Shelter & Rescue Partners
Partnering with shelters and rescues across South Texas to raise live release rates and save more lives.
Understanding Live Release Rate
Many national funders tie their support to a shelter's live release rate — the percentage of animals leaving the shelter alive via adoption, return-to-owner, or transfer to a rescue partner. Best Friends Animal Society considers 90%+ the no-kill threshold, and some funders only support shelters at or above that mark. Most shelters across our region run around 75–80%. By transferring at-risk animals to GCHS, partner shelters raise their own live release rate while giving those animals a real second chance.
How We Partner
Our partnerships are built on case-by-case coordination and shared life-saving outcomes.
Euthanasia-risk transfers
You flag at-risk animals, and we pull what we can responsibly accommodate.
Case-by-case coordination
We work with your intake team on timing, transport, and medical needs for each transfer.
Shared outcomes
Transfers count toward your live release rate; adoptions count toward ours. Animals win either way.
Mentorship Program
Beyond transfers, we mentor shelters across the Coastal Bend — sharing operational best practices, medical protocols, and the life-saving strategies we've developed over decades. Our mentorship network spans five counties.
- Nueces
- San Patricio
- Kleberg
- Jim Wells
- Aransas
Partnering with GCHS
Here's what prospective partners should know about how we work.
We prioritize South Texas
The Coastal Bend gets first priority, but we'll consider partners elsewhere on a case-by-case basis.
We prioritize urgency
Animals scheduled for euthanasia come first — we work to pull the animals with the least time.
We're transparent about capacity
We won't take more than we can responsibly care for, and we'll always tell you when we're full.
We value peer communication
We operate like a partner, not a vendor. Open, honest, and focused on shared life-saving goals.
Food Pantry for Partner Shelters & Rescues
As part of our partnership work, we redistribute surplus food, supplies, and equipment to approved shelter and rescue partners so nothing goes to waste. If your organization could benefit, apply to join the pantry network.
Ready to partner with us?
Every transfer is a life. Reach out to our Shelter Partnerships team — we'd love to hear about your organization and talk about how we can work together.
