The year 2008 may have been disastrous for many businesses and organizations, but it was statistically the best one ever for the Humane Society of Utah.

It found good new homes for 7,755 pets (94 percent of its adoptable shelter animals) — a 21 percent increase over the number adopted in 2007, which was itself a record-breaking year.

It's a remarkable figure given the shelter took in almost 10 percent more homeless animals than it did in 2007, largely because so many people lost their homes to foreclosure and could no longer keep pets, said Humane Society Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt. Also, the clinic surgically sterilized 11,092 animals, or 9.4 percent more than the year before.

He attributed much of the increased adoption rate to a new rescue/transfer program.

"Through this innovative system, we rescue dogs who are not in great demand at our shelter — large breeds, for the most part — to other animal-welfare organizations where those dogs are highly popular, and then follow up to make sure they've been successfully adopted. Simultaneously, we acquire a lot of small dogs from Los Angeles and place them for adoption at our shelter, where they're the kind that people most often ask for," he said.

Baierschmidt further credits the shelter's outreach adoption program, in which shelter animals are taken to off-site locations like malls and pet-supply stores.

The Humane Society also ran a successful foster system, "which allows us to keep animals who are not immediately adoptable — because of illness, injury, behavioral problems, or being too young, for example — with dedicated volunteer caregivers until they're able to be returned to the shelter for adoption to good home of their own."

Technological advances, such as showcasing animals on its Web site and the electronic message center on I-15, helped increase the adoption rate.

The shelter is also open seven days a week and has revised its adoption policies to make adoption easier.

Baierschmidt said that more people are getting the message to adopt pets from a shelter rather than buying from breeders and puppy mills, and to surgically sterilize their pets.

"The only way to end the problem of homeless and unwanted animals is through spaying and neutering, and through finding good homes for the ones already in shelters," he said. "This year's figures represent a milestone for us, and we hope to be able to eliminate the need to euthanize adoptable animals altogether within the next few years."

The Humane Society is an "open-access" facility, which means it will accept virtually every animal brought there.

"Everyone needs to take a hard, sobering look at the statistics. Consider the fact that in six short years, one female dog and her offspring can give birth to hundreds of puppies, and a cat reproduces even more prolifically," he said.

The Humane Society shelter, 4242 S. 300 West, Murray, is open for adoptions from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Spay and neuter surgeries are done by appointment only and can be scheduled by calling 261-2919, ext. 230.