Adopt a Pet is an adoption

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that advocates

pet adoption Pet adoption is the process of transferring responsibility for a pet. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters, rescue groups, or other pet owners. Some organizations give adopters ownership of the pet, while others use a guardi ...

, gathering information from over 15,000 pet shelters in the U.S. and Canada, with a searchable data base. The web site promotes spaying and neutering of pets and pet adoption through conventional and social media presence, public service announcements, and interactions with local governments. Since 2015, Adopt a Pet has been offering its visitors manuals for pets.

History

Adopt a Pet was founded in 2000 by David Meyer, Steve Abbey,

Luke Montgomery Luke Montgomery (born ) is an American viral commercial director, entrepreneur, media strategist and political activist. Known for directing controversial comedic viral ads produced in a style ''Time'' described as "shock tactic advertising," ...

, Amy Luwis, and Doug McKee as 1-800-Save-a-Pet.com. Initially, 1-800-Save-a-Pet.com was a program designed to end the overpopulation of companion animals in shelters in

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. The program was based on one-year research. 1-800-Save-a-Pet.com participated in a pet rescue effort in the aftermath of

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in 2005. In September 2008, the company changed its name to Adopt a Pet, In October 2008, Adopt a Pet partnered with

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to launch America's Favorite Animal Shelter contest. The winning shelters were awarded a total of $20,000 on December 4, 2008. The contest took place again in 2009. In January 2009, Adopt a Pet launched a national ADOPT campaign accompanied by a poster created by

Shepard Fairey Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989, he designed the " Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campa ...

using a photo by Clay Myers to raise awareness about adoption at the time President Obama was looking for a dog for his family. This poster was on the cover of the Spring 2009 issue of ''Dog's Life Magazine'' and was fashioned after Fairey's Obama Hope poster. In April 2009, Adopt a Pet expanded its search to include, in addition to cats and dogs, rabbits, birds, and small animals (such as hamsters and guinea pigs), farm-type animals, horses, amphibians, reptiles, and fish. In May of the same year, it launched a social media campaign, "Social Petworking", introducing the capability to attach a photo to an email or to a Facebook page. In June 2010, Adopt a Pet paid tribute to

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, who was known as an actress and a supporter of pet adoption. In 2011,

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The club plays its home games at Rate Fie ...

pitcher

Mark Buehrle Mark Alan Buehrle (; born March 23, 1979) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played the majority of his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Chicago White Sox, playing twelve seasons for the team and winning the World ...

and his wife Jamie partnered with Adopt a Pet to create a public service billboard campaign to promote pet adoption. In 2021, Adopt a Pet was acquired by

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, a subsidiary of Mars, Inc.

Executives

*Jeannine Taaffe, CEO

References

External links

*{{Official website Non-profit organizations based in California Online companies of Canada Online companies of the United States Organizations established in 2000