No barking. Complete silence. It’s not something an animal shelter experiences often, if ever. But that’s exactly what happened at Ohio’s Summit County Animal Control shelter recently when each and every animal was adopted, leaving the kennels completely empty for the first time ever.
The shelter held a special adoptathon to coincide with the “Clear the Shelter” event on November 7th. Over 100 animals were adopted over the day and apparently adopters lined up with lawn chairs at 6:30 in the morning.
Some people actually adopted a week earlier so as to not miss out on “their dog”. A representative at the shelter explained how the successful event came about:
“It was really a collaborative effort between amazing staff and volunteers. To ensure [the event’s] success, many deeply involved volunteers – there’s a hospital nearby and we have several nurses who are, in my words, true rescue warriors – worked with potential adopters & animals the week prior to help ensure good matches were made. We also had nine adoptions the week before which happened because those adopters didn’t want to miss out on “their” dog and several were transferred to local rescues.”
Adoption fees were drastically reduced on the day of the event and an anonymous elderly couple made a donation to the shelter to sponsor the first 50 adopted pets. The pets were also fully vetted prior to the event. The shelter also did not over-promote the event in order to avoid attracting potentially dangerous adopters.
And so when the day was over, shelter staff walked through the kennels and filmed this video empty and silent.
The shelter expects that some dogs may end up back at the shelter, but it’s still a fantastic success for them.
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