The problem of animal homelessness is a multifaceted and urgent social phenomenon. The main difficulties: combining measures of humane and effective control of the number of homeless animals; public health risks; development of a unified state and public position and decision model. This is an important issue of social and personal responsibility of citizens, as well as a weakly sounding problem on the social agenda. The purpose of the article is to show the attitude of representatives of the virtual community towards it, as well as to evaluate the methods of work they use. The methodological basis of the research was made up of a semi-formalized targeted interview and analysis of network content. The results show that civilians interested in solving this problem form virtual communities. They use the network resource for information and communication activities, although the community under study is distinguished by the use of real educational and volunteer practices. The methods they use are not always correct from an ethical and even legal point of view. Their practice is a kind of reaction to the lack of attention to the problem on the part of the state. The general conclusion of the work done: against the background of a low degree of civil, corporate and personal responsibility towards pets, the efforts of caring subjects are largely reduced to private, not fully legalized initiatives.