North Americans Open Their Hearts and Homes to More Than 24,000 Pets
During PetSmart Charities February National Adoption Weekend at PetSmart Stores
24,428 Pets Found Forever Homes as PetSmart and PetSmart Charities
Host First National Adoption Weekend of 2017
Feb. 24, 2017 – PHOENIX – This past weekend, North Americans opened their hearts and their homes to more than 24,000 adoptable pets who were looking for their forever families during PetSmart Charities’ first National Adoption Weekend of 2017—hosted at over 1,500 PetSmart stores across the continent. This weekend event ranks among the top most successful adoption events for the leading pet specialty retailer and the leading funder of animal welfare.
“We are thrilled by the continued success of our National Adoption Weekend event where 24,428 pets’ lives were saved,” said Eran Cohen, chief customer experience officer at PetSmart. “Through this powerful effort between PetSmart Charities, PetSmart stores, our associates and thousands of adoption partners from coast to coast, we continue our commitment to helping pets find their forever homes and to serve as a trusted partner to new pet parents everywhere.”
Four times each year, PetSmart teams up with PetSmart Charities and more than 3,000 animal welfare organizations on National Adoption Weekends to bring adoptable pets into PetSmart stores to find them the forever homes they deserve. While often referred to as National Adoption “Weekend,” the adoption efforts span the entire week with the majority of the pets – 23,000 on average – adopted between Friday and Sunday. PetSmart, The Adopt Spot, has helped to facilitate over 7.3 million adoptions to date, more than any other brick-and-mortar organization. For every 30 seconds a PetSmart store is open, a pet is adopted, totaling 1,400 pets’ lives saved every day.
“We are excited to report the success of our first National Adoption Weekend event of the New Year to kick off our lifesaving efforts in 2017,” said David Haworth, DVM, Ph.D., president of PetSmart Charities. “Pet adoption continues to be key to our mission to end pet homelessness and connect people and pets across the United States and Canada. We look forward to saving even more lives as the year progresses.”
Did You Adopt This Weekend?
New pet parents who wish to share their heartwarming adoption stories and photos with their new four-legged family member are encouraged to use the hashtag #iadopted on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. The next PetSmart Charities National Adoption Weekend will be held on May 5-7, 2017.
PetSmart’s Adoption Kit
As a gift to those who saved a life through adoption, no matter where they choose to adopt their pet, PetSmart offers a free Adoption Kit* that provides useful content on how to integrate a pet into the family while offering true value – more than $450 in savings. Included are coupons for a free bag of dog or cat food from Simply Nourish™, Authority® or Good Natured™, a free veterinarian visit, a complimentary private training session with an accredited trainer, a free Doggie Day Camp session and a free overnight boarding stay, as well as half off on a grooming service. Also included are savings on all the essentials for a new pet, including beds, crates, gates, brushes, feeding bowls, collars, leashes, toys and treats, as well as solutions like pet calming products and stain and odor remedies for any mishaps that may occur.
*Adoption paperwork is required.
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About PetSmart®
PetSmart, Inc. is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we love pets, and we believe pets make us better people. Every day with every connection, PetSmart’s passionate associates help bring pet parents closer to their pets so they can live more fulfilled lives. This vision impacts everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates and how we give back to our communities. We employ approximately 53,000 associates, operate 1,500 pet stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and 203 in-store PetSmart® PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart provides a broad range of competitively priced pet food and pet products and offers dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart Doggie Day Camp day care services and pet adoption services in-store. Our portfolio of digital resources for pet parents – including PetSmart.com, PetFoodDirect.com, Pet360.com and petMD.com – offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care information in the U.S. Through our in-store pet adoption partnership with independent nonprofit organizations, PetSmart Charities® and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, PetSmart helps to save the lives of more than 500,000 homeless pets each year. The Adopt Spot is a trademark of PetSmart, Inc.
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About PetSmart Charities®
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is a nonprofit animal welfare organization that saves the lives of homeless pets. Each year nearly 500,000 dogs and cats find homes through our adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across the U.S. and sponsored adoption events. Each year millions of PetSmart shoppers contribute to pets in need by making donations directly to PetSmart Charities on a pin pad at the registers in PetSmart stores. PetSmart Charities administers and efficiently uses 90 cents of every dollar of the generous donations by issuing grants and providing additional support to help pets in need. PetSmart Charities grants more money to directly help pets in need than any other animal welfare group in North America, with a focus on funding adoption and spay/neuter programs that help communities solve pet overpopulation. PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization, independent from PetSmart, Inc. PetSmart Charities has received the Four Star Rating for the past 13 years from Charity Navigator, an independent nonprofit that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization.
About PetSmart Charities™ of Canada
PetSmart Charities of Canada is a nonprofit animal welfare organization that saves the lives of homeless pets in Canada. Each year more than 25,000 pets find Canadian homes through our adoption program in nearly all PetSmart stores across Canada and our sponsored adoption events. A leading funder of animal welfare, PetSmart Charities of Canada has granted more than $10 million to help pets in need with a funding focus on adoption and spay/neuter programs that help communities solve pet overpopulation and emergency relief grants that help pets and pet parents impacted by natural and man-made disasters. PetSmart Charities of Canada is a registered Canadian charity, independent from PetSmart.
Contacts:
PetSmart Media Line:
623-587-2177
