Best Friends Pay It Forward campaign hopes to save 10,000 pets by July 4

Best Friends Pay It Forward campaign hopes to save 10,000 pets by July 4

Pet lovers are invited to donate $25 to cover the adoption fees for homeless pets and increase adoptions during the most critical time of year at U.S. shelters

By Barbara Williamson

Do you want to be a hero to a homeless dog or cat this July 4 holiday? Best Friends Animal Society is giving pet lovers an opportunity to “Pay It Forward” by covering the $25 adoption fee for a future family at more than 270 of its network of rescues and shelters across the country.

Best Friends is encouraging people to “Pay It Forward” as part of its Save Them All campaign to save the lives of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. Adoption fees can be donated at save-them-all.org, and donors can share their “Pay It Forward” excitement by posting a photo or comment with hashtags #PayItForward and #SaveThemAll.

“If you get excited when a stranger pays for your coffee, imagine the joy you’ll bring to someone who is ready to adopt their next best friend and finds out the adoption fee has been covered,” said Julie Castle, chief executive officer of Best Friends Animal Society.

One compelling reason to pay it forward is that each July, shelters flood with dogs and cats. Many of those intakes happen around Independence Day when, driven by a fearful reaction to fireworks and other loud sights and sounds, pets flee from their homes and end up in municipal animal shelters.

It’s a problem that affects shelters across the country. For example, July is the busiest time of the year in Los Angeles and New York City with a respective 20 and 27 percent increase in daily intake at city animal shelters compared to the remaining months of the year.

“Our goal is to help get 10,000 pets into homes and make a huge difference during a really crucial time for shelters,” Castle said.

Adopting is another way to help. If you’re in the market for a new best friend, pet adoptions will be free from June 25 to July 4 at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab.

Thanks to generous donors, most pets are fixed, vaccinated, microchipped, and ready to go home immediately.

“By adopting you’re saving two lives: the pet you take home and the pet that now has a space at the shelter,” Castle said. “Everyone’s a winner when you adopt a pet.”

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