Ready to save a life? Here’s why fostering animals is a ‘critical component’ for local shelters – WJXT News4JAX

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Kendra Mazeke, Digital Content Producer
Published: June 8, 2022, 11:42 AM
Kendra Mazeke, Digital Content Producer
CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – June is National Foster a Pet Month, and this year’s theme is “Focus on Fun.”
Clay County Animal Services is partnering with Petco Love to encourage the community to foster cats, kittens, and dogs.
During the summer months, shelters become inundated with animals, and pet fostering is one way to help save lives while assisting animal shelters with the influx of pets.
Clay County’s animal foster program helps to provide temporary, loving homes to free up space in the shelter and provide needed socialization, and basic training to improve the pet’s chance of finding a forever home through adoption.
Wayne Bolla, Chairman of the Clay County Board of County Commissioners, calls the shelter’s foster program a “critical component” for the shelter’s high success rates.”
“The shelter at Clay County Animal Services takes in between 3,200 – 3,500 animals on average each year with over 90 percent of those being adopted, rescued, or returned to their families,” said Bolla.
When you open your home to a pet as a foster family, you are helping save lives by improving the quality of life for shelter pets. There is also a need to foster senior and special medical needs pets, and all medical care is provided by the shelter.
In support of the Focus on Fun theme, Petco Love teamed up with Sketchers and BOBS to create the My Foster Break Up Contest.
All you need to do to enter the contest is share a photo and breakup letter from the foster pet on Instagram using the hashtag #MyFosterBreakUp throughout June.
Foster parents can enter to win various prizes including a Foster Breakup Kit with breakup essentials, a curated playlist to help foster pet parents through their goodbyes, and the chance of winning $10,000 in lifesaving funds and a doggy ice cream party for Clay County Animal Services.
“Through our partnership with Petco Love during National Foster a Pet Month, we hope to raise awareness about the life-saving act of fostering and put a positive spin on the difficult task of saying goodbye when foster pets go to their forever homes,” Angela Deluca, Clay County Foster Coordinator said.
If you are looking for less commitment but still want to help, Animal Services offers the Bow Wow Breakout program to enrich a dog’s life with a day outing or sleepover.
To learn more about Clay County’s Foster Program or submit a foster application, visit https://www.claycountygov.com/community/animal-services/foster-information or email [email protected].
Copyright 2022 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
Kendra is a digital content producer for News4JAX, since May 2022. She graduated from Bethune Cookman University in 2015 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. Kendra got her Master's Degree in English from Georgia Southern University in 2017.
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