UNION SQUARE — They were ready, eager, and donning their best fur coats.
Nearly 200 homeless dogs, cats, and rabbits met piles of future could-be owners Sunday in Union Square Park for one of the city's largest recurring on-the-spot animal adoption events.
Adoptapalooza, which was sponsored by the Petco Foundation and coordinated with the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, gave hopeful pet owners a chance to adopt loving pets that had already been vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and match existing pet-owners up with services that might be useful to them in a beautiful outdoor setting at the northeast corner of the park, near East 17th Street.
“Well over 100 homeless animals found new homes today and adoption applications are continuing to come in," said Steve Gruber, communications director for the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals.
"Every year we host Adoptapalooza events and today’s was the most successful ever," he said.
Microchipping services were on hand to help put electronic finders in furry friends, and 35 dogs left with new microchips, he added. For the first time, an emergency preparedness clinic was held by the NYC Office of Emergency Management and Ready New York.
In addition, pet charities had a chance to make their case, whether with a linens and toy drive being run for Animal Care & Control, the nonprofit agency that's contracted by the city to rescue homeless animals, or the more creative efforts by groups like Long Island Bulldog Rescue, which had a kissing booth where, for $2, dog lovers could get a wet one from a pooch named Baby Howard.
