CINCINNATI — Tuesday marked the start of a campaign to empty overcrowded animal shelters across the county.
The BISSELL Pet Foundation's "Empty the Shelters" event is taking place Oct. 1-15 at more than 360 organizations in 43 states.
One of the shelters aiming to help deserving pets find a forever home is the Tri-State's own Cincinnati Animal CARE.
This same promotion allowed the shelter to find homes for about 190 cats and dogs in July.
"They're a big partner with us, they're super supportive of a lot of our local shelters and they help sponsor the adoption fees for a lot of our animals so that we can reduce the fees to the public, to hopefully get more animals out into their adoptive homes," said Abby Moore, community engagement coordinator at Cincinnati Animal CARE."
Throughout the October campaign, all dogs and cats older than 6 months can be adopted for $15.
"When you adopt an animal from us, it comes with their age-appropriate vaccines. Their microchip is automatically updated with all of your information. When you adopt, as well as their spay and neuter, that's all covered by the adoption fee," Moore said.
According to the BISSELL Pet Foundation, Empty the Shelters is the nation's largest funded adoption event. Since 2016, the campaign has helped nearly 283,000 pets find loving homes across the U.S. and Canada.
Princess Farely, the owner of an adopted dog, said there's something special about adopting pets from shelters.
"I feel you have more of a heart and a sympathy for these dogs versus just, you know, getting like, full of bred dogs for $10,000 or something. This dog needs just as much love as everybody else," Farely said.
