Toledo Animal Rescue Director Visits Boyk Brief Podcast

Steve Kiessling, director of Toledo Animal Rescue, the area’s oldest no-kill shelter, joined Attorneys Chuck Boyk and Zac Shaffer on the latest episode of the Boyk Brief podcast.

“We bring in animals who need us,” says Kiessling. “Whether it’s an owner surrender, a stray animal, or the pet of someone down on their luck. If they’re injured or sick, we bring them back to health and try to find new homes to start the next chapter of their life.”

It was founded in 1927 as the Toledo Animal Shelter Association. It was the brainchild of an area socialite who saw the need for a place to care for stray animals until suitable homes could be found for them. In 2018, the Toledo Animal Shelter Association changed its name to Toledo Animal Rescue, but their primary mission remains helping animals find new homes.

Toledo Animal Rescue is located in a neighborhood near the intersection of Airport Hwy. and Byrne Road. The organization has been there since the 1930s, although the surrounding area has changed greatly in the past 90 years. “The building has been renovated over years, but it’s a great space,” says Steve Kiessling. “We have an acre and a half and a small house that is ours as well.

The animals predominately come from Lucas, Wood, and the surrounding counties. “We do transfer animals in occasionally, if we have space,” says Steve. “Because we try to help out other organizations with dogs. We never have a shortage of cats.”

Unfortunately, the shelter gets far more requests for assistance than they have space available. “We’re typically working off a waiting list,” he says. “But as we get animals adopted out, we bring new ones in.”

Toledo Animal Rescue can’t accept every animal and is especially selective when it comes to aggressive dogs. “If they have a bite history, they’re just not adoptable, and so we’re not the appropriate place for them,” he said. “We can’t, legally and with good conscience, put a dog in a household that we know has a bite history or has possession and food aggression where someone could get hurt.”

When their animals need medical care, “We have a wonderful vet,” says Steve Kiessling. “He’s on our board, but he comes in once a week and provides our
vet care.” They also partner with other shelters and clinics to handle blood tests and surgeries.

The shelter has also expanded its services to help the community, including running a Pet Food Pantry. “I believe that no one should go hungry, and neither should their pets,” says Director Kiessling. “Folks would donate food to us,” he explained, “we couldn’t use it because it wasn’t the brands of food we typically use. We like to be consistent with what we feed the animals because it’s better for their health.”

The shelter started giving a lot of excess food to area food pantries and shared it with other smaller animal rescues. “But then we start getting people calling us, looking for pet food,” says Steve. “So, we decided to establish a pet food pantry. We started it in the spring of 2024, and since then, we’ve given away about 3000 pounds of dry food and more than 1000 cans of wet food. We’ve helped over 250 families and about 400 animals during the past year. We’re trying to keep these animals in the home. We don’t want people to face that difficult choice of feeding themselves, their kids, or their pets.”

For anyone looking to adopt a pet, Toledo Animal Rescue posts available animals on their website. “We have a dog page and a cat page,” says Kiessling. “We are also on Pet Finder, so people searching there can find the animals we have available to adopt. We also post a lot on Facebook, especially special need cases, or some of our long stay animals”.

“Our website address is www.toledoanimalrescue.org. You can find all of our applications on there, to Foster, volunteer and adopt animals.” The shelter’s phone number is 419-382-1130, and they can be reached by email at in**@***************cu.org

Episode 56 of the Boyk Brief is available on Spotify, iHeart, Apple, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts. A video version is viewable on our YouTube channel, youtu.be/urWsQVhhwVc.

All episodes of the Boyk Brief podcast are also available on our website, at www.charlesboyk-law.com/the-boyk-brief-podcast