Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary

Brucie, young, brindle-colored, loves kids and is full of kisses!

We're so grateful to Louisa Phillips for sponsoring adorable Brucie.

Click for more photos of sweet Brucie. Foster home needed. Email us at info@safehavende.org

Join us on our trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show March 8, 2012. You can purchase tickets online below or by check. For details, click here.

Entrance to Safe Haven Animal Sancutary

Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary is now constructing our building, which will open with space for 400 animals soon. Our No-Kill sanctuary is being built on Shingle Point Road between Georgetown and Milton by R.Y.Johnson & Son, Inc. We have a photo journal of the construction process. We are very grateful to our volunteers who having been helping to paint the exterior and now the interior of the building.

While construction goes on, we have ongoing programs to help animals: spay/neuter of community cats; a pet food pantry which feeds over 600 cats in colonies around the county; medical care for our animals; and our Life Preserver dog program, which is saving Delaware dogs who would be otherwise be put down. We are always looking for foster homes for our dogs: click for photos of the dogs. We find that fostering is an excellent way to see if a particular dog is a good match for a household before adopting. Click for the WMDT interview of Executive Director Anne Gryczon on WMDT that features Gracie, the Pit Bull mix rescued by Safe Haven. A youtube video of some of the dogs rescued by Safe Haven this year is posted at the bottom of this page.

A True No-Kill Sanctuary

With a proactive adoption policy, we expect to care for about 2,000 animals annually in our sanctuary. The animals who cannot be quickly adopted will receive long-term housing or will live out their natural lives at Safe Haven.

"As a true No-Kill shelter, no cats or dogs will be put down unless they have untreatable and unmanageable medical conditions that cause pain which can not be controlled," says Executive Director Anne Gryczon, who has been working for Safe Haven for 3 years. "The model for Safe Haven is Best Friends in Utah, which has been proving since the 1980s that the No-Kill philosophy works. Safe Haven is completely committed to the Best Friends approach."

Illustration of 2 adjacent cat rooms

This is one of the videos on our youtube channel. Click the icon to see all of our videos.



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Safe Haven News

A Donation to Safe Haven of $25,000 in Memory of Marcy May. Click for our article

Lowes at Five Points is giving Safe Haven a 50% discount on the paint for the exterior and interior of the sanctuary. This has saved us over $1,000 on paint! We are so grateful to Robin Brown at Lowes for arranging this discount. We hope our Safe Haven supporters will say a word of thanks to Lowes staff when shopping there.

"Animals in Sussex County get a new leash on life," Sussex Countian, Nov. 22, 2011. Click for article.

"Shelter dogs help students succeed,"Milford Beacon, Nov. 17, 2011.The article led to a WBOC news story. Click for the article and the WBOC video.

"Sussex County's Safe Haven Sanctuary looks to open facility later this year" Sussex Countian, Sept. 21,2011. Click for article.

Click here for June 2011 Cape Gazette Article on Safe Haven Dogs

Help abused and abandoned cats and dogs

Animal-Centered Design
Safe Haven's design is unique because it will minimize the stress of the cats and dogs living there, while keeping operational costs at a minimum. The cage-free indoor living spaces for 400 cats and dogs are heated, cooled, and full of natural light from windows that can be opened in good weather.

Illustration of dog rooms

Compatible dogs will be paired up, and several cats will be in each cat room to prevent isolation. There will also be areas where cats and dogs can interact with volunteers and people interested in adopting pets.