Organization for the Responsible Care of Animals (ORCA)

How ORCA Got Started

In 1983 four people—Joyce Rupp, Penny Jordon, and John and Connie Kondravy had been involved either as volunteers or board members at the Lancaster County Humane League. As they learned more about the needs of Lancaster County people and animals, they realized that someone needed to provide at 24-hour service to aid the ill/injured/ trapped animals. When these people could find no organization to add this program to its mission, these four met and formed ORCA—Organization for Responsible Care of Animals. Each person put in $25 to start this charity! Our first injured animal, a dog, cost us $52; now we had $48 left! Quickly we learned to create fundraisers, recruit caring volunteers, and find donors. At first we were all volunteers, slowly we added paid part-time staff and then full-time staff. Today, we have experienced staff ready to respond 24 hours a day to an emergency. Our annual budget now runs from $120,000 to about $160,000. Hundreds of animals are helped annually.

To receive reports of injured animals, a 24-hour live hotline was created—the Aminal-Alert Hotline. The first week we received ten calls. Since then, we can easily receive double that number in a single day.

Who We Are

ORCA'S primary goal is to rescue any ill, injured, in-distress animal (domestic or wildlife), stray or abandoned, in Lancaster County, PA. We also provide information on animal-related problems on our Animal-Alert Hotline, (717)397-8922. We respond 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to circumstances involving animal related emergencies including the occasional support to police, fire, and other emergency personnel. ORCA does not routinely handle healthy stray animals nor does it routinely shelter animals. We are proud to have Humane Police Officer Tracy Mendenhall with us to assist with any possible abuse or neglect cases regarding animal welfare throughout Lancaster County.