Posted: September 26, 2008, 5 a.m. EDT
Online pet adoption site Petfinder.com this week exceeded 300,000 animals available for the first time in its 12-year history, with 300,719 available as of Wednesday afternoon.
The site allows 11,895 shelters and animal rescue groups to feature adoptable pets on the website to help find the animals homes. That database is searchable by various parameters, notably animal type and potential adopter’s location.
The site attributes the record number of available animals to various factors, including an increase in participating shelters – up by more than 700 this year alone.
The site also attributes the housing situation, specifically home foreclosures, to increasing the supply of available animals. The site said that 47 percent of its member shelters and rescue groups had reported increases in relinquished animals in April.
At 145,610, dogs were the largest animal group, accounting for nearly half of all available animals. The site also lists cats, rabbits, reptiles, birds, small animals, horses, pigs, and other barnyard animals.