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EDMONTON HUMANE SOCIETY’S ADOPTION EVENT SUCCESSFUL THANKS TO OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT
Nearly all animals find their forever homes in first day of the ‘Clear Our Shelter’ Adoption Event including animals seized from a local pet store in late February.

EDMONTON, AB (March 23, 2018) – The Edmonton Humane Society’s (EHS) “Clear Our Shelter” adoption event started today, and was a resounding success with nearly all of the available animals finding forever homes.

EHS held the event because of an unusually high number of animals coming up for adoption, due to a recent seizure by their Animal Protection Officers from a local pet store. The animals were seized on February 27, after a concern was brought forward that they had been abandoned. Initially the animals were placed on a mandatory hold. Once the hold was lifted and EHS took legal ownership of the animals, they moved quickly to re-home the animals to ensure their optimal health and welfare.

“We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community,” said Evan Lawlor, EHS spokesperson. “A constant stream of inquiries about the animals has been coming in since the event was announced Monday. The attention it received led to an increase in traffic at the shelter even before the event officially started.”

The increase in traffic benefited animals that were already up for adoption too, with EHS seeing higher than usual adoption numbers between Tuesday and Thursday. The additional animals that came available for adoption on Friday quickly found their forever homes Friday afternoon. Before this weekend, the largest adoption event that EHS held was in May 2016 when 117 animals were adopted in a single day. 

EHS was able to adopt out all the dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, lizards, snakes, frogs, crabs, birds, and fish that were available on Friday. As of 5:30 p.m. Friday evening, only a few cats and rodents, as well as one rabbit and scorpion remained. With the large number of adoptions today, it will take a few days for EHS to finalize the numbers. The public is welcome to visit the shelter on Saturday and EHS will continue to honour the reduced adoption prices for the animals that remain.

“The interest surrounding this event was incredible,” added Lawlor. “While we are elated that hundreds of animals found their forever home this week, we also want to remind the community that we take in thousands of homeless, abandoned and neglected companion animals each year, and every day there are more animals in need of a second chance. We encourage people to consider adopting any time they are looking for a new pet.”

As a leader in the advancement of animal welfare, the Edmonton Humane Society enriches the lives of people and companion animals through animal sheltering, programs and services, and community engagement. For more information, visit https://www.www.edmontonhumanesociety.com/.

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