By Emily Roberts Jones
The Utah Humane Society is hosting the Fall in Love Adoption Event this week to get as many animals in homes as possible. There have been so many adoptions including 21 on Tuesday alone, that the shelter feels almost empty.
It is quiet in the shelter with almost all of the animals gone. All that remains are five dogs, two dozen cats and a couple of guinea pigs and rabbits; about one fourth of the shelter’s normal capacity.
The fourth annual Fall In Love Adoption Event is sponsored by Mountain America Credit Union who are covering the adoption fees during the event.
“Over the past four years, we’ve placed over 400 animals into loving homes, and so our hope is that we will have hopefully another 100-150 from this Monday through Friday,” Utah Humane Society associate director of marketing Guinnevere Shuster said.
The goal is to get all of the dogs, cats, bunnies, guinea pigs, hamsters, ferrets and chinchillas home for the holidays. The remaining animals are going to go fast, you could almost say it’s a Christmas miracle.
One woman, looking to adopt a rabbit named Falafel, said “I just saw him on the website and he was wearing a little scarf and I fell in love with him.”
Normally, adoption fees can range from $25 to $600 due to the fact that the Humane Society is a nonprofit and receives no government funding. The sponsorship that Mountain America provides removes a lot of doubt and financial worries with this event and the animals are grateful.
“This holiday season is a great time to adopt because a lot of people have time off for Thanksgiving, so bringing a dog or a cat or even a rabbit home gives you a little extra time getting settled before you head back to work,” Shuster said.
If it’s time for you to bring home a pet, don’t forget to ‘adopt, don’t shop’.
