It’s Time to Clear the Shelters and Give a Pet a Loving Home

Clear the Shelters, the fifth annual pet adoption drive sponsored by NBC and Telemundo owned television stations, culminates today with more than 2,000 shelters participating in dozens of communities across the country.

Since this years event was launched on July 27, more than 51,000 pets have already been adopted. To encourage families to find a new pet, whether puppies, older cats, rabbits or iguanas, many of the participating animal shelters and rescue organizations are reducing or waiving adoption fees.

The need remains great. The number of animals entering shelters each year is about 6.5 million, 3.3 million dogs and 3.2 million cats, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Though the number has declined from about 7.2 million in 2011, with the biggest drop in the number dogs, approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized each year.

On the happier side, about 3.2 million shelter animals are adopted annually and another 710,000 are returned to their owners.

Breaking Down the Pet Adoption Process

Clear the Shelters began in North Texas in 2014 as a partnership among the NBC and Telemundo stations in Dallas-Fort Worth and dozens of North Texas animal shelters. More than 2,200 homeless animals were adopted that first year, the most in a single day in North Texas.

A year later that number jumped to nearly 20,000 as the adoption drive went national, with more than 400 shelters taking part across the country. Last year, as the event was extended over a month, more than 100,000 pets were adopted from over 1,200 shelters.

During Clear The Shelters 2018, pets of all types found their forever home, including "Bailey" a long-haired Chihuahua-mix puppy from Orange County, California, who was adopted by a veteran and his family. In New Hampshire, "Baby," a 15-year old senior cat was adopted after being a hospice resident at a Massachusetts shelter. One year later, Baby is off her medications and showers her new family with uncRead More – Source

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