News

Animal rescue kiosks help adopters find pets

May 20, 2004

PHOENIX-Animal adoptions are going high-tech thanks to the introduction of 10 Animal Rescue Kiosks (ARKs) in -area animal shelters, according to an article in The Arizona Republic.

PETsMART Charities donated more than $40,000 for the kiosk project which is a joint venture between Arizona Humane Society, Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, the Animal Welfare League, Sun Cities Animal Rescue and Friends for Life.

"Our vision overall is to find a loving, lifelong home for pets," said Susana Della Maddalena, vice president and director of PETsMART Charities. She says the financial commitment the Valley-based company made to the ARKs is already paying dividends.

"Adoptions already seem to have gone up," she said, noting that early reports from participating agencies are very positive.

"I saw some holes in the way they were marketing animals," Pet-ARK Inc. co-founder Dave Loftus said. "People go to shelters for three reasons: to adopt, to find a stray or get a dog license. What happens when they don't find an animal is they go somewhere else (like breeders)."

Julie Bank, a spokeswoman for Maricopa County Animal Care and Control says so far the kiosks are a hit with adopters.

"The kiosk is always full with families looking for a pet," she said. "We've had lots of people tell us thanks for having them."

Bank says that any opportunity to cooperate with other local shelters in finding homes for pets was an easy choice to make.

"The minute we saw it, we said, 'Sign us on,' " said Bank, who hopes the kiosks will help her agency battle the increasing numbers of homeless pets. She stresses that pets from many agencies in the Valley can be found on the ARKs, not just participating shelters.