General
Most of our animals come from our rural target community outside of Edmonton. They are either strays, abandoned, or have been surrendered to us.
We do not accept owner surrenders from within Edmonton, except under very rare circumstances; however, if you do need to rehome your animal, we can help with advertising and advise you on how to find the best possible new home for your pet.
Zoe’s is a shelterless rescue, meaning that all of our animals live in foster homes (i.e., real homes) until they are adopted. Fosters, with the help of trainers within our volunteer network, work on behavioural issues and really get to know the animals, which gives you a much better idea of how they might behave in your own home. If you want to visit an animal, please submit an application, and we’ll be happy to arrange a meet and greet.
Both Zoe’s and the Humane Society are committed to helping companion animals in need, so you can feel good about adopting from either organization! The Edmonton Humane Society mainly accepts owner surrenders from within Edmonton, whereas Zoe’s (and many of the other independent rescues in Edmonton) mainly take in animals from outside of the city.
If you have found a stray and are in Edmonton you MUST take the animal to Animal Care and Control Centre (13550 163 St NW). It is illegal to re-home strays or even keep them in Edmonton unless first bringing them to ACCC. We can not accept any requests to take in stray cats/kittens.
Adopting
While we wish we could personally respond to every application that comes in, the reality is we receive hundreds of applications for our various fosters. Being a volunteer-run organization, our team unfortunately do not have the manpower and bandwidth.
We match animals to families and do a good job – we have a 3% return rate that we are very proud of. We also take very seriously the fact that we build families – we don’t simply “sell” pets to the first good application. Your application, even if excellent (as most of them are) will not be chosen if it is not the best match for the pet.
With all that being said, we appreciate your interest and encourage you to continue trying for adoption as rescues become available!
As exciting as it is to bring home a new family member home right away, the adoption process can take up to two weeks to complete. Our volunteers need time to reach out to applicants, coordinate Meet ‘n Greets, complete home and reference checks to ensure we are matching our fosters to true forever homes that are responsible, compatible and committed to taking care of them for the rest of their life! Patience is a virtue, but trust us – it will be worth it!