Best Friends Animal Society Is Coming to Long Island With New Woodbury Pet Lifesaving Center

By Samantha Vogel | Long Island Daily News

WOODBURY, N.Y. — A major national animal-welfare organization is establishing a new presence on Long Island, with work underway on a facility in Woodbury designed to help homeless pets and support lifesaving efforts across the region.

Best Friends Animal Society is developing its first Long Island pet lifesaving center, an expansion that could bring additional resources to an area where shelters, independent rescues, fosters and animal advocates are continually working to find homes for dogs and cats.

The organization has a national goal of helping the United States reach no-kill status, working alongside shelters and rescue groups to reduce the number of dogs and cats killed in shelters simply because they do not have homes.

Its arrival on Long Island could provide another important piece of that effort locally.

A New Animal-Welfare Resource for Long Island

The new center is being developed in Woodbury, where existing office space is being converted for animal-welfare use.

The project represents something larger than another building.

Long Island’s animal-rescue community includes municipal shelters, nonprofit organizations, foster-based rescues, TNR groups and individual volunteers.

Many operate under tremendous pressure.

Shelter space is limited.

Foster homes are limited.

Veterinary care is expensive.

And animals continue to arrive.

Adding another organization with national resources and experience could potentially strengthen the network already working to save animals throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Why This Matters

Anyone involved in animal rescue knows that finding a homeless animal is often only the beginning.

An animal may need:

• Veterinary evaluation and treatment
• Vaccinations
• Spay or neuter surgery
• Behavioral assessment
• Temporary housing
• Foster placement
• Transportation
• Adoption promotion
• A permanent family

Every step requires people, space and money.

That’s why additional infrastructure matters.

A new lifesaving center could create more opportunities to connect homeless animals with adopters while supporting broader efforts to keep animals from unnecessarily entering or remaining in shelters.

Long Island Already Has People Doing the Work

The arrival of a national organization should not overshadow the extraordinary work already being performed locally.

Across Long Island, volunteers wake up early to check traps for community cats.

Fosters open their homes to animals they have never met.

Rescuers answer emergency calls.

Shelter employees care for animals day after day.

Residents donate food, litter and supplies.

And people share adoption posts hoping the right person will see the right animal.

Those efforts save lives.

The strongest impact from a new facility may come through collaboration with the organizations and individuals already doing that work.

Questions Long Island Daily News Wants Answered

As development of the Woodbury center moves forward, there are several questions that matter to Long Island’s animal-rescue community.

How many animals will the facility be able to accommodate?

When will it officially open?

Will animals come directly from Long Island municipal shelters and rescue organizations?

Will the center provide adoption services?

Will it work with independent foster-based rescues?

Will there be veterinary or spay-and-neuter resources available?

Will Suffolk County organizations benefit as well as those in Nassau?

And will Long Island residents be able to volunteer, foster or otherwise become directly involved?

These are questions Long Island Daily News intends to follow as the project develops.

A Chance to Save More Lives

Long Island does not lack people who care about animals.

What it often lacks is enough of everything else.

Enough space.

Enough foster homes.

Enough affordable veterinary care.

Enough adopters.

Enough funding.

Enough hands to do the work.

Every responsible new resource added to that network has the potential to make a difference.

The opening of Best Friends Animal Society’s first Long Island center could represent another opportunity to connect animals who need homes with people ready to give them one.

But its true impact will ultimately be measured by something much more important than the size of the facility.

How many animals will it help save?

Long Island Daily News will continue following the development of the Woodbury center, including its expected opening, services, adoption opportunities and ways Long Islanders can become involved.

And when those doors open, we hope they lead to many more animals walking through another door:

The front door of a permanent home.

Until they all have homes — and until every lost pet is reunited with their family — we’ll keep sharing their stories.

Source

Long Island Business News — August 12, 2026: Reporting on construction beginning on Best Friends Animal Society’s first Long Island facility in Woodbury.

Best Friends Animal Society: Organizational information regarding its national shelter and animal-lifesaving initiatives.

Hashtags

#LongIslandDailyNews #LongIsland #LongIslandNY #WoodburyNY #BestFriendsAnimalSociety #AnimalRescue #PetAdoption #AdoptDontShop #LongIslandAnimalRescue #LongIslandPetRescue #RescueDogs #RescueCats #ShelterPets #FosterSavesLives #AnimalAdvocacy #NassauCountyNY #SuffolkCountyNY #SaveThemAll #EveryAnimalMatters

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