PetSmart® Announces Record-Breaking 25,000-Plus Pets Adopted Out at the Company’s National Adoption Weekend
Held Last Week, February National Event Aimed at Saving Lives is the
Most Successful in PetSmart History
PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–More than 25,000 pets found their forever homes last week during
PetSmart’s National Adoption Weekend event held at more than 1,400
PetSmart stores across North America — setting a new company record with
the most pets adopted at these national, chain-wide events since they
were initiated by the retailer more than a decade ago.
Approximately 25,027 pets were adopted through the event last week
(Monday – Sunday), beating the company record by nearly 3,000 pets and
representing a 43 percent adoption increase over last year’s Feb. event.
This year’s efforts also included nearly 100 stores that expanded their
life-saving efforts to include small animals such as ferrets, guinea
pigs and rabbits.
These PetSmart signature National Adoption Weekend events are conducted
in collaboration with PetSmart CharitiesTM, PetSmart CharitiesTM
of Canada and their adoption partners – more than 3,000 local animal
welfare organizations. While called National Adoption “Weekend,” the
adoption efforts span the week with the majority of the pets, about
23,000, adopted between Friday and Sunday when many stores host large
parking lot tent-events with their local adoption partners to connect
adoptable pets with their forever families.
“We are thrilled so many pets — more than 25,000 in all — found their
forever homes this past week in our stores,” said Eran Cohen, chief
customer experience officer, PetSmart. “Our National Adoption Weekend
events are highly coordinated efforts involving nearly all aspects of
our company, our PetSmart Charities and PetSmart Charities of Canada
nonprofit organizations and animal welfare partners. From setting up
tents and preparing stores to serve as adoption centers to coordinating
with our local partners, we couldn’t be more proud of the collaborative
efforts that resulted in this recent adoption success — together we are
saving lots of lives!”
At PetSmart stores across the country, PetSmart services associates
including groomers and trainers, helped prepare adoptable dogs. For
example, PetSmart groomers-in-training utilized their training hours to
help adoption partners beautify their dogs and ready them for their
forever families. Also a new feature this past weekend, new pet parents
received a special adoption certificate and, as always, also received
the PetSmart Adoption Starter Kit with tips on how to transition a newly
adopted pet into the home, as well as coupons for a free bag of pet
food, free one-time services for training, veterinarian and Doggie Day
Camp, as well as discounts on the essentials such as bowls, collars,
beds and grooming — all totaling $400 in value ($325 CAD).
Directly on the heels of the adoption success, this coming weekend,
PetSmart will host its New Pet Event, featuring education and
problem-solutions to help first-time pet owners welcome their newest
family member and celebrate all of the exciting “firsts” — from a first
bath to first accident.
Top 10 Most Adoption-Friendly Cities
PetSmart congratulates Fort Worth, which adopted out the most pets in
the U.S. during the week-long event. The Fort Worth area’s local
adoption partners helped find lifelong, loving homes for 300 cats and
dogs.
Based on PetSmart Charities’ February National Adoption Weekend data,
the top 10 cities with the most pet adoptions were:
- Fort Worth, Texas (300 adoptions)
- Houston, Texas (261 adoptions)
- Phoenix, Ariz. (222 adoptions)
- San Antonio, Texas (215 adoptions)
- Gainesville, Florida (210 adoptions)
- Lubbock, Texas (206 adoptions)
- Dallas, Texas (185 adoptions)
- Tucson, Ariz. (177 adoptions)
- Tulsa, Okla. (167 adoptions)
- Albuquerque, N.M. (166 adoptions)
Partnering to Save Lives
Each year, about 7 million pets enter shelters across North America and
some 3 million healthy, adoptable pets are euthanized. To help end pet
homelessness and save lives, PetSmart joins PetSmart Charities, PetSmart
Charities of Canada and nearly 3,000 local animal welfare organizations
across North America on a range of powerful adoption events in PetSmart
stores. Four times each year, PetSmart highlights the adoption program
through National Adoption Weekends where 20,000-plus pets find lifelong,
loving homes in a single week.
