The Effingham County Animal Shelter held their first Adopt-a-thon on Saturday to encourage the community to give their dogs and cats good homes. In all, five pets were adopted, two cats and three dogs.

 

Sonya Wilkinson, Jessica Grenoble, April Cory and Ashley Giles, employees at the shelter, worked hard showing pets, painting faces and filing paperwork for the new pet owners. At any given time, the local animal shelter houses 40-50 dogs and 50-70 cats, some are picked up by animal control and some are dropped off by their owners who cannot properly care for the animals.

 

Shawn Albertson, executive director of the Spay/Neuter Alliance and Clinic in Ridgeland, S.C., came out to support the adopt-a-thon effort and was signing up pet owners to have their pets spayed or neutered at SNAC. SNAC is a non-profit organization that picks up animals in counties throughout the region, fixes them and brings them back the next day.

 

“Our ultimate goal is to reduce euthanasia. Most of the pets euthanized in the United States, it’s because of euthanasia,” said Albertson, as volunteers grilled up free hot dogs and served lemonade to visitors.