Adoption effort gives dozens of animals new lease on life

Karen Zekan

Friday, May 15, 1998 | 10:20 a.m.

More than 100 dogs and cats escaped death at area shelters by finding friends to take them home during the hugely successful Pet Adopt-a-Thon.

From 8-week-old shepherd-Lab mix puppies to a 6-year-old Pekingese, dozens of dogs were heading to new homes by 10:01 a.m. when Saturday's event kicked off near the Silver Bowl Stadium.

By 1 p.m. -- three hours before the event's slated end -- the lives of five cats and 103 dogs were saved.

"That's including all the animals we started the event with, and another 10 taken out of shelters when we ran out," said Ann Herrington of Media Partners for Pets, event organizer.

Homeless animals are at the heart of Media Partners for Pets, formed last fall when Herrington of KNPR-89.5 FM teamed up with friends Patti Mills of KKLZ-96.3 FM and Pat Miller of WB21 TV to raise awareness and get shelter animals homes through off-site adoption programs.

The animals adopted Saturday came from Dewey Animal Care Center, Henderson Animal Shelter and Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

All were vaccinated, implanted with microchip identification, and licensed for as little as $10 -- less than the cost of a microchip.

A sick puppy was the only animal returned to a shelter.

Veterinary Centers of America, event sponsor, had its doctors on hand answering health questions.

VCA Drs. Mayling Chinn of Painted Desert Animal Hospital, Randy Winn of Black Mountain Animal Hospital, and Roger Knighten, John Wallace and Debra Cohen of Spring Mountain Animal Hospital also implanted 75 microchip pet IDs, vaccinated 250 animals, and examined free of charge 42 animals with health problems.

One family drove in from Carson specifically looking for a Dalmatian, among the first breeds to go.

Dalmatians turned heads all day, specifically guest Randy Warner's gang of 13 driven to the event compliments of Saturn of West Sahara. Three were Warner's; 10 others were from his Dalmatian Res"Q" shelter run out of his Menifee, Calif., home.

While he found homes for four of his Dalmatians before leaving Las Vegas, Warner's focus Saturday was getting Clark County's shelter dogs homes.

He's also hatched a brainchild -- a "20-Year Shelter" -- so named because he plans to be "out of business in 20 years."

Currently enlisting volunteers, Warner's strategy is a massive public education effort starting with school children and community groups. His message: spay and neuter pets -- an obvious solution to the millions of unwanted animals overcrowding shelters.

"It doesn't take tax money, it takes volunteers to spread the word," Warner said. "Within five years, you've got second graders who are now seventh graders saying, 'No daddy, we don't want to have a litter of puppies because they will never have homes.' Education is the answer."

Spaying and neutering seems to be working in Clark County.

Of 17,419 animals impounded at the county's shelter in 1991 alone, 2,410 were adopted, 2,022 were reclaimed by their owners, 11,257 were euthanized and 1,530 were dead on arrival.

Six years later, the numbers improved -- and amazingly so, authorities say, considering the valley's population simultaneously increased almost 30 percent.

Year-end totals for 1997 at the county's shelter show that 11 percent fewer animals were impounded, and 16 percent less were euthanized, than in 1991. Adoptions also increased -- of the 15,529 impounded animals, 3,242 found homes.

The numbers coincide with an ordinance created a few years back mandating all shelter animals, once adoption fees are paid, be spayed and neutered before going home with new owners.