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| North Shore Animal League |
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25 Davis Avenue, Port Washington, NY, 516-883-7575.
www.nsal.org
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| Open 365 days a year, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
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By car, take the Long Island Expressway to Exit 36. Go North 4 miles, past two Getty Stations. Take the first left onto Davis Avenue. North Shore's parking lot is halfway down the block on the right. By train, take the Long Island Railroad to Port Washington. The shelter is two-and-a-half blocks south on the corner of South Bayless and Davis Aves.
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The North Shore Animal League was founded in 1944 as a modest no-kill shelter in Great Neck, Long Island. It soon attracted the attention and the money of Mr. and Mrs. Alex Lewyt, animal lovers and heirs to the Lewyt vacuum cleaner fortune. So determined was Mrs. Lewyt to rescue pets from pounds, she started a volunteer rescue organization that still today collects otherwise-doomed pets from pounds as far away as North Carolina. North Shore Animal League is now the largest no-kill shelter in the world (Best Friends in Utah is bigger, but it's considered to be an animal sanctuary, not a shelter). As for Mrs. Lewyt, she is still chairperson of NSAL's board. (Her husband died in 1988.)
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200 dogs is the limit. NSAL says 15,600 dogs were adopted last year.
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About 80 percent are rescued from shelters that euthanize dogs, including pounds as far away as North Carolina. The remaining 20% are given up by their owners. North Shore turns away aggressive dogs (because it is not a sanctuary, it can only take in dogs that can be adopted). More than half of the dogs at NSAL are puppies. Around two percent of the puppies and ten percent of the adult dogs are purebred. If you are interested in a specific breed, the shelter can put you on a waiting list for that breed. The best selection of dogs can be found early in the day on Saturdays and Sundays.
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Puppies up to 6 months: $135 for mixed breeds, $275 for purebreds; dogs over 6 months: $75 for medium and large mixed-breeds, $150 for small mixed-breeds, $250 for purebreds. All dogs leave spayed or neutered and vaccinated.
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Take as much time as you'd like visiting the animals. If you find a dog you like, fill out the pre-adoption form. You'll need two forms of i.d. and two people the NSAL can call to be character references. While NSAL calls your references and anyone you live with (to make sure they agree with your decision to get a dog), you're sent to the family waiting room, where a video about responsible pet ownership is on a continuous loop. As soon as your file has been reviewed, you'll be paged.
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Unless you can be home every three to four hours, you're not allowed a puppy. And you can't take a dog home as a gift for someone else. A few weeks after the adoption, the NSAL will check up on you with a phone call and, if there's a problem, will make a home visit.
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NSAL has a program that matches people over 60 with dogs over five and provides free and discounted services for these pets. NSAL's mobile adoption centers bring adoptable cats and dogs to locations around the New York area.
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Corporate sponsorship and individual donations.
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