ROANOKE, Va. – 10 News annual month-long campaign to Clear the Shelters has come to a close, and we have a wonderful update. Nearly 1,000 animals were adopted during this time period from partner shelters across Southwest Virginia.
Clear The Shelters is an annual, nationwide pet adoption and shelter donation campaign spearheaded by NBCUniversal Local.
10 News highlighted adoptable pets every day from August 10 to September 10 during newscasts and on our digital platforms to try to find them loving homes.
The community showed up and opened their hearts, as partnering shelters reported a combined total of 956 pets adopted.
- 24 of the 48 pets WSLS featured found their forever homes.
- 5 were moved to fosters
- 1 has a potential match.
Many of the pets 10 News featured were some of area shelters longest-tenured residents or senior animals. Each pet has their own unique story of how they ended up in a shelter. Henry, a 7-year-old dog at the League for Animal Protection in Fincastle ended up there after his owner needed to be moved to a nursing facility. The shelter asked 10 News to feature Henry as he was a very well behaved and loving dog. They were happy to report a 10 News viewer saw Henry during one of our newscasts and knew he was the one. They adopted him the next day.
According to Shelter Animals Count data, approximately 6.3 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.1 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats. Each year, approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized (390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats). The number of dogs and cats euthanized in U.S. shelters annually has declined from approximately 2.6 million in 2011. The ASPCA said the decline can be partially explained by an increase in the percentage of animals adopted and an increase in the number of stray animals successfully returned to their owners.
August is normally one of the busiest months for animal shelters across the region, in part, due to kitten season.
Even if you can’t adopt, you can help.
Share each pet on social media and help spread the word! You may not be looking for another pet, but someone out there is still searching.
You can also donate to local shelters. Most accept monetary online donations, have Amazon wish lists or accept donations in person. Some local shelters are participating in the donation portion of the Clear the Shelters campaign. Donations can be made through September 30 here.
10 News staff wanted to do their part to give back. Pet food donations were collected by employees and donated to the Giles County Animal Shelter.
Find out how, and what each shelter needs:
You can find 10 News’ 2022 and 2023 Clear The Shelters story here.
Want to register your shelter for our next campaign? Click here.