TRANSITION:

From a ‘Traditional’ Local Shelter to a Nationally Recognized, No-Kill Animal Welfare Organization

In spite of the good intentions that inspired the founding of the Raccoon Valley Humane Society near Adel, it had fallen on hard times and was about to close when we agreed to try and save this rural Iowa shelter.  We did not see ourselves as just animal lovers, but as a group that shared an innovative philosophy which included rehabilitation as a major element of a new animal care protocol combined with a resolution to finding a better way than euthanasia to solve the shelter’s overflowing intake and financial problems. Our rationale was simple. Animal rehabilitation afforded the opportunity to get to know each animal, allowing us to develop a more specific adoption criterion in order to help us make the right human-animal match for life. What we didn’t realize is that the exercise and training programs we were developing would become the foundation for future, highly successful programs.

At that time, instead of focusing on making the “right” match between owner and adopter, Raccoon Valley personnel were primarily concerned with numbers; how many animals were taken in and how many were adopted out.  People were used to walking into the shelter, selecting the pet they wanted, filling out a form and then taking their newly adopted companion home all within 30 minutes or less.  We recognized that an extremely high percentage of the local residents were surrendering their companions primarily due to behavioral issues.  Consequently, our goal became to not only make a more precise animal – human match, but to also provide the pet owner with the tools and knowledge of what it means to be a responsible dog owner.  We were surprised over the community resistance to our stricter adoption policies and even more so over the community leaders reaction to our new policy that no animal should die to make room for another! All of this resulted in making the transition to no-kill a greater challenge than anticipated.

In spite of the opposition, we followed our basic instinct to stay the course and do what was right for the animals in our care by creating a proactive state of mind when working with the dogs. We trained our staff not to feel sorry for the dogs but instead to fulfill their needs through exercise prior to training and obedience work. This helped them assess the dogs dispositions more accurately, allowing for better rehabilitation as well as creating greatly improved adoption matches.

The net effect was a calm facility with contented and fulfilled dogs.  Severe behavior cases were not shoved aside or slated for death, but given extra staffing to rehabilitate the dog’s behavior. Dogs were now exercised routinely throughout the day including leashed walks and structured play. Basic obedience and leadership were taught and reinforced by a consistently trained staff.

RVAS Featured Adoptables


Fey is a young female spayed kitten. This lilttle girl loves to be cuddled and is extremely playful. She will need lots of stimulation thru her kitten years. Fey will do great with other pets.



Lucas is an adult male who has been neutered and is front declawed. This beautiful long-haired boy is friendly and very loveable. Lucas loves to cuddle, talk, and interact with his human companion. A purr-fect cat!

For more information on these adoptables, or to view others, please contact Raccoon Valley Animal Sanctuary+Rescue at 515-577-1745 or
Click on the link below to go to the RVAS Home Page



The Sanctuary is always in need of supplies, if you would like to help out, please click here to see the RVAS wish list.