WAGS Pet Adoption is a shelter and adoption group serving Westminster, Stanton and Seal Beach
WAGS shelters and cares for companion animals, rescues neglected pets, treats unhealthy and injured strays, and educates the community about humane issues and responsible pet care.
We have birds, turtles, snakes, tortoises and pot belly pigs.
WAGS Core Values
Core Values
- Quality care for our pets – Today, tomorrow and always.
- Cleanliness – To follow standard protocols for a clean infection-free environment and a “no poop zone”.
- Customer kindness – Always smile and help the visitors until they don’t need any more help.
- Teamwork – Step up and help each other.
- Development – Create shelter and shelter programs that enhance the community.
- Respect – Treat all staff and volunteers with the utmost respect. We know these are tough jobs.
WAGS Promises to Our Pets
- We promise to ensure the pets are always well fed and hydrated.
- We promise to keep pets comfortable with resting spaces and shelter.
- We promise to provide medical care and medication as needed.
- We promise to provide a safe and enriched environment.
- We promise to provide as low stress as possible in a shelter.
- We promise to provide a loving focused effort when placing every pet in a forever home.
A letter from CEO- Dr. Michelle Russillo and Founder Dr. Tia Greenberg
We want to share some basic information on how WAGS is funded and run. WAGS is a 501c3 non-profit organization contracted by two cities with a predetermined estimated amount of money to care for the pets that would be brought in based on the previous year’s data. The contract spans three years. It is not lucrative money but limited monies to care for the city’s stray, lost, unhealthy animals. There are no extra funds to handle hoarder and puppy mill cases (at least in this contract).
Additionally, possibly due to our good reputation, WAGS has already exceeded the number of pets brought to us in the contracted estimated number. Maybe, we have more pets on the property than anticipated because we do our best to rehabilitate and care for animals under our roof. We sometimes assume we have more sick and lost pets because of our philosophy of care. Overall, WAGS cares for about 400 pets on the property on any given day.
WAGS has many programs to help pets get adopted. Notably, We strive to provide excellent medical care. To emphasize, we use standard protocols for caring for pets and facilities. With this in mind, we pride ourselves on keeping WAGS in precise order and renovating whenever we have the funds to improve a room or two. We have vast volunteer opportunities, sponsorship, and donation options. Also, We are always open to suggestions for improvement and welcome the community daily.
Additionally, we often promote adoptions at a certain fee and/or run promotions at lower fees to help pets get adopted sooner. Facebook posts keeps our followers up to date all the time www.facebook.com/wagspetadoption.org. Anyone who knows us knows we advocate all the time. Furthermore, the best thing we can do is make adoptions happen.
In 2017, Despite WAGS having doubled in size overnight – literally!! WAGS is fortunate NOT to have to pay for any administrative overhead. We have two volunteers administrative staff the CEO, Dr. Michelle Russillo, and Founder, Dr. Tia Greenberg, that manages WAGS. There is only one manager, supervisor, part-time veterinarians, and staff on the payroll. This has been one way to keep all the funds for pet care and housing.
Animal sheltering is a considerable problem and overwhelms shelters, employees, volunteers, management, and veterinarians. Our funds are tight! When we unexpectedly got two hoarder cases of 126 rabbits and puppy mill cases of 78 dogs in a short period between May and November 2017, we needed to make adjustments to adoption donation fees (for example, Bulldogs being more than the usual fees) to pay for extra staffing (80 hours), medications, food, healthcare, veterinarians and medicine. Of course, there are rent, overhead, and unforeseen emergency costs. Even though these problems occur, we can cover our costs; we are grateful for that. Keeping WAGS running is a goal for the whole team.
We appreciate the help, support, and kindness of our community!!! We can’t thank our tireless staff and volunteers enough for all they have done to care for the doubled population of animals on the property. To point out, WAGS is a small shelter contracted by only two cities, and we keep it small to try to do the right services for these animals every day! After all, WAGS doesn’t claim to be perfect, but we will continue to do better and better.
Thank you for your continued support and kindness,
Dr. Michelle Russillo
CEO- WAGS Pet Adoption