The Tombstone Small Animal Shelter is a non-profit, no-kill shelter dedicated to finding homes for unwanted and abandoned animals in the Tombstone area, and educating the public in the benefits of spaying and neutering. We are proud to comply with the national no-kill standards. We do not euthanize except when injury, disease or temperament makes other options impossible. We do not sell animals for research.
The Tombstone Small Animal Shelter (often called Tombstone Animal Shelter) in Tombstone, Arizona, stands out from many other animal shelters primarily due to several key characteristics:
- Strict no-kill policy: It proudly adheres to national no-kill standards, meaning it does not euthanize animals for space, time, or adoptability reasons. Euthanasia occurs only in rare cases of severe injury, untreatable disease, or dangerous temperament. This contrasts with many traditional municipal shelters that may euthanize due to overcrowding or limited resources.
- Volunteer-run and non-profit operation: It's a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entirely run by volunteers (with a small core group, often around 6 or so mentioned in updates), without city or government subsidization. This community-driven model relies heavily on donations and fosters a dedicated, personal approach to care, though it also means it's a small facility with limited capacity (e.g., about 12 dog kennels and 7 cat cages, plus outdoor play areas).
- Focus on education and prevention: Beyond adoptions, it emphasizes public education on spaying/neutering benefits to reduce overpopulation in the local area. All animals are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped before adoption.
- Small, local scale in a historic town: Serving the Tombstone/Cochise County area, it's a modest facility originally built in 1995 (with roots back to 1977), housed in a purpose-built structure rather than a large-scale operation. It deals with regional issues like highway abandonments but maintains a clean, well-run environment through volunteer efforts.
- Additional practices: It promotes options like foster-to-adopt for better matching, requires indoor-only cats and no declawing in adoptions, and avoids selling animals for research.
Many shelters share some of these traits (especially no-kill ones), but the combination of being a small, volunteer-powered, no-kill facility in a rural/historic Western town like Tombstone—while staying independent and focused on local education—gives it a unique, grassroots feel compared to larger, government-run, or high-volume shelters.