Sean Casey Animal Rescue

Sean Casey Animal Rescue — SCAR — was founded in 1998 by Sean Casey, a Brooklyn rescuer who began the organization in response to the gap in New York's animal welfare landscape for animals that didn't fit traditional shelter intake. SCAR operates out of a small location on East 3rd Street in Windsor Terrace and handles, by intake volume relative to facility size, one of the most operationally intense rescue caseloads in New York City.

The organization is small — usually under 100 animals in active care at any given time — but the placement rate is dense, the animals tend to be unusually complex cases, and the rescue's institutional reputation in the New York animal welfare community is significantly larger than the facility's footprint would suggest.

How they work

SCAR adoptions begin with a written application and an interview. The process is more structured than at some peer organizations, partly because the animals SCAR handles often require careful matching. The rescue's adoption philosophy is open-hearted but careful — staff are looking for fit, particularly for animals with significant histories.

Adoption fees vary by animal and time of year. Fees cover spay or neuter, age-appropriate vaccinations, microchipping, and a starter pack.

The shelter is no-kill in the strictest sense. Animals with significant medical or behavioral histories are given long-term care, sometimes for months, while veterinary and behavior teams stabilize them.

Beyond standard adoptions, SCAR runs:

• Reptile and exotic animal rescue — SCAR is one of the few New York City rescue organizations that handles reptiles, amphibians, exotic mammals, and other non-traditional pets at scale. Many of these animals come from surrendering owners who underestimated the long-term commitment; some come from law enforcement seizures.
• Cruelty case intake — SCAR regularly accepts animals from NYPD-led cruelty cases and from other rescues that have hit capacity. The intake from this category is often higher-need than typical shelter intake.
• A small but well-organized foster network handling animals across all five boroughs.
• Behavior rehabilitation for dogs requiring long-term work.
• A specialty in cats with significant medical or behavioral needs that other organizations in the city wouldn't have capacity to take on.

The Windsor Terrace context

SCAR's location in Windsor Terrace — a quieter Brooklyn neighborhood south of Prospect Park — gives the rescue a small but meaningful local community of supporters and volunteers. The volunteer dog-walker rotation passes through Prospect Park's southern paths daily. Local Windsor Terrace residents make up a meaningful share of the foster network and the broader donor base.

The rescue's reputation in the broader New York animal welfare community is, by reputation, one of the most operationally serious in the city — particularly for the complexity of the cases the rescue handles relative to its size. Other New York rescues sometimes transfer specific animals to SCAR precisely because the organization has the capacity and expertise to handle situations they don't.

A specific note about Field & Era

Field & Era's example product photography includes a Companion Edition print labeled with the location "Sean Casey Rescue, Brooklyn, NY" — a real reference to this organization. The print was one of the early customer orders we received and we used the spec, with the customer's permission, as one of our gallery examples. The customer adopted Luna — a black labrador mix who came through SCAR in early 2022 — and the Brooklyn coordinates have been on her wall ever since.

If you adopted from Sean Casey Animal Rescue and want the address set on archival paper, see the Companion Edition. 10% of every Companion order supports a rescue partner.

You can support SCAR directly in the standard ways:

• Adopt — available animals are listed online.
• Foster — particularly useful for the exotic and reptile populations SCAR handles, but the foster network covers dogs and cats as well.
• Volunteer — the East 3rd Street location is small and constantly needs hands.
• Donate — SCAR runs on a small budget and is one of the more dollar-efficient rescues in New York City.

Last verified May 29, 2026. Facts about hours, intake policies, and adoption fees can change. Confirm with Sean Casey Animal Rescue directly before visiting.