PAWS Chicago, the city’s largest "no kill" animal shelter, is filled to capacity with potential pets and in "urgent need" of foster families and families looking to adopt, the shelter said Thursday.
“We are in urgent need of foster families to step up and provide a loving temporary home for our dogs, cats, puppies and kittens, which will in turn make space available for us to save more lives,” the director of PAWS Chicago Animal Operations, Stacy Price, said in a statement. "Our transfer partners are desperately reaching out to us and we simply don’t have the capacity to take on more animals without the support of our foster families and adopters.”
PAWS Chicago will also be waiving adoption fees for cats and dogs that have been at the shelter the longest this Saturday and Sunday in their efforts to find the animals forever homes. The event called “Summer Lovin” will take place at the Lincoln Park Adoption Center from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On August 18, PAWS Chicago will also take part in NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago’s “Clear the Shelters” event, in which shelters across the area waive adoption fees for animals 6 months or older.
The shelter is often the last hope for animals, but its goal is to help find them more permanent homes.
Yearly, PAWS Chicago rescues more than 5,000 cats and dogs. Although many of the animals are healthy and ready for adoption, approximately 3,000 of the animals per year are in need of extensive medical treatment, which makes it more difficult for them to find a permanent home.
In the meantime, people can learn more about how to be a foster pet parent here.
