Helen Woodward Animal Center

"Where people help animals and animals help people." Helen Woodward Animal Center's passionate belief that animals help people and people help animals through trust, unconditional love, and respect, creates a legacy of caring. Sharing this philosophy with others, the Center inspires and teaches, locally and globally, the importance of the animal-human bond.

Helen Woodward Animal Center was founded as the San Dieguito Animal Care and Education Center in 1972 with its primary focus on pet adoption and humane education. In 1986 the Center was renamed after its founder, Helen Woodward, and program offerings were expanded to include Pet Encounter Therapy, Therapeutic Riding, and AniMeals. These programs helped further our goal of serving as a place where “people help animals, and animals help people” by bringing people and animals together for the mutual benefit of both. In 2017, the Center added Pets Without Walls to provide no-cost vet care to the pets of the homeless population in San Diego. Since then, we have added additional services including a top-rated boarding facility, a state-of-the-art equine hospital, an affordable small animal hospital for the public, and a designer resale store.
Helen Woodward herself would be proud of the over 10,000 pets and more than 90,000 people these programs touch each year, and that the Center continues to teach and provide programming for all of San Diego County, across the nation, and globally the importance of the human-animal bond.