The Central North Carolina Coalition for Animal Welfare sponsored the event, held Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the parking of the store in the new Aberdeen Commons shopping center on U.S. 15-501 in Aberdeen. Volunteers from various animal welfare and rescue groups from Moore, Hoke and Montgomery counties made at least 71 permanent adoptions, according to Angela Zumwalt of Whispering Pines, founder and volunteer director of the coalition.
She sold PetSmart on letting the coalition use its parking lot and even obtained a donation from the store. She put together publicity materials, set up the furniture, and was there all three days.
Mimi the Clown was on hand doing face-painting for the children.
“The animal rescue groups worked very, very hard,” said Zumwalt, who was there all three days from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Her mother came from Durham to help.
Among the new “pet parents” was an elderly couple from Pinehurst, who were unexpectedly smitten with a springer spaniel-hound mix from the Moore County Animal Center in Carthage. They brought their dog with them to see if the two dogs could get along. They took their new dog home with them.
Center Director Al Carter said the nine dogs and one cat he brought to the event — all vaccinated and groomed — were adopted. The springer mix was the last one to go.
Carter thought about leaving early Saturday (the same day of Springfest in Southern Pines) when it started raining. There was just one dog left, the springer mix. That’s when the couple from Pinehurst arrived. He said they debated whether to adopt the dog. They couldn’t resist, he said.
The dogs and cats were displayed in outdoor collapsible pens, cat carriers and cages. Information tents were set up that provided brochures and other handouts on such things as spaying and neutering pets and safety. A map with paw prints illustrated the thousands of homeless dogs and cats euthanized daily in North Carolina.
PetSmart store manager John Ducom said the three-day event was “fabulous.”
“The coalition organizations here had twice as many adoptions as any PetSmart in our district,” Ducom said Tuesday. “In fact, their adoptions exceed all of our stores in Raleigh combined. We’ve got such a great coalition of adoption groups that we work with here. They have high-quality animals, and their volunteers are spectacular.”
PetSmart dog trainers were on hand to let people know about services the store provides to new “pet parents,” as it calls the adoptive owners.
Corky O’Connor, president of the Moore Humane Society, said at least 15 animals from her group’s shelter in Carthage were adopted.
Dixie Gossage, a volunteer with the Moore-Montgomery county animal rescue, had a small brown dog sleeping in her lap on Saturday.
“We took shelter during the Saturday rainstorm under the tents that Angela rented and in the doorway of PetSmart,” she said.
Melanie McClanahan of Aberdeen spent a long time browsing Friday. She settled on Amelia (the dog was named for Amelia Earhart, since she was picked up at the county airport by Animal Advocates). Amelia passed with flying colors a test with the McClanahans.
On Sunday, McClanahan returned with Amelia on a new pink leash to let organizers know that she and her daughter Lauren, 7, would be keeping the dog.
“She’s got the best temperament,” McLanahan said. “She just walked right into the house and was immediately at home.”
PetSmart is now a regular adoption venue in Moore County. Organizations that belong to the coalition display their adoptable animals in the store on a rotating basis. The Moore County Animal Center found homes for 14 dogs and 23 cats that it displayed in the store in April, said Carter, who is a paid county employee.
He worked the adopt-a-thon along with the volunteers from the other organizations and groups in the coalition. He said county funds aren’t sufficient to pay employees to work on weekends, though they did help on Friday, he said.
Volunteer Maureen Burke-Horansky who founded Moore County Animal Advocates, with its 900 volunteers, said she and others worked hard. They made multiple trips transporting dogs and cats from the many foster homes that keep homeless animals.
“The store let me use equipment to move the folded cages and other equipment I had there and to leave it in their storage area so I didn’t have to lug that back and forth,” Horansky said.
People wanting more information about volunteering or making a donation to help the coalition can call 949-9953.
