Best Friends Lifesaving Center in SoHo is waiving all pet adoption fees for “National Adoption Weekend,” Sept.16-18, in an effort to combat the growing shelter crisis across the country.
A number of New York City shelters and rescue groups are offering reduced or waived fees including KittyKind, Inc, Puppy Kitty NY City Inc, Rescue City and Waggytail Rescue.
While “Puppy Mill Awareness Day” is on Saturday, Sept. 17, the Best Friends event is part of a larger campaign to end the killing of cats and dogs in American shelters by 2025. The No-Kill campaign is meant to encourage people to adopt rather than buy their pets.
“There is a growing shelter crisis across the country and the animal welfare community won’t just sit by and let innocent pets die,” said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite. We’re joining forces with our vast network of shelters and rescues across the country to host our third National Adoption Weekend since May to incentivize people to get out and adopt.”
Best Friends Lifesaving Centers in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Houston, Northwest Arkansas and Kanab, UT are all waiving fees on dogs, cats, kittens and puppies. The adopted pets will be fixed, vaccinated and microchipped for a safe and easy transition into a new home.
Currently, a high number of pets are at-risk of being killed in shelters. Factors like staffing shortages, limited shelter hours, decreased volunteers and reduced adoption events contribute to the inability to get pets adopted, leading to their death.
“We have proof that national promotions like the first two adoption weekends we did in May and July work,” said Castle. “Our July National Adoption Weekend saw close to 10,000 animals adopted in a three-day period. I’m confident we can beat that, just as I’m confident we can bring the country to no-kill by 2025.”
For more information on the Best Friends Lifesaving Center in New York, visit their website: https://bestfriends.org
