GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The nation's largest funded pet adoption event gets underway Dec. 1, and more than 40 Michigan animal shelters will be participating.
The Empty The Shelters Holiday Hope event runs through Dec. 17.
Brittany Schlacter, a marketing and public relations specialist with the Bissell Pet Foundation, talked about it on WOOD Radio's West Michigan's Morning News.
Established in 2016, Empty the Shelters has helped nearly 190,000 pets find their loving families at participating shelters in 49 states and Canada. Events are held quarterly. Bissell supports participating organizations with reimbursement for each pet adopted. Adopters pay no more than $50 and local license fees.
"You can visit a shelter to bring home your new best friend for just $50 or less. But it's important to remember that, just because adoption fees are reduced doesn't mean any other part of the adoption process has changed. And these shelters are dedicated to matching, dogs and critters with their perfect families," Schlacter said.
Adoption entails a commitment for the life of the pet. So, Bissell recommends that adopters visit a shelter first.
"Go to the shelter and meet these pets and work with the shelter staff to make sure that your needs are matched with that animal," Schlacter said. "Maybe you're a little bit of a lower-activity person or family. You kind of want an older, couch-potato dog or low-energy pet to join your family."
Schlacter said shelters are fuller than they've been in a decade.
"Lives are on the line ... at the end of the year, a lot of municipal shelters are having to make the hearbreaking decision to euthanize ... we don't want that. We want to get these pets into loving homes in the couches and out of these shelters," she said.
###