Many landmarks at the ARL have stood out for employees, volunteers, and visitors over the years. That could be the picturesque pastures of the barn, which have housed countless noteworthy animals, the expansive and impressive murals on the outside and inside walls of the shelter, and the St. Francis statue at Julie’s Way, which always seems to collect coins from visitors. One landmark, notably much less uplifting, was our on-site crematorium, which ran seven days a week for decades.

Before we transitioned to no-kill in 2018, the ARL peaked at handling more than 10,000 animals a year, and sadly, only an average of 58% of those pets had live outcomes. For those of us who worked here during those times, the crematorium was a heavy symbol of where we fell short of our lifesaving goals despite the organization’s best efforts.

Over the last six years, the ARL has embraced progressive shelter models and changed how we intake animals from our community. A higher emphasis has been placed on preventing animals from entering the shelter system altogether by implementing surrender prevention programs like behavior modification scholarships through Bogey’s Academy while simultaneously removing barriers to adoption to maximize the number of pets saved each year. Thanks to changes like these, our onsite crematorium has been used less and less, to the point where the few amounts of euthanasia we do perform for medical or behavioral issues are now handled by an offsite partner – freeing up that space to be used for better mission-based services with a focus on lifesaving.

This brings me to the crematorium conversation project in which we are transitioning the former building into a medical isolation space – a rebirth, if you will, from a building that once symbolized the end of the line for so many pets to one of hope and healing. Since December of 2023, contractors have been working on retrofitting the space into two isolation rooms for sick pets – allowing us to fully separate them from the general population and help us prevent the spread of contagious disease outbreaks in the future. Slated to be finished at the end of April, the new isolation space will be here just in time for our high intake months, allowing us to control common concerns like upper respiratory infections from impacting most of our pets.

This project, made possible thanks to a grant from the Berks County Community Foundation and several other general donors, is perhaps one of the most significant symbols of our no-kill transition nearing completion. As the ARL continues to adapt to the changing animal welfare industry, we expect to pivot more of our programs, policies, and structures in the future to maximize lifesaving and reduce the number of days pets spend with us on their journey to a better life.