30,269 Pets Found Lifelong, Loving Homes During the Most Successful
National Adoption Weekend Event in PetSmart’s 30-Year History
PHOENIX – Sept. 21, 2017— Last weekend, North Americans welcomed 30,269 adoptable pets into their hearts and homes during PetSmart Charities’ third National Adoption Weekend of 2017 hosted at 1,500-plus PetSmart stores across the continent, making it the most successful National Adoption Weekend event ever for the leading funder of animal welfare and leading pet specialty retailer. With the help of more than 3,500 animal welfare organizations across the U.S. and Canada, PetSmart and PetSmart Charities found homes for a wide variety of adoptable pets, including dogs, cats, and even small pets such as rabbits, guinea pigs and birds.
In preparation for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, animal welfare organizations across the country worked together to transport adoptable shelter pets from Florida and Texas to other areas of the country to help free up shelter space in the communities that were in the hurricanes’ paths. That way, pets displaced or left homeless by these storms would have access to shelter, food and veterinary care while they wait to be reunited with their pet parents and families.
Several of PetSmart Charities’ animal welfare partners, such as Last Chance Animal Rescue in Waldorf, Md., were able to bring adoptable pets from the southern U.S. to their East Coast community through pet transport programs. Not only did this make more room in Florida and Texas animal shelters, but it also gave the recently relocated pets a great chance at finding a forever home since adoption demand in many east coast states like Maryland is high.
"During times of natural disasters like the recent hurricanes, it’s inspiring to see how the animal welfare community and pet parents come together. While PetSmart Charities is always focused on getting more pets out of shelters through successful adoption events like the one hosted this past weekend, during times of natural disaster, it’s even more important to clear shelter space and assemble resources animal welfare agencies are going to need to care for pets displaced during the storms,” says David Haworth, DVM, Ph.D. and president of PetSmart Charities. “By adopting a pet this past weekend, not only did families give a shelter pet the forever home they deserve, but unbeknownst to them, they also had a hand in helping rescues and shelters to care for, assist and reunite pets and pet parents impacted by the hurricanes.”
Pet Parents Supporting Pets in Need
Many pet parents and animal welfare organizations across North America are looking for ways to help pets affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. To provide additional support to pets and pet parents in need, PetSmart stores invited shoppers to donate pet supplies and food to local animal welfare partners. In all, a record-setting 615,000-plus items from stores across the U.S. and Canada were donated to support pets in need. Donations will support pets in local communities, as well as emergency relief efforts following the historic hurricanes along the Gulf Coast and wildfires along the West Coast.
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About PetSmart®
PetSmart, Inc. is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we love pets, and we believe pets make us better people. Every day with every connection, PetSmart’s passionate associates help bring pet parents closer to their pets so they, together, can live more fulfilled lives. This vision impacts everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates and how we give back to our communities. We employ approximately 55,000 associates, operate more than 1,500 pet stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as more than 200 in-store PetSmart® PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart provides a broad range of competitively priced pet food and products, as well as pet-focused services such as dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart® Doggie Day Camp® and pet adoption. PetSmart, together with non-profits PetSmart Charities® and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, invite more than 3,500 animal welfare organizations to bring adoptable pets into stores so they have the best chance possible of finding a forever home. Through this in-store adoption program and other signature events, PetSmart has facilitated more than 7.6 million adoptions – more than any other brick-and-mortar organization. The company’s portfolio of digital resources for pet parents includes PetSmart.com, OnlyNaturalPet.com, petMD.com, Pawculture.com, AllPaws, an online pet adoption platform that helps potential pet parents find the perfect pet to adopt based on their home, family and lifestyle, as well as BlogPaws, the world’s first pet blogger and influencer network. Through these digital platforms, PetSmart offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care information in the U.S. In celebration of its 30th anniversary, PetSmart launched its philanthropic Buy a Bag, Give a Meal™ program in March 2017, see petsmart.com/giveameal for details. In May 2017, PetSmart acquired Chewy.com, a leading online retailer of pet food and products in the U.S., which operates as an independent subsidiary.
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About PetSmart Charities®
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is a nonprofit animal welfare organization with a mission to find lifelong, loving homes for all pets by supporting programs and thought leadership that bring people and pets together. In addition to finding homes for almost 500,000 shelter pets each year through its in-store adoption program in all PetSmart stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, PetSmart Charities provides funding to non-profits aligned with its mission through four key areas of grant support: Preventing Pet Homelessness; Helping Shelter Pets Thrive; Supporting the Bond Between People and Pets; and Emergency Relief and Disaster Support. Each year, millions of generous PetSmart shoppers help pets in need by donating to PetSmart Charities using the pin pads at checkout registers inside PetSmart stores. In turn, PetSmart Charities efficiently uses 90 cents of every dollar donated and has become the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, donating about $300 million to date. PetSmart Charities, a 501(c)(3) organization, has received the Four Star Rating from Charity Navigator, an independent organization that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, for the past 14 years in a row – placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization. To learn more visit www.petsmartcharities.org.
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