Everyone deserves a rush of joy and excitement this season, and what could be better than taking home an adorable pet in need of a loving home?
The Minneapolis Animal Care & Control was overjoyed to announce last month that they were out of animals for adoption. They got to tape the dream sign of every animal shelter to their front door. The sign read – “All animals have been adopted. No animals for adoption.”
While we’d normally be upset about a “we’re out” sign, this is one we’d probably love to see.
This came after the shelter held their “Clear the Shelter” event on Friday, November 22 when all adoption fees were waived. It was incredible to see hundreds of people lined up outside in the cold waiting to take a pet home.
The shelter wrote on their Facebook page: “The shelter is clear! Dozens of dogs, cats, and small critters found new homes today during our Clear the Shelter event. Thanks to our staff, volunteers, and adopters for making it happen.”
Lotteries to settle adoption disputes
Not many animal shelters are lucky to ever be out of animals to give up for adoption. The MACC shelter explained that all the processes went by quickly because they had only 5 hours to work that day, from 1-6 pm. Some of the animals even had several people vying to take them home.
“MACC had around 300 Minnesotans show up to stand in 30-degree weather to wait in line to adopt an animal today. Most animals had multiple applicants.” They had to come up with lotteries and coin tossing to keep the line moving.”
The shelter explained that the whole event was successful albeit a little out of control due to the unexpected number of people who showed up. They hope subsequent events would be better managed and easier to control.
“Thanks to all those who stopped in. Staff and volunteers expected about 50-100 people and the generosity of our MN community was greater than anticipated, so it was a *bit* chaotic in the building. Staff and volunteers debriefed after the event to take learnings from today to improve future Clear The Shelters events!”
Mixed reactions on social media
The outcome of the event was shared by the City of Minneapolis on Twitter. While lots of people were amazed at the kindness of Minneapolitans, a few others were worried about the safety of the animals who were adopted that day. Some argued that there couldn’t have been thorough background checks on their new owners in such short notice.
The shelter is clear! Dozens of dogs, cats and small critters found new homes today during our Clear the Shelter event. 🐶🐱🐰🐹 Thanks to our staff, volunteers and adopters for making it happen. pic.twitter.com/5wQvQKYlDY
— City of Minneapolis (@CityMinneapolis) November 22, 2019
There are so many homeless dogs and cats in need of a loving home here in Arkansas. I wish you could coordinate with shelters here to get them to your city, where they might have a better chance of being adopted. Minneapolis must be a great and kindly place!
— Katherine Goodwin (@katelrarus) November 23, 2019
So happy to hear the success of the Clear The Shelter event! The rescue world applauds the efforts & hope that the shelter can follow up to ensure that the adopted dogs/cats are properly vetted & living safely indoors with their new families.🐶🐱 #ItTakesAVillage #AdoptDontShop
— The Canine Condition (@caninecondition) November 23, 2019
I hope the shelter has rules/requirements for those new owners to verify their fitness for adoption. I’d hate to think if any of the animals got adopted into dogfighting rackets.
— Kilikikero (@kilikikero) November 23, 2019
Hopefully, the shelter would take the time to visit and thoroughly screen the new homes of every recently adopted animal. However, it’s highly likely that people who were willing to stand for hours in the biting cold to get a pet would take great care of them.
No one cares if people were attracted by the waived fees or the spirit of the season. As long as the animals get loving homes and the families get adorable pets, everyone’s happy.
