The Greenbelt Animal Control program began in 2002. We are the only municipality in Prince George's County to have and operate our own shelter and adoption program. Our two full-time and l part time employees receive and run calls, impound animals, prosecute neglect/cruelty cases, care for the animals in our shelter, fund raiser for special needs animals, plan and execute events for the public, process adoptions, as well as maintain the shelter and surrounding grounds.

How is that possible?!

Our small staff is extremely dedicated. We also rely on volunteers to help us with making the Greenbelt Animal Shelter the best it can be!

Our volunteers apply their unique skills and passions to the shelter in many different ways. For example: social media outreach, events planning, fundraising, organizing, dog walking, cat socializing, fostering and the list goes on and on. Our animals benefit from every positive human interaction they have. We are not about setting limits on how you may contribute to our program. If you would like to sit in our cat room and pet a cat after a rough day at work, you aren't only making yourself feel better, but you are interacting with an animal that may have otherwise been missing attention.

We do have to set some boundaries for your safety and the safety of our animals.

• The isolation room is off limits unless you have specific permission that shift from a staff member to be in the isolation room. New animals are quarantined in the Isolation room prior to being released into the general population. We do not want to run the risk of cross contaminating animals with possible transmittable diseases. Some of these animals are not the shelters. take in animals for many reasons and the animal may just be here for spaying or neutering. The animal may also be wild/feral and more exposure to humans than necessary stresses these animals.
  Wildlife. Feel free to ask staff about the animal if curious but the less wildlife is handled, the better. It's stressful for the animal and potentially dangerous for the person handling the animal.
  
  
• We sometimes have animals that are not the friendliest. Some of our dogs are working on themselves. If you have a question about whether you can interact with a specific dog, please ask a staff member. There are often times notes on the cage from the trainer or staff members.
  
  
•  All bites, big or small must be reported. Accidents happen and animals can be unpredictable in certain circumstances.
  
  
• We love your face! So please, NEVER stick it in an animal's face! There is a proper way to say hello to an animal.

 Shelter Specifics

The Greenbelt Animal Shelter is very limited in size, and is, at the moment, taxpayer funded by the residents of the City of Greenbelt.

The shelter we operate is very limited in size, and is, at the moment, taxpayer funded by the residents of the City of Greenbelt. This limits us to accepting animals located in Greenbelt only. Every effort is made to place adoptable animals with appropriate adoptive homes. Difficult decisions must be made at times when an animal is too sick or injured to be treated or animals that are aggressive and post a threat to the public are some instances that the decision may be made.

The shelter can hold 7 dogs using the runs for a single dog or more if dogs can be housed together. We have a play yard that the dogs use at least 3 times a day, either alone, in a play group or with a volunteer/trainer. There are currently 2 cat rooms in addition to the isolation room. Both cat rooms have windows for the cats to sunbathe or bird watch.

Important Information

We currently have 1 animal control officers. The easiest way to contact the officers is via email.

animalcontrol@greenbeltmd.gov

If you have an emergency while at the shelter and for some reason there is no officer around, you can contact the Greenbelt Police Department at 301-474-7200.

The dry erase board on the wall next to the first cat room has information on recent adoptions, upcoming events or important information.

The calendar on the front door is you can initial for upcoming volunteer shifts, so staff knows you are coming.

Volunteer hours are Monday-Friday from 4-7pm. If there is a day where we will be closed, it will be indicated on the calendar. Sometimes we have unexpected emergencies, if this is the case, we try to post on our Facebook page as well as post a sign on the shelter's gate.

If you are interested in helping with a specific event or activity, please contact us or let the staff member present know! As always, all ideas are welcome, so if you have an idea for an event or improvement for the shelter, let us know