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Rookie Perspective
David Dickson
Los Angeles Pet Super Adoption
Having worked as a writer at Best Friends for several years now, I've heard an awful lot about the L.A. Pet Super Adoption. Yet, until recently I had never actually attended. Well, this past May 21-22, I finally made it there, and let me tell you something: hearing about it from afar is nothing whatsoever like being there in person.
Before heading to L.A., I had a pretty solid handle on one particular detail: this event is big. Close to 1,300 animals showed up from 18 shelters and about 50 rescue groups, each ready to find his or her own happy-ever-after. I had all this in my head conceptually before heading down. So, yes, I was prepared for big. Instead, I should have been prepared for massive!
I entered La Brea Tar Pits Park, where the event was held, and saw the peaks of large tents jutting above the trees in every direction. If somebody had told me the adoption event had been canceled and a traveling carnival had taken up residence instead, I'd have probably believed it. Once I entered the first tent, which was full of adoptable cats so cute you'd want to bring home a baker's dozen, I knew for certain the carnival hadn't come to town.
Besides, how could a carnival be this much fun? The two pit-bull-terrier-type dogs with ridiculously cute flower necklaces I saw walking near the entrance made my smile even bigger. This was going to be a blast, I thought. Turns out I was right.
Staffers hung a victory bell near the adoption checkout station. Whenever an animal was adopted, one of the people at the adoption checkout booth would jump up and give that bell a hard ring, prompting a spontaneous outburst of applause and cheering. That bell rang out so often you'd have thought it was hooked up to a short-circuited motion sensor. Never once did it ring out, however, without an accompanying cheer. That unanimous, consistent reaction from the crowd pretty well describes the atmosphere of the whole event - everybody coming together for the animals, and everybody lighting up with excitement when each one found a home.
I was up to my eyeballs in happy endings for two days straight, to say nothing of everything else going on. It wasn't easy to visit long with any of the adopters, because they were whisked along a goodie giveaway line right after the bell rang. All adopters received free goodie bags (including collars, a sweater, toys, treats, a flying disc, food and cat litter if needed), selections from PetSmart Charities (a leash, a bone, hand sanitizer, notepads and coupons), a free pet portrait from Tonya Perme Photo, samples of John Paul Pet products, a pet bed from Tory Road, a bag of dog or cat food and various treats from Natural Balance Pet Foods. By the time the adopters finished walking through the line, they often needed help carrying their stuff to the car!
So, it was quite a juggle to keep track of those forever homes piling up one after another in glorious, rapid-fire succession. Still, here are a couple snapshots of some of the many happy endings that happened over the weekend.
The first time the adoption bell rang out was less than 20 minutes into day one of the event. The adopter, a woman named Zippora Fischel, explained that her son Michael had passed away three months before. She decided to name her new dog Michaela, in memory of her son. "She spoke to me," Zippora says of Michaela.
After that first clang of the bell, it kept right on ringing all day. Each ring meant an animal and a family had found each other. One couple, Christina Wong and Dustin Hughes, ended up adopting two kittens from Upland Animal Shelter. This was a terrific double adoption for Upland, as it was their first time attending the super adoption. When asked what they would say to others considering attending future super adoptions, Christina had a ready answer. "Go home with [an animal]!" she said.
Jon Knowlton, the director at Upland Animal Shelter, was thrilled at the success they experienced their first year. "We want to come back," Jon says.
Another couple, Alex Deutschman and Jade Eknaian, came looking for somebody truly special. You see, going in, they already had the greatest recommendation you could ever want: a dog they knew and loved! Two months before, Jade and Alex had adopted Nero the dachshund from Dachshund Paws and Pals Rescue. Nero quickly became the love of their lives, but they wanted to find him a friend. As it turns out, they learned that Nero had some siblings needing a home who would be at the L.A. Pet Super Adoption through a sister organization, Love for Canines.
Sure enough, Baby Sonny (Nero's brother) melted their hearts. Not only were they able to find Nero a new pal, they reunited two siblings. "What better way to bring two dogs together?" asks Alex. "Especially since they're both rescues."
