Working Together to Inspire Adoptions
Founded in 2006, the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland (ASAP) is a working coalition composed of five Portland/Vancouver-area animal shelters and organizations. In addition to OHS’ Portland and Salem campuses, the partnership includes Cat Adoption Team, Humane Society for Southwest Washington, Multnomah County Animal Services, and Washington County Animal Services.
As declining adoption rates across the country are slowly resulting in increased lengths of stay for pets awaiting new homes, ASAP launched a major adoption event to help find homes for current shelter pets sooner by inspiring adoptions throughout our communities. During the event, adoption fees were temporarily decreased by 75% or more and the resulting adoptions were nothing short of inspirational.
New Homes for More Pets
A long line of eager adopters was waiting to meet a potential new family member before OHS opened on Friday morning. The response from the community continued throughout the weekend—resulting in a nearly empty shelter at OHS Portland and Salem on Sunday evening.
In total, the Adopt ASAP event resulted in 549 pets finding new homes. This included 288 from OHS Portland and Salem campuses; 130 from Humane Society for Southwest Washington; 74 from Cat Adoption Team; 45 from Multnomah County Animal Services; and 12 from Washington County Animal Services.
Even though this promotion was focused on organizations that are part of the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland, 111 pets from Salem found new homes during this special event—75 kittens, 20 cats, 15 dogs, and one puppy!
Why ASAP?
While this collaborative adoption event was a unique undertaking for ASAP, members of each organization regularly join together to take on large projects aimed at improving overall animal welfare for the pets we care for. This includes working together for mutually beneficial animal transfer partnerships, spay/neuter programs, and other lifesaving initiatives. The Adopt ASAP promotion was designed to inspire the community to take action at a time when shelters are seeing longer stays for large dogs and a surge of kittens and cats due to ongoing spay/neuter surgery backlogs.
“This event is about more than just finding homes for the pets in our care,” says Sharon Harmon, President and CEO of Oregon Humane Society. “It’s about working together as a community to make sure that every animal has the chance to thrive.”
“Adopting a pet from anywhere helps pets everywhere,” added Randy Covey, manager at Washington County Animal Services.
ASAP envisions a community that values, protects, and cares for animals and provides a safety net for homeless and at-risk cats and dogs. Working together, ASAP develops and sustains metro-wide programs and services that reduce the number of homeless cats and dogs, and save the lives of all shelter pets that can be humanely and responsibly rehomed. For further information, please visit asapmetro.org.