In addition to the National Adoption Weekend events, every day pets are
adopted out of PetSmart stores, which serve as extensions to local pet
shelters with dedicated adoption center space. Last year, through all
the combined adoption efforts at PetSmart stores two pets were adopted
every minute a store was open and about 1,400 pets’ lives were saved
every day.
PetSmart’s next National Adoption Weekend will be held in May. If you’re
looking to add a pet to your home, consider saving a life by adopting.
Visit your local PetSmart Charities adoption center in most PetSmart
stores across the country, or visit www.petsmartcharities.org
for more information. Stay up-to-date on the latest news by following
PetSmart Charities on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PetSmartCharities
and on Twitter at @PetSmartChariTs.
About PetSmart®
PetSmart,
Inc. is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions
for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we love pets, and we
believe pets make us better people. Every day with every connection,
PetSmart’s passionate associates help bring pet parents closer to their
pets so they can live more fulfilled lives. This mission impacts
everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates,
and how we give back to our communities. We employ approximately 53,000
associates, operate approximately 1,444 pet stores in the United States,
Canada and Puerto Rico and approximately 202 in-store PetSmart®
PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart provides a
broad range of competitively priced pet food and pet products and offers
dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart
Doggie Day Camp day care services and pet adoption services
in-store. Our portfolio of digital resources for pet parents — including PetSmart.com,
PetFoodDirect.com,
Pet360.com,
OnlyNaturalPet.com and
petMD.com —
offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care
information in the U.S. Through our in-store pet adoption partnership
with independent nonprofit organizations, PetSmart
Charities™ and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, PetSmart helps to save
the lives of more than 500,000 homeless pets each year. In addition,
PetSmart supports organizations that make communities a better place to
call home through our philanthropy program, PetSmart
Gives Back™. By giving back to the communities where we live and
work, PetSmart not only celebrates the power of pets to enrich people’s
lives — we live it.
Follow PetSmart on Twitter: @PetSmart
Find PetSmart on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PetSmart
See PetSmart on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/PetSmart
About PetSmart Charities™
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is a nonprofit animal welfare organization that
saves the lives of homeless pets. Each year nearly 500,000 dogs and cats
find homes through our adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across
the U.S. and sponsored adoption events. Each year millions of PetSmart
shoppers contribute to pets in need by making donations on a pin pad at
the register. Their generous donations are then managed by PetSmart
Charities, which efficiently uses 90 cents of every dollar, making
funding grants and other support to help pets in need. PetSmart
Charities grants more money to directly help pets in need than any other
animal welfare group in North America, with a focus on funding adoption
and spay/neuter programs that help communities solve pet overpopulation.
PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization, independent from
PetSmart, Inc. PetSmart Charities has received the Four Star Rating for
the past 13 years from Charity Navigator, an independent nonprofit that
reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of
nonprofits, placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by
this organization.
About PetSmart Charities of Canada
PetSmart Charities of Canada is a nonprofit animal welfare organization
that saves the lives of homeless pets in Canada. Each year more than
20,000 cats and dogs find Canadian homes through our adoption program in
nearly all PetSmart® stores across Canada and our sponsored adoption
events. A leading funder of animal welfare, PetSmart Charities of Canada
has granted more than $9 million to help pets in need with a funding
focus on adoption and spay/neuter programs that help communities solve
pet overpopulation. PetSmart Charities of Canada is a registered
charity, independent from PetSmart, Inc.
Contacts
Golin for PetSmart Inc.:
Danielle Bickelmann
972-341-2503
dbickelmann@golin.com
or
Golin
for PetSmart Charities:
Jennifer Kepler
972-341-2552
jkepler@golin.com
or
PetSmart
Media Line:
623-587-2177
