For 119 dogs and cats adopted from County Animal Services’ shelters on Clear the Shelters Day, it was the first day of the rest of their lives with their new loving forever families.
“We are grateful for everyone who came out on Saturday and took a new best friend home. The numbers of customer walk-ins and adoptions were higher this year than last year,” said County Animal Services director Daniel DeSousa.
Nearly 1,190 people showed up at the Bonita and Carlsbad shelter locations. A line of cars awaited staff Saturday to get into the Bonita shelter parking lot. By day’s end, the Bonita shelter adopted 76 dogs and cats and the Carlsbad facility adopted 43 animals.
If you were unable to participate in Saturday’s Clear the Shelters Day, don’t worry, there are still many animals available at the County’s shelters. If you’d like to see which ones are patiently awaiting a new home, stop by the shelter or visit the adoptions page.
Among those still available are cats Damsel, Jessie and Joplin and Millie the dog.
DeSousa added that he was thankful for all the extra shelter staff and volunteers that worked the special event and for extra work done to prepare the shelter and animals before the event.
“They all worked extremely hard on Saturday and their efforts resulted in some wonderful adoptions.
If our animals could speak, I know that they would say thank you to them,” he said.
County Animal Services waived adoption fees for all dogs, cats and rabbits. On top of that, all adopted pets were spayed or neutered, and microchipped before going home. Vaccinations were also up-to-date on dogs and cats.
Clear the Shelters is part of a campaign by NBC-owned television stations and Telemundo to find loving homes for the millions of pets who end up in the nation’s shelters each year. Cities across the country take part in the event. Several local shelters took part as well. In the San Diego region, 3,330 animals were adopted Saturday, which was 1,000 more than last year’s final tally. Across the nation, more than 90,000 pets were adopted.
For more information, about County Animal Services, visit sddac.com or call 619-767-2675.
