Pasadena Animal Shelter’s Urgent Plea Leads To Record Adoptions

Pasadena Humane’s recent overcrowding crisis has transformed into a success story through community action. A few weeks ago, faced with more than 100 dogs and nearly full kennels at their Pasadena campus, the shelter launched an urgent social media campaign that resulted in 56 adoptions and 21 foster placements in the week following the post.

“The community really responded. We had a flood of people who reached out about fostering, and we were able to quickly get 21 dogs into short-term foster homes,” said Izzy Nidetz, Director of Placement at Pasadena Humane.

The shelter’s initiative included a week-long fee-waived promotion that led to 30 dog adoptions, followed by a Free Adoption Day event on October 12 that found homes for 26 more dogs. Several foster families chose to permanently adopt their temporary pets, including one foster mom who emailed the day before returning her dog saying, “I can’t bring this dog back- she was meant to be MY dog!”

“Our community’s response has been truly incredible,” said Dia DuVernet, President & CEO of Pasadena Humane. “We are deeply grateful to everyone who stepped up to foster or adopt during this challenging time. It was heartwarming to see so many families open their homes up to dogs in need. We hope more people will continue to foster or adopt—especially our larger dogs, who still need loving homes.”

Despite the successful adoption drive, the shelter continues to seek homes for larger dogs, who make up a significant portion of their available animals. While overall animal intake has begun to stabilize with the cooling weather, Pasadena Humane—a community-supported animal resource center providing compassion and care for all animals since 1903—encourages interested adopters and fosters to view available pets at pasadenahumane.org/adopt.

The shelter, which helped nearly 45,000 animals in 2023, serves the Greater Los Angeles Area with comprehensive services including free and low-cost spay/neuter procedures, vaccines, a pet food pantry, training programs, and an animal support call center.