Multimedia Reporting Project

The Brandywine Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals opened the first ever dual animal shelter and intensive care unit for animals in the District of Columbia on Nov. 4th, 2025. 

 

The $19.5 million complex, located at 4 D.C. Village Lane SW, replaces the District’s long-running facility on New York Avenue with a 30,000 square foot campus that aims to support adoptable animals, family pets and the community, according to the BVSPCA.

 

“It's a huge step forward. The cost of veterinary care, like just about everything else, is increasing and it provides a hardship for some pet parents. So, to be able to provide low-cost veterinary care to district residents is huge,” said BVSCPA Director of Marketing Erin Johnston. 

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

An adoptable pitbull at BVSPCA's new facility.

​

As of Nov. 4, all public services including lost and found pets, animal care and control, fostering, spay and neuter, wellness and community cat services are being handled at the new facility.

 

According to the BVSPCA website, highlights of the new facility include an in-house shelter ICU, nearly 10,000 feet of clinic space for family and shelter pets, a larger surgical space to increase spay and neuter capacity and advanced in-house diagnostic equipment such as x-ray, ultrasound and blood testing. To improve animal comfort, the space has indoor and outdoor dog play yards, a large community room for humane education and an increased capacity to house dogs and cats.  

 

Johnston said she hopes the larger space will help reduce overcrowding issues in the District; a crisis that continues to impact shelters across the nation, according to the ASPCA.  

​

​

​​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​​​​​​​​​​​

New BVSPCA Facility Comes to D.C.

 

“Our kennel capacity here for dogs is almost twice what it was at the old facility,” Johnston said. “The old facility had 74 dog kennels. Here we have 128, so that's a big improvement. Dogs are a huge part of the overcrowding at shelters, not just here in the district, but nationwide, particularly larger dogs. Length of stay is increasing, so being able to have that expanded capacity, particularly for dogs, is huge.”

 

While the BVSPCA hopes to alleviate many of the struggles shelter animals and pet owners face, they can still use help from D.C. residents, according to Johnston. Currently, the shelter accepts donations and offers opportunities for applicants to foster animals or participate in “Shelter Skip Days,” where equipment is provided to take a shelter animal out of the facility for a few hours, up to a full day. 

 

“Volunteering is huge and that can look like a lot of different things,” Johnston said. “We have volunteers that are here in the shelter helping walk dogs, helping socialize cats, but we also have volunteers that do laundry, wash dishes, help out at adoption events. We have volunteers too, that write animal bios. So there's a lot of different ways for people to get involved in volunteering.” 

 

The shelter’s adoption center is open Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Surgeries and center visits are available by appointment by calling (202) 888-VETS.