Foothills Animal Shelter was created in 1976 and is a true resource for the pet community.  The open-admissions Golden facility takes pride in caring for 9,500 orphaned animals each year with a compassionate team of 48 staff and 460 volunteers. Besides being a large adoption agency, other affordable services are offered including lost & found, affordable spaying and neutering, pet licensing, vaccinations, microchipping and Jefferson County emergency pet boarding during natural disasters. The open-admissions facility takes pride in caring for 9,500 orphaned animals each year with a compassionate team of 48 staff and 460 volunteers. With its four key principles being Community, Adopt, Reunite and Educate, the life-saving mission of the Shelter is simple: to provide the best care possible to each animal that enters through its doors. Through an intergovernmental agreement, this quasi governmental Shelter partnerswith animal management officers in the field from Arvada, Edgewater, Golden, Lakewood, Westminster, Wheat Ridge and unincorporated Jefferson County.