A South Florida animal shelter celebrated an empty kennel for the first time ever, thanks to lonely humans stuck at home and a determined animal-loving staff.
The Friends of the Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control posted a video on Facebook of masked workers and volunteers whooping it up in the doorways of the open — and empty — cages in one of its three kennels on Thursday. The kennel is usually packed and each enclosure typically holds two dogs.
Staff attributed the feat of placing every single dog — and some cats — to working hard to find foster families, partner rescue organizations and adoptive owners. It also helped that the number of dogs coming into the shelter had decreased as the animal control department limited surrenders and pick-ups to emergencies.
With COVID-19 sheltering in place, people suddenly have the time to introduce “quarantine buddies” into their lives. However, shelter managers across the nation fear many adopted pets will come back when people return to work, CNN reported.
Although the Palm Beach County workers are thrilled by their achievement, the job is hardly done. They still have 32 dogs in the other kennels up for adoption as well as a cat, two horses and some chickens. Information about those animals and applications for ownership and foster care can be found online.
Check out some happy adoptees here:
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