ABC Animal Rescue501(c)(3) nonprofit · Ballston Spa, NY Donate

ABC Animal Rescue Incorporated is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization — EIN 92-2323056, tax-exempt since 15 March 2023. We rescue dogs, care for them in volunteer foster homes, and find them families in Saratoga County, New York. Our nonprofit status and filings

Guide

New York’s rescue licensing law, in plain terms.

For most of New York’s history, anyone could call themselves a rescue. That changed on 15 December 2025, when Article 26-C of the Agriculture and Markets Law took effect. Every animal shelter and rescue in the state that adopts out animals now has to be licensed, and meet written standards of care.

Here is what it says, and what it means if you adopt or foster.

What the law requires

Licensed, inspected, and written down.

LICENSING

A state license, renewed yearly

Shelters and rescues are licensed by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, and can be inspected. The state treated the first year as an educational one, with inspectors advising organizations on what to fix rather than penalizing them.

VETERINARY CARE

Assessed on arrival

Every incoming animal must be assessed within hours of intake and given a full physical exam soon after. Prescription treatment is given under the advice of a licensed veterinarian. Animals with infectious disease are kept isolated.

DISCLOSURE

The adopter is told everything

Before an adoption, the rescue must disclose all available information about the animal’s behavior, and any bite history must be disclosed to the adopter in writing. Records follow the animal.

If you foster

Foster homes are part of the rescue now.

The law covers animals in foster care, not only animals in a building. A foster signs a written agreement with the rescue, and the rescue stays responsible for the animal’s welfare while it lives in the foster’s home. Foster homes can be inspected.

For a foster-based rescue like ours, that is simply writing down what good rescues already did: the rescue pays the vet, sets the standard of care, and answers the phone when something goes wrong.

If you adopt

Three things to ask any rescue.

Ask for

  • Their New York shelter and rescue license
  • The animal’s vet records, including its rabies certificate
  • Everything they know about its behavior — and any bite history in writing

Be wary of

  • An organization that cannot say whether it is licensed
  • A dog handed over in a parking lot with no paperwork
  • “No history known” for a dog that has been in care for weeks

Ask us for our license details and we will send them. Our dogs go home with their vet records and a written account of everything their foster has learned about them.

Sources: NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, shelter and rescue licensing; the Department’s December 2025 announcement; the Companion Animal Care Standards Act (Agriculture and Markets Law, Article 26-C). This is a summary, not legal advice; the statute and the Department’s regulations are the authority.

Every dog we save is paid for by donations and cared for by volunteers. ABC Animal Rescue Incorporated is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit — gifts are tax-deductible.

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