TUCSON, April 11, 2005-AZ Corgi Rescue, Phoenix, recently started listing its homeless pets on Petfinder.com, the oldest and largest database of adoptable animals on the Internet. The site currently has over 160,000 homeless pets listed, and it is updated daily.
Keegan Hooper, Southern Pines, N.C., adopted Bo, a boxer/bulldog mix, after seeing him listed on Petfinder.com. He was at Lee County Animal Rescue in Bishopville, S.C., a shelter Hooper would not have accessed without Petfinder. "Petfinder made our search so easy," Hooper says.
Betsy Saul, president and co-founder of Petfinder, confirmed that people often drive long distances to get just the pet they want. "But it also makes finding a pet nearby easier, too," she said. "All the information is right there on the computer, and potential adopters can search their local shelter from the comfort of home."
More than 8,000 animal welfare organizations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico post their pets on Petfinder.com. AZ Corgi Rescue pets can be viewed at Petfinder.com. Once visitors to the site find a pet they are interested in, they contact the shelter where it is housed. Each animal welfare group has its own policies and handles its own adoptions.
Petfinder.com was created in early 1996 as a grassroots project by Jared and Betsy Saul to end the euthanasia of adoptable pets. Last year the site helped 1.5 million pets find new families, making it the most life-saving initiative in animal welfare. Petfinder.com is the largest pet site on the Internet and includes not only adoptable pets, but a large library of pet related information, message boards, and more.
Purina is the Web site's premier sponsor. Other exclusive sponsors are BISSELL Homecare, Inc., a manufacturer of home cleaning and floor care products, PETCO, a national pet supply retailer that sponsors in-store adoptions and provides coupon books for new adopters, and Merial, maker of the number one veterinary-recommended flea and tick preventative FRONTLINE(r), and heartworm preventative HEARTGARD(r).
Petfinder.com has also allied with PetHealth, Inc., to provide a gift of one month of ShelterCare Pet Insurance, paid for by Petfinder.com, to every dog or cat adopted from a Petfinder.com member in approved states and provinces. The program is the first of its kind for shelter pets.
