'Visiting' pets up for adoption

A coalition of animal shelters that rescued pets from New Orleans put more than 600 cats and dogs up for adoption this weekend.

Utahns looking to adopt a Katrina-affected animal, however, were disappointed.

No More Homeless Pets in Utah helped with Katrina clean-up by taking about 30 cats from an animal shelter in New Orleans. The group also took dogs and cats from a Texas shelter, giving animal rescuers from the hurricane-affected areas a closer location to send feline and canine victims.

The cats from New Orleans were not up for adoption this weekend, however, because they must stay in quarantine for two weeks before they can be sent to new homes. But the animals from Texas are available at the No More Homeless Pets in Utah Super Adoption, which continues today at PETsMART, 381 W. 1830 South in Salt Lake City.

"There are animals that have come a long way to be here," Nikki Sharp, adoption director for No More Homeless Pets, said of the animals that came from Texas and all across Utah.

This is the sixth year the coalition has held the semi-annual Super Adoption, which set a record in September 2002 by placing 560 animals in new homes.

The aim of the alliance is to end euthanasia in Utah by placing abandoned animals in homes, and Sharp said it's working.

"Five years ago when we started the coalition there were 45,000 animals euthanized in Utah every year," she said. "Now there are 33,000, so we are doing something right."

Though potential pet owners can adopt any time they like, the super adoption is a great opportunity because there are so many choices, with more than 600 dogs and cats to select from, she said.

Sharp said the benefits of adopting a pet, rather than buying from a breeder or store, include knowing how big the animal will grow and knowing what its temperament is like.

"If you want an animal that is good with other animals, we can show you some," she said. "If you want a pet that is good with children, we can point two or three out to you. If you want an animal that you can take hiking or running, we can show you which ones are good, too, because we have spent time with the animals and we have seen what their personalities are like."

Susie McHugh has volunteered at the event for the last five years. She said people who came this weekend were not too worried that they couldn't get a Katrina refugee as a pet, though they were a little disappointed.