WINNABOW, N.C. (WECT) – The nonprofit Adopt an Angel hosted a 31-hour adoption event August 10-11 at Fix a Friend in Winnabow.

Jill Jones, with Adopt an Angel, says local shelters are overcrowded, and every adoption saves an animal from being euthanized.

“We are literally going to adopt till we drop. If you want to adopt an animal at 2 a.m. tonight, you can come do it,” Jones said.

Jones says the Brunswick County Animal Shelter had more than 250 animals in need of a home last week.

It’s also the peak of kitten season, making the need for adoptions even greater.

“I think adoptions tend to be slower in the summertime because people are vacationing so that can be one thing, so that kind of less adoptions and more coming in creates this situation where they’re overflowing,” Jones said.

Jones says they started out with about 40 dogs and cats up for adoption at Fix a Friend on Saturday. As they’re adopted, they’ll bring in more animals from the shelter.

Jones says when shelters are overcrowded, there’s other risks in addition to having to put animals down.

“It can be a crisis moment for the animal shelters, because the more overcrowding that happens in the shelters, the sicker they can get. They need to get into homes, because there are too many for a shelter to take care of,” Jones said.

James Schneck and his wife came in and adopted a puppy named Rain on Saturday.

“This way they have a good chance of a future life. This way they don’t have to be put down and this way, you keep them off the streets,” Schneck said.

The “adopt-a-thon” ended at 5:00 p.m. Sunday.

During daylight hours, there was also a food truck, bouncy house and dunk tank for families.

Copyright 2024 WECT. All rights reserved.