Store, City Team Up for Pet Adoptions

In an effort to increase the number of animal adoptions, the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services has teamed up with a Reseda pet supply store to open a seven-day-a-week shelter.

As part of PetsMart’s Luv-a-Pet program, the animal services department will operate the adoption center daily at the Reseda store, said Dan Knapp, general manager of the animal services department.

Dogs and cats will be available for adoption from 3 to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays, Knapp said.

“We are planning to adopt between 22 to 30 animals a week, and that’s quite a lot,” he said. “We’re not going to just give them away. We’re going to be placing them in lifelong loving homes.”

The adoption center, which is in a high-traffic area inside the pet supply store, first began in December but was open only from noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays, said Jim McInerney, director of the Reseda PetsMart.

He said his store donates the space to house the animals. It is the first city-run shelter at a private business in the city.

“Stray animals are a problem throughout the United States,” McInerney said. “Looking at the entire country, if you took each stray dog and cat that are euthanized every year and put them nose to tail, it would reach across the United States.”

To further increase the number of adoptions, the animal services department said Wednesday that it will expand its mobile shelter program from three visits a month in the city to six, said Becky Day-Swain, director of the department’s volunteer program.

“In doing the mobile pet adoption six times a month, we’re looking at about 150 adoptions per month,” she said.