Posted: May 9, 2009, 5 a.m. EDT
Among the thousands of attendees at a recent weekend pet adoptathon was Cesar Millan, who spoke about the roles of animals in people’s lives and the importance of shelter adoptions.
The 15th Annual Pet Adoptathon Weekend 2009, hosted by New York-based North Shore Animal League America, united more than 2,000 animal shelters worldwide to help save the lives of homeless pets. This year, a record-breaking 749 dogs, cats, puppies and kittens were adopted out, said NSALA spokeswoman Dianne Zoppa.
“The crowds were very excited about Cesar – and he responded warmly and enthusiastically, greeting and speaking to as many as possible, signing books, and walking through the Big Tent where we had activities such as the Purina Incredible Dog Team performing, the Animal League Agility Team performing, face painters, and a pet psychic,” Zoppa said.
This year’s event celebrated 2009 as the Year of the Mutt-i-grees, an initiative of the American Mutt-i-grees Club (AMC). The program encourages animal lovers worldwide to adopt mixed-breed shelter dogs to help curb euthanasia of healthy, adoptable shelter pets because of a lack of space.
To date, Pet Adoptathon has helped find new homes for nearly 300,000 homeless pets worldwide.