This Standards of Care document provides both current practices as well as future goals. It is intended to be read in its entirety so that information is not taken out of context and misunderstood. This document was created based primarily on:

• Title 15, MD Department of Agriculture, Subtitle 01, Chapter 11 “Animal Shelters – Standards of Care”, Agriculture Article §2-1701 at seq., Annotated Code of Maryland (April 23, 2018);
• Association of Shelter Veterinarians, “Standards of Care in Animal Shelters” (2010);
• Humane Society of the US (HSUS), Shelter Advocate Toolkit “The 5 Freedoms” (2010).

Last revision: 20230127.

Standards of Care Manual343.24 KB12/06/2023, 20:00