Then there was Daphne, a shelter dog who had a volunteer championing her all day long. Rob Whalley, the volunteer, showed up at the event in the first place because he'd met a Best Friends member on an airplane ride from Maui. She urged him to come out and volunteer, which he did, and he ended up having the time of his life. "I've been walking that dog all day long," Rob said just minutes before Daphne found her forever home. Once Daphne's new family decided to adopt, all of Rob's hard work paid off. "It was great," he says of the experience.
The happy endings ran pretty much nonstop. But for me, one in particular held a special place in my heart. At an event like this, you have to realize there's a bit of an emotional tug-of-war. Many of the dogs and cats who come to the super adoption are shelter animals whose time has nearly (or entirely) run out. For them, this is often a last shot at finding a home. That's what makes the success stories all the more exciting and poignant.
I remember meeting one such shelter dog, an adorable mop of fur who looked like he hadn't had a haircut in a long time. Not that he seemed to mind. I stooped down to pet him, and the little furball was as friendly as could be. It was easy to see, though, why he might be overlooked. He wasn't exactly polished to a high shine for the crowd. Still, he was incredibly sweet, and an absolute love. What does a little dust and ruffled fur matter in the big picture, anyway? Surely somebody could look past that! Right?
When I asked the volunteer about him, she didn't think he even had a name yet. As I checked my watch, my heart sank. It was almost 3:40 p.m. He only had around 20 minutes to find a home, at which point he was headed back to the shelter. His shelter was there at the event for one day only. The volunteer working with him wanted to give the little guy one more lap around the grounds, just in case. I crossed my fingers and sent out all the positive vibes I could.
Imagine my surprise and excitement when, 10 minutes later, I saw my little fluffball of a buddy at the other end of a leash with his new family. He'd even acquired a name in that short span of time: Poppo! No more shelter time for this boy!
During the two-day event, there were 284 same-day adoptions and 102 animals pulled from shelters to be placed safely into rescue groups (including Best Friends). That's not even counting the animals who will be adopted over the coming days and weeks from some of the rescues. Many rescues in attendance require home checks, so sameday adoptions weren't possible.
Best Friends co-founder Francis Battista explains that the L.A. Pet Super Adoption carries an impact beyond the actual two-day event. "Each year 4-5 million animals die in shelters in this country," Francis says. "Los Angeles and L.A. County are really no exception. The super adoption serves a variety of purposes. First and foremost, it saves lives by generating adoptions at what essentially amounts to a retail scale of activity. It also provides a public forum and an opportunity for area shelters and rescue organizations to meet new people and to promote their animals and issues. Finally, the media coverage of the event helps to raise broad public awareness of the cause of No More Homeless Pets and helps to get more people interested in adoption and volunteer work."
It takes a not-so-small army of people to pull off an event like this, and that army is made up largely of volunteers. There were over 100 volunteers, from all ages and experience levels, who helped to make the super adoption a success. "It's a victory every time an animal gets a forever home," says Wendy Holland, a volunteer for six years for Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center, another shelter that attended for the first time this year. Wendy has helped them out with many adoption events, but has never seen one quite like this, with this level of variety among the animals.
Two regular Baldwin Park volunteers (who have their own rescue, United Hope for Animals) donated their time to take photographs and videos of the animals, to be used in networking afterward for those who didn't find homes over the weekend.
It seemed everywhere I turned, there was another person going to bat for the animals. Some were more colorful than others. There was a magician, performing card tricks for the crowd, who wore a bright purple coat and had a cat perched on his shoulder. There was a woman decked out as a Viking who called herself a "superhero for the animals." No matter their methods, each person helping out had the same basic goal: to pitch in and find homes for the animals.
Bottom line: For those who came looking to adopt, everything possible had been done to make the process fun and easy. Perhaps one lady I visited with summed it up best. "If you can't find an animal here," she said with a smile, "something is wrong!" Truer words were never spoken.
