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JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) — A record number of pets at the Chautauqua County Humane Society were adopted during a special shelter clearing event over the holiday season.
This year, Brian Papalia and staff at the shelter are overjoyed to announce that 100 pets have gone home to either their forever or foster families as part of the December “Season of Hope” event. This is the first time since the pandemic shutdown that the Humane Society has been able to reach their goal.
“With that split between adoptive and foster homes, we had 83 animals went home through adoption and 17 went into foster, which is really good because it’s actually a slower season. Of those 17, those were more like shy animals, those were long stay animals, so that’s a really big win,” said senior programs director Brian Papalia. “The Season of Hope is something we do through the holiday season every year. It’s been five years now and it’s really the time that we spotlight what we’re doing as far as getting animals homes through the adoption process and the foster process.”
During the adoption drive, the humane society’s longest staying resident, Pullman the cat, found his fur-ever home.
“Pullman is the longest staying animal in our shelter, he came in July, I want to say the 13th, of 2020. He was part of a case where there were 83 cats that were in one apartment in the Fredonia area. It wasn’t a bad situation, it was somebody who was trying to do the right thing by bringing cats in and having them spayed and neutered, but they just lost control of the situation. He had been with us all that time and to see not only him go home but Sparrow who was also in the cat colony where I’m sitting right now, Sparrow had been with us from October 2021,” said Papalia.
Papalia says seeing so many pets go home had emotions running high at the shelter.
“A lot of tears. Just those happy tears, people being just so happy. The work that goes in, unless you spend time here you don’t fully understand. Whether you’re a volunteer or a staff member, what goes in to getting these animals prepped to go home, the idea of pushing them to people coming into adopt and kind of selling them, in that sense, to go home, and to see that happen, there aren’t words for it,” explained Papalia.
For more information on adoptable animals or how to help out, those interested are invited to visit the Chautauqua County Humane Society website at chqhumane.org.
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