Clear the Shelter is a success with 85 adoptions
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on August 25, 2017 5:50 AM
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A total of 85 dogs and cats got new homes through the first ever Clear the Shelter event at the Wayne County Animal Adoption and Education Center this past Saturday.
Shelter staff arrived before 10 a.m. to prepare for the adoption event, and found people already lined up outside the door, said Julie Smith with the shelter.
She said most people came to adopt a pet because the adoption fee was waived that day. And VIP Petcare was also giving out a package of vouchers for services totaling $200. Services included microchipping, rabies shot, other vaccinations and a free month of flea and heartworm prevention. The vouchers are good through Dec. 18.
A total of 45 cats and 40 dogs found their forever homes at the Clear the Shelter event. The shelter had 100 dogs and 60 cats available for adoption.
Ms. Smith said people adopted a variety of older and younger cats and dogs. She said there were a lot of families with children and also some elderly people wanting cats. Some people had even gone to the shelter a couple of days before the event to see what animals were available, then went back the day of the event to get one.
"One family got three dogs," she said. "Two of the dogs were brothers and they didn't want to separate them, and they were already neutered. They also adopted a female dog."
Ms. Smith said several families took two kittens or two cats.
When a person went to the shelter to adopt, he or she was required to fill out an application form. After shelter staff went over the application and made a copy of the person's driver's license, the adopters were walked through the shelter in groups of four and five.
Once they picked out an animal they liked, a volunteer got the animal out of its cage for the adopters to play with and get to know.
If they decided to adopt the animal, they went through the adoption process with one of the shelter's staff. They got to take the new addition to their family home that very day.
"It was a lot of excitement and overwhelming at the same time," Ms. Smith said. "But we all had adrenaline and were just running, running, running."
She said the animal shelter could not have done it without all the volunteers who helped that day.
She thinks the shelter will have a Clear the Shelter event in future years because of the success of this one.
"Through the event, I'm hoping more people will know where we're at and are aware that not just ours, but other shelters, need adopters," Ms. Smith said. "But don't think that just because we adopted so many animals that we're not full because we are. We need people to come every day to adopt. Even if you're just thinking about it, just come visit or even come and volunteers."
Clear the Shelter is a nationwide event that has been helping dogs and cats get forever homes for the past four years. It's sponsored by NBC and Telemundo-owned TV stations. Last year, more than 50,000 pets found new homes through the Clear the Shelter event.