PLANT CITY, Fla. — Starting Friday through Sunday, people across the Tampa Bay area can pick up a new 'fur'-ever friend at the Petco Love Mega Pet Adoption Event in Plant City.
More than 500 dogs from eight municipal and county shelters will be available until June 25 and the best part — the dogs are vaccinated, spayed/neutered, microchipped and all fees are waived.
You can find the 'paw'-fect pooch at the Strawberry Festival Grounds located at 2508 W. Oak Ave. in Plant City. Hours are from noon to 6 p.m. on Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to noon on Sunday.
Here's a list of participating shelters and animal services:
- Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center
- Pasco County Animal Services
- Hernando County Animal Services
- Manatee County Animal Services
- Polk County Animal Services
- Orange County Animal Services
- Sumter County Animal Services
- Marion County Animal Services
This event comes as pet shelters across the country have become overcrowded in the last few years with more pets coming in than are being adopted, the Pet Resource Center said in a news release.
"Nationwide we are seeing about a 7% increase in animals coming to shelters as opposed to outgoing," Senior Supervisor of Volunteer Services Chelsea Waldeck said in a statement. "Housing crisis, economic downturn. A lot of different things are playing a factor in that. So an event like this is huge for us to get a number of animals out like this at one time."
Many families who went to check the dogs out were able to bring home a dog Friday.
"I feel like having another animal in the house would be perfect for the boys to like you know, enjoy and to have a little bit more structure on routine too," Asia Eason explained.