Animal Haven

Animal Haven is one of the oldest no-kill animal welfare organizations in New York City, founded in 1967 in Queens and now operating its main adoption center on Centre Street in SoHo. The current SoHo location, opened in 2008, was the first ground-floor purpose-built animal shelter in lower Manhattan — a meaningful fact in a city where space is the most expensive thing about anything.

The organization is small by national standards — roughly 75 to 100 animals in care at any given time — but the placement rate is dense, and over the course of a year, several thousand animals find homes through the SoHo center.

How they work

Animal Haven adopts through a process that combines a written application, a phone or in-person interview, and a meet-and-greet with the specific animal you're interested in. The interview is conversational rather than adversarial; the organization is looking for fit, not for reasons to reject. The application asks about household composition, schedule, prior pet experience, and (for renters) landlord permissions.

Adoption fees vary by animal — younger dogs and high-demand breeds carry higher fees; older and special-needs animals are usually lower or sometimes waived entirely. Fees cover spay or neuter, age-appropriate vaccinations, microchipping, and a starter pack.

Animal Haven is no-kill in the strictest sense. Animals are not euthanized for space, time, or treatable conditions. Animals with significant medical issues are given long-term care, sometimes for months, while veterinary teams stabilize them for adoption.

Beyond the SoHo adoption center, the organization runs:

• Recovery Road — a program supporting animals with significant medical or behavioral issues through extended rehabilitation. Many of these dogs are eventually adopted; some live out their lives at the shelter under the program's care.
• Foster networks that handle puppies, kittens, and animals recovering from surgery. Foster families across the five boroughs handle the majority of the youngest and most fragile animals.
• Community education including spay-and-neuter advocacy and training programs.

What six decades of Manhattan rescue work look like

Animal Haven has been operating long enough to have rescued dogs from circumstances that don't exist anymore — the New York City of the 1960s was a different animal welfare landscape than the New York City of today. The organization's mission has shifted accordingly. The early decades were largely about humane-society work in a city that had little institutional capacity for it; the recent decades have been more focused on transferring animals out of the municipal shelter system before they face euthanasia for space, and on placing animals from out-of-state rescues into New York homes through the foster pipeline.

The SoHo location has, over the seventeen years it's been there, become a small institution in lower Manhattan. The volunteer dog-walkers passing through Centre Street are part of the neighborhood's morning weather. The organization's annual gala draws a notable slice of the Manhattan animal-welfare donor community.

You can support Animal Haven in the standard ways:

• Adopt from the SoHo center; visiting hours are posted weekly.
• Foster — particularly puppies, kittens, and post-surgery recovery animals. The volunteer coordinator handles intake.
• Volunteer — dog-walking shifts in particular are nearly always staffed but the rotation needs new walkers constantly.
• Donate — financial reports are publicly available; the organization holds a strong Charity Navigator score.

Field & Era at Animal Haven

The Animal Haven coordinates appear on Companion Edition prints we've shipped to addresses in TriBeCa, the East Village, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, and Williamsburg — the SoHo address has become, in our small slice of the data, one of the more frequently-printed New York shelter coordinates. If you adopted from Animal Haven and want the address set on archival paper, see the Companion Edition. 10% of every Companion order supports a rescue partner.

We also use the Animal Haven exterior in one of our example product photos — the close-up framed print labeled Olive in our gallery is an Animal Haven adoption coordinate.

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