Animal Resources of Tidewater was founded in 1999 as Animal Rescue of Tidewater. Initially, our singular focus was on rescuing and re-homing individual animals. While it made a huge difference to the individual animal, we realized it was not the most effective way to create broader change in our community. One of ART’s most important early programs was the Pit Bull Awareness Coalition (PBAC) which dispelled the myths and misconceptions surrounding bully breeds, promoted the end of breed discrimination and raised awareness about the true, loving nature of pit bull type dogs. Today ART focuses the majority of our resources on lifesaving programs such as spay/neuter, medical assistance to keep animals in homes and legislative advocacy to ensure better laws for animals and the people who love and serve them. In fact, we typically spend over $100,000 annually assisting families whose pets need veterinarian care but cannot afford it, and providing free and low-cost spay/neuter for owned pets and community cats with the over-arching goal of reducing shelter intake and thereby increasing the save rate in Hampton Roads shelters.