SPCA of Wake County makes history during “Clear the Shelters”
The SPCA of Wake County celebrated 88 adoptions in one day, July 23rd, 2016 during the nation-wide “Clear the Shelters” Campaign. The non-profit animal welfare organization joined WRAL-TV, the North Carolina chapter of the Humane Society of United States and seven other shelters in our area for this historic event. All shelters waived-adoption fees on this one day as the community answered the call to save the lives of hundreds of pets.
The SPCA opened one hour early at 10:00 a.m. with a line of people waiting outside. The first person lined up at 7:30 a.m. They had already visited with the animals the day before and wanted to be able to take home the puppy they fell in love with, Frankie. A steady stream of adopters lined up outside and waited inside as they each picked out a forever family member and met with adoption counselors. Children could hardly contain their smiles as they prepared to walk out the door with their new friend.
On a typical Saturday, the SPCA of Wake County adopts about an average of 30 animals. This day, we adopted out 88! We were able to clear our Holding Center of all adoptable dogs and cats! Empty cages have never looked so beautiful!
Clearing the shelter now allows us to answer the call from other high-intake shelters that have run out of space to care for healthy, adoptable animals.
Thank you to all who adopted! Our staff spent many hours preparing for this day and creating a system to keep the adoption process smooth and efficient. Thank you to our volunteers for quickly cleaning out rooms after each adoption to prepare for the next animal to arrive! We also had a team driving our transport van from the holding center to the adoption center. In between each trip, they had to wash out the van with a special cleaner, wait ten minutes, rinse and then dry it out! Then it was back to the holding center for the next round of animals.
Some families have already shared their happy beginnings with us on our Facebook page. If you also adopted from us during this special event, we hope you will share your stories of your new forever pets with us too!
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