East Bay SPCA

The East Bay SPCA is one of the oldest humane societies on the West Coast. Founded in 1874 — six years before the State of California even had a department of agriculture — it predates most of the institutions you might compare it to, and it has spent a century and a half doing the same plain, unglamorous, essential work: rescuing animals, rehoming them, and treating the ones who can't be rehomed yet with veterinary care that is, frankly, better than what some people get.

It operates two locations in the East Bay. The Pet Adoption & Education Center in Oakland sits on Lake Merritt's edge and runs the bulk of the organization's foster intake. The Dublin Adoption Center, off Gleason Drive in the Tri-Valley, is the newer of the two and handles a larger share of the dog adoptions that come through.

How they work

The East Bay SPCA is no-kill in the strict sense of the term: animals are not euthanized for space, time, or treatable medical or behavioral conditions. The shelter accepts owner surrenders and transfers from municipal shelters across Alameda and Contra Costa counties, with a particular focus on animals that other shelters can't keep. Many of the dogs at Dublin have come from somewhere else first.

Adoptions begin online. You browse the available animals on their website, fill out an application that asks the kinds of questions you would expect — household composition, other pets, time the dog will be alone — and then schedule a visit. Adoption fees vary by animal and time of year; current fees are listed on their site and run within the standard range for Bay Area rescues. The fee covers spay or neuter, microchipping, age-appropriate vaccinations, and a starter pack.

The shelter also runs:

• A low-cost spay and neuter clinic that serves the broader Bay Area, not just animals they're adopting out
• A behavior and training program that takes in dogs other shelters wouldn't be able to rehabilitate
• A pet food pantry that distributes free food to families who can't otherwise afford it, helping keep animals in homes that already love them
• A summer kids' camp for grade-school children that teaches humane handling and animal welfare

That last one is harder to measure and matters more than it sounds. A generation of East Bay kids has come through it.

What 150 years of work looks like

The East Bay SPCA does not have the glossy national profile of some of its peer organizations. It does have, by their own most recent annual report, roughly 4,000 animals placed in adoptive homes each year. That is a number that has held steady through pandemic upheaval, through wildfire seasons that have pushed displaced animals into Bay Area shelters from across Northern California, and through the cost-of-living pressures that have made owner surrenders a harder and more frequent problem in this part of the state than most.

You can support them in the ways that matter:

• Adopt. Both centers post their available animals daily.
• Foster. They are nearly always recruiting foster homes. Foster runs from a single weekend up to several months, depending on the animal.
• Volunteer. Behavioral work, kennel maintenance, off-site adoption events.
• Donate. Their development office has a 4-star Charity Navigator rating, and 86% of operating revenue flows directly into animal services.

Field & Era at East Bay SPCA

The East Bay SPCA is Field & Era's current rescue partner. 10% of every Companion Edition print is committed to them, disbursed quarterly. Multiple Field & Era customers have already ordered a Companion print of the Dublin or Oakland coordinates — the map of the day they came home — and we expect to keep that count growing.

If you adopted from the East Bay SPCA and want the place set on archival paper, see the Companion Edition. Every order quietly returns to the shelter.

Last verified May 29, 2026. Facts about hours, intake policies, and adoption fees can change. Confirm with East Bay SPCA directly before visiting.