Where Unconditional Love Calls Home

Friends for Animals brings a little more love into the world by celebrating the special bond between an animal and their “person.” At Friends for Animals, we don’t just rescue dogs and cats, we make life-changing connections with the people who adopt them.

We bring our passion and animals into the community with events that help bring together dogs and cats with loving people. And our outreach programs help promote education and animal welfare legislation locally, so that fewer animals have to spend another minute waiting for their forever home.

The Friends for Animals’s state-of-the-art Animal Adoption and Education Center at 16121 Reckinger Road in Dearborn offers animals comfortable housing and medical support. It’s where our staff and volunteers work every day to make Metro Detroit a happier, more loving place for both two-legged and four-legged creatures alike.

The Dearborn Animal Shelter is provided as a city service under the jurisdiction of the Police Department Ordinance Division. The shelter has been operated by the Friends for Animals of Metro Detroit, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, under contract with the city since 1996.

In 2016, the name of our organization was changed from Friends for the Dearborn Animal Shelter to Friends for Animals of Metro Detroit. Friends for Animals is more representative of the scope of our entire mission and efforts. Our work extends to neighboring communities in metro Detroit and beyond. This name represents the growth of our organization over the past 27 years – our organization is headquartered in Dearborn – but the reach of our organization’s adoption, volunteer, donor, event attendee, community outreach, and advocacy activities have impact well beyond the city’s borders. Although we receive support from donors and volunteers within Dearborn, 67% of our supporter base resides outside of Dearborn.  We are proud to have such a broad impact as an influential sheltering organization, and our name is reflective of this.