality that has taken over. Luckily the staff and volunteers are amazing and the animals are still well taken care of as a result.

Others have said that customer service is spotty and I have to admit that I've seen this first hand as well. Weekends seem to be better times to go in. They are busier, but the volunteers who come in on the weekends for adoptions actually enjoy working with potential adopters and tend to be better than staff who might be more "animal people" than "people people" if you know what I mean.

So, to sum up I'm sad to say that I just can't really recommend volunteering or even supporting ADOPT until the issues at the Board level get resolved. Even if you don't see the in-fighting first hand as a volunteer I think you can feel that there are problems in the moral of the staff and volunteers. The spay/neuter clinic is somewhat insulated from the issues, however, and if you are interested in veterinary medicine and surgery it may be worthwhile. Just brace yourself for the drama.

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I've helped care for rescued seals and sea lions at Marine Mammal Center for about 8 months now including 3 months spend there on a Veterinary Technician internship. They are wonderful people to work with and do amazing things for the animals under their care. In all aspects they take their responsibility very seriously and go above and beyond by partnering with many scientists to help them with their research whether that research is aimed at learning more about our marine mammal cousins or to trying to figure out or cure human conditions or diseases. They do a great job of educating the public as well and are very open about what goes on there. I highly encourage their support. Also, visiting is free, so stop on by and see what they are doing in person!

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