In a heartwarming response to a desperate plea from the Wake County Animal Center, our community has come together, uniting to adopt and save the lives of the animals facing euthanization due to space constraints at the center. Thanks to this incredible response, the seven-year record of avoiding putting down animals from the adoption floor still stands.
"Together, we’re making a tremendous difference and showing the true power of a caring community and Wake County truly does care about these helpless animals," said Wake County Commissioner Susan Evans. "There are so many factors playing into this surge of homeless pets across the country and we need to start working to change the root causes. Thanks to our residents, the center has a bit of room to breathe, but animals continue to arrive in huge numbers, so we are hopeful that yesterday’s incredible outpouring continues.”
On Thursday alone, 20 dogs and 34 cats, as well as one guinea pig and two rabbits left the overwhelmed center with their new owners, while 37 dogs and 47 cats have pending adoptions and will be ready to go home after receiving all their necessary vaccines, spayed and neuter surgeries and microchipping.
The impact of the community is shown here in this comparison of the number of homeless animals on Wednesday to today, Friday, August 4:
- Dogs: 97, down from 114
- Puppies: 7, down from 12
- 37 dogs pending adoption
- 67 dogs/puppies available for adoption
- Cats: 25, down from 42
- Kittens: 35, down from 52
- 47 cats pending adoption
- 13 cats/kittens available for adoption
- 84 pets living with foster families
- Strays (on hold for owners to reclaim): 9, down from 35
Not only did our community step in, our rescue and transfer partners also played a significant role. They accepted 29 pets from our center and moved into their care.
"We made it through another day and we could not be happier," said Dr. Jennifer Federico, director of the Animal Center. "Your response has been inspiring and we are truly grateful for your dedication to these animals. However, we are not completely out of the woods yet. While we had 139 people or families agree to adopt pets yesterday, we also had 23 animals come into the center that we can’t refuse. So it’s still a balancing act over what’s going out and what’s coming in and we’ll need a constant stream of support to ensure we can continue care for our pets without the fear of euthanasia."
For anyone who would love to adopt but cannot, there are so many other ways to help. The center saw an increased interest in donations to the center yesterday, which are always welcome at wake.gov/donate. Individuals can also volunteer to walk the dogs or help at the center and there are fostering opportunities.
The center has waived all adoption fees for dogs and cats that have been on the adoption floor for 15 days or longer. You can adopt them at no cost. All adopted pets are fully vaccinated, spayed or neutered and microchipped before they go home. The regular adoption fees are $95 for dogs, $45 for cats under five years old and $15 for older cats.
Ready to adopt? Check out our adoption gallery or come by and see the sweet faces for yourself! The shelter is open for adoptions daily from noon to 6 p.m. seven days a week. The Wake County Animal Center is located at 820 Beacon Lake Drive, near the intersection of I-440 and New Bern Ave. in Raleigh.
Photo above of Ramone courtesy of HWesterveltPhotography
