Queen Anne's County highlights TNR, pet pantry, foster hospice and new mascot partnerships

Kelly Baker, chief of Animal Services and Animal Control for Queen Anne's County, and Mason Long, the department's volunteer and outreach coordinator, outlined a suite of programs meant to keep pets in homes and move more animals into adoptive families during a county podcast episode.

"We exist to improve the human animal bond," Baker said, describing day-to-day work that includes outreach, intake and an emphasis on surrender prevention supported by an in-house behaviorist who fields phone consultations for struggling owners.

The department described its trap-neuter-release program, launched in 2022, as a cornerstone of its strategy for community (feral) cats. Kelly Baker said the shelter performs surgeries, gives rabies vaccinations and microchips community cats before releasing them back to familiar territory. "We've done as many as 298," she said, referring to TNR surgeries performed in 2024, and noted that those surgeries are funded by taxpayer dollars; residents pay only a $25 trap rental fee when they need equipment.

The shelter also runs a pet pantry, begun around 2022, that distributes donated food and litter to county residents who register in advance. Baker said the pantry serves as a preventive measure to keep animals in homes during financial hardship and was used proactively during a recent ice storm to ensure animals had supplies when roads became impassable.

Fostering and hospice services are part of the shelter's placement tools. Baker described a foster program that ranges from short-term care to lifetime fosters for senior animals. She highlighted "Silver Tales," the senior-hospice program started in 2023, which covers medical care and places elderly animals in permanent foster homes so they do not remain in kennels.

The department also described community-facing programs designed to raise visibility and adoption rates. Mason Long said outreach relies heavily on the shelter's Facebook page, pop-up adoption events at local businesses and school visits. He detailed volunteer roles that span kennel cleaning, cat cuddlers, dog-walking and administrative tasks, and said the volunteer sign-up begins with an application; the technical minimum age is 12 and volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Baker described programs that let vetted dogs go on "doggy day trips" or short-term "slumber parties" with volunteers; during a recent snowstorm, volunteers fostered several dogs temporarily and several of those animals were adopted.

The shelter also has a mascot partnership program launched in 2024 that pairs adoptable animals with local businesses for in-store or digital promotion; Baker said the program has recruited dozens of businesses so far.

On medical innovation, Baker recounted Tiny's case: the kitten received an MRI, was diagnosed with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and was treated with a medication recently approved in the U.S. "Tiny was actually the first cat treated in a shelter in the state of Maryland," Baker said, and she reported the cat was cured after 16 weeks and later adopted by a specialist who helped with treatment.

The department and hosts urged residents to follow Queen Anne's County Animal Services on Facebook and the county's social channels for volunteer opportunities, donation needs and upcoming events such as the annual Fur Festival. For residents interested in volunteering, the first step is an application available on the shelter's website or at the shelter.

The podcast episode presented program details, direct contact points and concrete figures (298 TNR surgeries in 2024; $25 trap rental) as reported by county staff. Next steps mentioned by the hosts included continued outreach and promotion of volunteer and partnership opportunities.