With nearly 4 million dogs entering shelters every year and July being a top month dogs end up at the pound (many from the Fourth of July holiday), NBC is looking to get more pups into homes.
On July 23, the network will be holding its second annual Clear the Shelters campaign across the nation. Participating shelters are waiving or reducing their adoption fees for dogs and cats during the one-day event to help thousands of animals across the nation get adopted.
Besides reducing adoption fees, many will be offering free services provided by VIP Petcare, a preventative veterinary care company that teamed up with NBC this year.
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“We felt it was a perfect fit for our mission — to keep pets healthy, happy and safe,” VIP Petcare’s CMO Paige Mazzoni tells us. “This event helps pets find a home, and we are helping them have a healthy start with great preventative care services.”
VIP Petcare will be providing $200 worth of services to most shelters in the program in the form of vouchers. It is offering free microchipping, rabies vaccine, flea and tick preventative care, heartworm test, fecal test and more.
Clear the Shelters began last year and had 400 shelters participate with nearly 20,000 animals finding their forever home. Ellen DeGeneres, Steve Harvey, Mario Lopez and other celebs participated in the campaign by posting selfies with their favorite adoptable animals on social media.
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This year those pushes will continue, along with NBC engaging its local affiliates in covering the event and a post-adoption drive.
To see what shelter in your local area is participating, head over to Clear the Shelters website.
Main image via Facebook/North Shore Animal League America