It may have been wet and hot, but it didn’t stop the flock of potential parents to the St. Johns County Pet center last weekend. Close to 300 people gathered in front of the adoption center hoping to pull a lucky ticket. Emotions ranged from tears of joy to temper tantrums as Pet Center staffers called out the 30 lucky ticket numbers.
It may have been wet and hot, but it didn’t stop the flock of potential parents to the St. Johns County Pet center last weekend.
Nearly 300 people gathered in front of the adoption center hoping to pull a lucky ticket. Emotions ranged from tears of joy to temper tantrums Pet Center staffers called out the 30 lucky ticket numbers.
The dogs and cats were among the more than 700 rescued from a Tennessee puppy mill. Forty dogs were available for adoption Saturday, 11 of which were pure breds from the Tennessee puppy mill.
Drena Sanders was one of those lucky enough to adopt. Leaving the Pet Center with Coco in tow, Drena was excited to get the small Pomeranian home and acclimated before her nine year old son returned form vacation.
"My son has no idea that we are doing this," Sanders said, as she watched Coco play outside. "He’s so fabulous and glamorous!"
After an epic rescue from the Tennessee puppy mill, St. Johns County became the temporary home of 30 purebred dogs. Due to the tremendous amount of interest, the Pet Center offered residents of St. Johns and surrounding counties the opportunity to participate in a lottery to adopt the animals.
Saunders was the second person to adopt a dog. Each lottery winner was escorted through the kennels by Pet Center staff until all the pets had been adopted.
To view an Audio Slideshow from the St Johns County Pet Center please follow the link in the Resources section at right, or simply click here.
To see footage of the raid and to learn more about responsible pet adoption, log on to the Stop Puppy Mills Web site.
July 15th 2008 - 10:55PM