About AAWL
Arizona’s Oldest & Largest No-Kill Shelter
Our Mission
The mission of the Arizona Animal Welfare League (AAWL) is to provide excellent care, protection and loving compassion for the life of the animals entrusted to us and to take a leadership role in promoting humane values for the benefit of all animals and people.
Our Vision
A no-kill Arizona that provides compassionate care for animals and the people who love them.
Who We Are
The Arizona Animal Welfare League (AAWL), located in Phoenix, is Arizona’s oldest and largest no-kill animal shelter, with a proud legacy spanning over 50 years.
AAWL is a limited intake shelter – meaning we only take in as many pets as it has space and resources to care for well. Our facility houses approximately 140 cats and 190 dogs at any given time, supported by a network of foster families who provide temporary homes for animals needing extra care. By managing our intake carefully, every pet gets the time, attention, medical care, and support they need to find their family.
Today, we care for more than 4,000 dogs and cats each year, serving our local community and partnering with shelters in Arizona’s rural areas where distance from veterinary services and other resources can create barriers to pet care. Over the years, we’ve grown into a community-centered organization focused on supporting both pets and the people who love them, here in Phoenix and across Arizona.
Our Values
Collaboration
Empathy
Integrity
Innovation
Our History
The Arizona Animal Welfare League (AAWL) was founded in 1971 by a group of concerned animal lovers. This group was led by Amanda Blake, best known as “Miss Kitty” on the television program, Gunsmoke.
Starting out on a small scale, concerned volunteers adopted out rescued cats and dogs from foster homes. In the late 1970s, the organization built its first shelter. By the mid-1990s, AAWL began rescuing animals scheduled to be euthanized by the County and, after rehabilitation, made them available for adoption to the community. Throughout the past 55+ years, the organization has grown from adopting a handful of animals each year to a full-service animal welfare organization and leader in innovative behavior training, medical care, adoption, education and community outreach programs. Today, our shelter has an onsite veterinary clinic, kennels with a separate cattery, a training center and a freestanding infirmary.
In 2007, the Arizona Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) merged into AAWL. The new organization was renamed the Arizona Animal Welfare League & SPCA (AAWL & SPCA). In 2023, as part of our efforts to increase our visibility as a community-based animal welfare group with a long history in Phoenix, we removed “SPCA” from our name to eliminate confusion that we were affiliated with any other national animal welfare groups. Today, although SPCA is legally part of our name with the Arizona Corporation Commission, we are known across the state as the Arizona Animal Welfare League.