Around 300 adoptable dogs and cats from 28 local rescue organizations were at Saturday’s mega pet adoption event at Grossmont Center.
SAN DIEGO — One of the biggest pet adoption events of the year returned to San Diego over the weekend, bringing together hundreds of animals and dozens of local organizations, all with one goal: finding loving homes for furry friends.
Around 300 adoptable pets and 28 animal rescues participated in the Dog Days of Summer Mega Pet Adoption, hosted by the San Diego Animal Support Foundation. For Zeke and Amanda, it was the perfect opportunity to finally welcome a new member to the family, their new puppy Tula.
“I just picked this little girl up, and she just fell in my arms,” Zeke Oliwa said. “And I was like, Okay, this is the one.”
They’d been planning for this moment.
“We’ve been having this day circled on a calendar,” he said. “We knew there were a lot of options, we had come like previous times, but we knew today was the day.”
Tula was one of several dogs brought by Baja Paws Rescue, a San Diego-based foster organization that helps dogs and cats from shelters and the streets.
While the event is focused on adoptions, it’s also an opportunity to grow support behind the scenes. Baja Paws and other rescues are always looking for fosters.
“Me being a foster mom, it brings a lot of joy to my life,” Kim Rush, a foster and volunteer with Baja Paws said. “It helps the organization because the more fosters we have, the more puppies and animals we can rescue.”
The Mega Pet Adoption has been running four times a year for 25 years. Darlene White, executive director of the San Diego Animal Support Foundation, said the event continues to grow each time.
“We consider it a good day if we can get at least 100 pets adopted,” she said. “Sometimes it goes around 120, but someday our hope is that we’ll get all 300 pets adopted so none of them will have to go back to shelters.”
That hope fuels the dedication of volunteers, who are there rain or shine, year after year.
“Everyone you see here from our group and all of these rescues and shelters, none of them get paid to be out here,” White said. “So it’s the only thing we look forward to, to be able to see the pets go home.”
Among those new beginnings was Jon and Devon, who adopted a puppy at the event.
“We’ve been looking for a while,” Jon said. “And we know this event was happening, so we were waiting for today to see, and really wanted to rescue somebody.”
If you missed this event, there’s another chance to adopt in the fall. The next Mega Pet Adoption is scheduled for October at Grossmont Center.
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