Gracie’s Guardians

Gracie’s Guardians, is an initiative of the Richmond Animal League specifically focused on improving the welfare of pit bulls in the greater Richmond area.  The group's name is taken from "Gracie", one of the many dogs from the Michael Vick case who was adopted by a Richmond Animal League board member. We have chosen her as our namesake in tribute to the perserverance of her and countless other pit bulls who have suffered or continue to suffer at the hands of people, yet whose spirits and love for humans remains untarnished.

Gracie's Guardians takes multi-faceted approach to address the plight of pit bulls in our community. Our organization offers limited, traditional fostering and adoption of pit bulls rescued from public shelters, combined with proactive spay and neuter support to pit bull owners in need along with targeted education and awareness outreach to the community in general. Through spay and neuter and educational outreach, we seek to address the human causes that drive ongoing overpopulation and suffering of these dogs.

We are always seeking help from the public at-large.

Foster Homes - We are always seeking good, responsible homes that would be interested to open your doors to a pit bull in need until we can find a permanent home.

Public awareness presentations - We're always looking for audiences that may be interested to learn more about pit bulls, animal welfare or even how to spot dog fighting. If you run an organization or work with a group of people who may be interested in one of these subjects, please let us know, we'd love to talk to you.

Volunteers - From time to time, we need volunteers to support various initiatives. If you have skills that may be helpful such as fundraising, marketing or organizational skills, feel free to complete a Volunteer Application to the right and send it to us.

If you can help with any of the following, or if you would like more information on our organization, please contact us at graciesguardians@ral.org.