The Charleston Animal Society, founded in 1874 as the South Carolina SPCA, is the state's leading animal welfare organization. It is no-kill, helped make Charleston the Southeast's first no-kill community in 2013, and serves as Charleston County's animal-control sheltering contractor. Here is how adoption, the clinic, and its services work.
The Charleston Animal Society was founded in 1874 as the South Carolina SPCA, which makes it one of the oldest animal organizations in the country. It is a no-kill organization and helped make Charleston the first no-kill community in the Southeast in 2013, and it leads a No Kill South Carolina initiative.
It also contracts with Charleston County to receive all the animals brought in by county animal control, which gives it an open-admission intake role while it sustains no-kill outcomes for the county's animals.
Adoption fees are listed per animal rather than as a fixed schedule, so check the current fee for a pet you are interested in. Each adoption is thorough on the medical side, including spay or neuter, up-to-date vaccines, a microchip with registration, a veterinary exam, heartworm and FeLV and FIV testing for animals over six months, deworming, flea and tick prevention, and a small bag of food.
Adoption is walk-in and first-come, first-served, with no appointment. The shelter is open Monday through Friday from noon to 3 p.m. and weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Operation Fix-It is the society's low- and no-cost spay and neuter clinic, a key tool behind the county's no-kill status. The organization also runs foster care, humane education, cruelty investigation, and lost-and-found services, and it operates a satellite campus in Berkeley County.
Volunteers must be 18 or older and complete an orientation, and foster homes take on neonatal, recovering, and overflow animals. The Charleston Animal Society holds a four-star rating from Charity Navigator with a 99 percent score and the Candid Platinum Seal, the only South Carolina animal charity at that top rating. Its EIN is 57-6021863.
Walk-in adoption of dogs, cats, and small animals.
Receives all animals from county animal control.
A low- and no-cost spay and neuter clinic.
Looks into reports of abuse and neglect.
Homes for neonatal, recovering, and overflow animals.
A statewide initiative the society leads.
Sources: Charleston Animal Society (charlestonanimalsociety.org) story, adoption, and Operation Fix-It pages; Charity Navigator and Candid (EIN 57-6021863). Profiled because the backlog domain scspca.org is no longer active. Retrieved June 2026. We are not affiliated with Charleston Animal Society and receive no compensation for this listing. Spotted an error? [email protected]
More animal shelters and donation guides