ARC participates in pet adoption drive
The Animal Refuge Center teamed up with the Gulf Coast Humane Society and other shelters this past weekend for the nation’s biggest free pet adoption event.
The fifth annual Maddie’s Fund Pet Adoption Days offered free pets to qualified homes last weekend, and ARC split its efforts, offering adoptions at its location on Old Bayshore Road and at Petco at the Forum in Fort Myers for two days of free pet adoptions.
It was the first time ARC took part in the event that seven area shelters participated in, and it hoped the event would result in numerous adoptions and needed funds to help alleviate some of the costs of running the shelter.
The adoption drive couldn’t have come at a better time for ARC, as they currently have nearly 500 animals, the vast majority of which are cats.
Going into the weekend, ARC had 450 cats and kittens housed in 12 open air cat houses. They also had approximately 80 dogs and eight puppies, which was more than they usually keep.
“Our goal is to get as many of our animals adopted out into qualified loving homes, regardless if they’re from our county or not. We look at it as a win/win all the way around,” said shelter director Jerri Howard in a statement.
The cat adoptions were handled at the Petco location by several of their volunteers, with dog adoptions at the ARC location, which featured the Ravenous Rhino food truck from Port Charlotte. They donated their proceeds to the shelter.
The big money came from Maddie’s Fund which, coming into the weekend, had donated more than $11.4 million for the 15,000 animals that have been adopted over the past four years, said Tina Hager, media director at ARC.
Maddie’s Fund, which has been in existence for 20 years, donates $500 for any cat and dog from Lee County. It gives $1,000 for a senior animals or one with a treatable illness and $2,000 for senior animals with treatable illnesses.
Maddie’s Fund, is working with 14 counties in nine states nationwide to find homes for 10,000 shelter animals this year.
With 10 or more adopters that had preregistered, Hager was confident needed funds would come their way.
“They appreciate what shelters do and want to help us out. We don’t receive government grants so everything we get is donor given. So this is huge for us,” Hager said.
All pets are current on shots, spayed/neutered, and microchipped.
ARC is at 18011 Old Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers. For more information, contact the shelter at 731-3535 or visit animalrefugecenter.com.
For more information about Maddie’s Fund visit adopt.maddiesfund.org/.