TN Animal Shelters in Crisis – BISSELL Pet Foundation Emergency “Empty the Shelters”

BISSELL Pet Foundation is hosting an “Empty the Shelters” emergency adoption event at five Tennessee shelters from March 23 – 30, 2022. Shelters across the country are in crisis with overcrowding and other significant obstacles such as a seasonal high intake of puppies, lack of spay/neuter services during the pandemic, short staffing, slowed adoptions and more. To open critical space in shelters and find loving homes for deserving pets, BISSELL Pet Foundation will sponsor reduced adoption fees of $25 or less for cats and dogs.

“Empty the Shelters” at PAWS of Rutherford County, TN:

• PAWS will participate March 23 – 30, 2022, at the PAWS shelter, 285 John R. Rice Blvd. in Murfreesboro, offering waived adoption fees for all pets currently available and ready to go home.
• All pets adopted during the event will also receive a courtesy, life-time registration microchip.
• All interested adopters can learn more details about the adoption process online at: http://paws.rutherfordcountytn.gov/adopt.

The “Empty the Shelters” event began in 2016 to encourage more families to choose adoption. Since its inception, BISSELL Pet Foundation has expanded its “Empty the Shelters” reach to organizations in 45 states and Canada, partnering with more than 400 shelters. As a result, more than 83,000 pets have been adopted through “Empty the Shelters” events. This emergency adoption event aims to find adoptive homes for pets often overlooked in animal shelters.

“Tennessee’s animal shelters are in crisis, and they are facing the tough realities that come with overcrowding, such as euthanizing healthy, adoptable pets,” said Cathy Bissell, Founder of BISSELL Pet Foundation. “BISSELL Pet Foundation is calling on the people of Tennessee to support their local shelters today by spaying/neutering your pet, or by fostering or adopting a shelter pet.”

For several months, PAWS has experienced slowed adoptions, resulting in tight restraints and a high volume of animals in the shelter. Currently, the PAWS shelter has approximately over 30 pets looking for forever homes, including multiple long-term residents, i.e. “Charlie”, 10-month-old Bluetick Hound mix and “Roby”, 11-month-old Pit Bull mix.

“PAWS is very grateful to receive the opportunity to find forever homes for numerous shelter pets through BISSELL’s ‘Empty the Shelters’ event and initiative,” says Director, Michael Gregory. “We are very hopeful that we will find many loving homes over this next week, thus allowing PAWS to continue to help more pets in need within our community.”

For more information on adopting or donating to “Empty the Shelters,” visit www.bissellpetfoundation.org/empty-the-shelters as well as the http://paws.rutherfordcountytn.gov/ website or Rutherford County PAWS Facebook page.