Looking for your new fur-ever (or purr-ever) friend? Check out the Best Friends Animal Society’s brand-new adoption center in SoHo, which opened Tuesday, to get acquainted with a dog or a cat to complete your family.
The center can house up to 30 cats, up to 30 kittens, and 15 dogs at a time, said Elizabeth Jensen, the executive director of Best Friends NY.
“A big part of what Best Friends’ do is helping people help animals,” Jensen said. “Fifty-five hundred animals a day are dying in our shelters, we have to help get them out.”
The animals were taken from Animal Care & Control of NYC, or are connected to another rescue organization that is using Best Friends’ space — but all the adorable cats and dogs are available through one adoption process, with no appointment needed.
“For the adopter, it’s a seamless process. They don’t have to worry about who comes from what rescue group,” she said. “It was important to us to be able to share this resource with the rescue community.”
And while they may not be available for adoption yet, teeny tiny kittens (less than 2 months old) can be seen playing their little hearts out or napping in the all-glass kitten nursery.
“Very often people don’t get to see that,” Jensen said. “And it’s cute, but it’s a very delicate work. When they’re really, really little, they’re very fragile. It’s important that people understand what’s happening.”
Best Friends has been rescuing animals in the city long before the organization had its own shelter, rescuing about 1,200 animals in the last few years and holding pop-up events throughout New York. Now, interactive iPads dot the modern space, and a large high-tech screen greets people by the door, showcasing photos of pets that people can text to the center.
“We’re looking at this kind of as a concept space,” she said. “It’s about adopting these animals, but we want to talk about breed discrimination legislation, we want to talk about puppy mills, we want to talk about [neonatal] kittens and the importance of spay and neuter.”
The center, at 307 W. Broadway, is open Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m.
The fee for adopting a dog less than 6 months old is $350; otherwise it’s $250. (There’s also a mandatory $8.50 dog license fee for the city.) The fee for a cat less than 6 months old is $125; otherwise it’s $100.
