Animal Shelter Celebrates After All Pets Adopted For First Time In Nearly 50 Years

An animal shelter, The Adams County SPCA, recently celebrated a special moment in its history for the first time in almost five decades after all its animals found a new home to commemorate the holiday season. “Today is a great day for the Adams County SPCA! Two weeks ago, our kennels were almost filled, now we don’t have any dogs in the building at all (we have 1 cat that came in as a stray a little bit ago)!!” the organization’s Facebook post reads. “Our community stepped up once again! This is the first time in 47 YEARS that the Adams County SPCA is empty, let alone at Christmas time; it is a true miracle!”

The Adams County SPCA also thanked its staff and those who contributed to the immense success. “To say that we are beyond excited is an understatement! The staff and volunteers have worked VERY hard to take care of the animals in our care and to make sure they got adopted to the right home!” the post reads further. “This year, we have adopted 598 animals and reunited 125 strays with their owners! WOW! It has been a busy year! We thank everyone for their continued support and look forward to new adventures in 2024! We will be pulling animals from other shelters in PA next week in hopes of relieving some of their stress. Right now, we are going to enjoy this accomplishment! Merry Christmas!”

The animal shelter celebrates its success

In a conversation with Today.com, the animal shelter technician, Tonya Hays, shared that the organization found homes for 15 to 20 animals within two weeks. “We had to get all them spayed and neutered, vaccinated, and tested for heartworms and tick-borne illness while also processing a lot of (adoption) applications, so the staff worked really hard,” Hays talked about the process the animal went through before reuniting them with new owners. “It was pretty cool. It was quite a feat.”

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“The Adams County SPCA adopted out 94 animals and returned 26 strays to their owners since Nov. 1 and not one of them has been returned,” the technician added.

The Adams County SPCA’s mission

For the year 2023, The Adams County SPCA has adopted 598 animals and reunited 120 stray pets with their owners, and they are open to helping other shelters in Pennsylvania. “We are going to do the best we can to help as many animals and people we can,” the Adams County SPCA wrote.

The animal shelter is on a mission to make life more comfortable for animals. It only takes animals surrendered by residents within the county and surrounding counties and any overpopulated shelter in Pennsylvania.