In the first two months of 2025, BISSELL Pet Foundation has been extremely busy responding to animal shelters nationwide to provide support for large-scale cruelty and neglect cases. Additionally, urgent calls for help with puppy mills, hoarders and failed rescues have come in with requests for transport and/or funding for medical care and temporary sheltering. Unfortunately, with our nation’s shelters full, nearly any size intake from an emergency is considered a large-scale case and requires outside help. Assisting with these situations demands more funding, resources and collaboration than ever before. All indications are that it will be another busy year of crisis response. 

BPF’s mission has always been to support animal shelters where they need us the most. Aside from spay/neuter services, crisis and disaster is our largest request for assistance, and a primary reason why BPF created the Animal Incident Management (AIM) initiative. Our AIM team, along with our nationwide network of partners, stands ready to help with boots on the ground and the placement of pets from large-scale cases. At any given time, BPF’s AIM team is supporting multiple cases. 

Responding to a large-scale neglect case can cost anywhere from $30,000 to over $200,000, with expenses adding up quickly. Before animals can be removed from their situation, the responding shelter or organization needs to follow strict protocols to build a solid legal case against the person who has endangered the animals. Once local authorities serve warrants, responders work swiftly to collect evidence, conduct thorough examinations of each animal and document their condition along with the environment they came from. This complex operation requires a dedicated team of law enforcement officers, veterinarians, responders, and forensic experts—along with significant financial resources. 

The animals generally need immediate medical care. Once they arrive back at the shelter, care begins and the documentation continues. Sometimes, every dog is matted and must be shaved, and the fur is kept in bags for evidence. Animals may be emaciated; their body scores are recorded, and a feeding plan is implemented. The shelter may need funding for additional staff, supplies, medical care and housing as a case works through the legal system. 

In most cases, the shelter must hold the animals until a custody hearing. Often, this requires them to make room by moving pets already in the shelter to hold the animals from the case. This is typically done through both ground and air transport. If the case is too large to be safely accommodated by the shelter, an emergency shelter is created to house the additional animals, and a team is brought in to run it. As law enforcement and the District Attorney’s Office build a strong case to present to the judge, responders are working with the animals to help them heal physically and mentally from neglect.  

Once the court releases the animals (this may be weeks or months), it is time for transport and placement in receiving shelters that have agreed to take the pets in and find loving homes for them. The pets will move on to a new life by ground and air.  

BPF recognizes that most animal shelters cannot absorb the costs associated with a large-scale case, and we help them in different ways. In some cases, AIM supports the shelter through the entire process; in others, BPF may provide transport or funding for medical care. No matter what point in the process they need us, BPF’s AIM team stands ready to help shelters save lives. 

  Until every pet has a home,