Walk into PETCO on a Saturday and expect to be greeted by eager barks, wagging tails and smiling faces.
The weekly adopt-a-thons held inside the Newberry Road store make it possible for cats, dogs, puppies and kittens to be adopted.
JoAnn Jewett, volunteer and member of the board of directors for the Humane Society of Northeast Florida, said her mission is to get animals rescued from shelters and adopted into good homes.
"We're looking for well-suited owners, not just anybody," said Jewett. "We want people that really understand what they're getting into."
The Humane Society has taken part in the adopt-a-thons for five months, during which time 26 animals have been adopted.
"Sometimes we come in, and people don't adopt any and that's fine because it helps socialize the animals," Jewett said.
Jewett said a woman came into the store two weeks ago on her 85th birthday with her daughter and granddaughter and walked out with a kitten.
She lived alone and hadn't had a cat in ten years, but she fell in love with one of the Humane Society's male kittens.
"She was just so, you could tell there were tears in her eyes," Jewett said, "She was so happy."
On the adoption papers, Jewett wrote down her information in case the woman was ever unable to take care of the animal, something she does to every person who adopts.
"You just put it in your will, whatever, call this lady she'll take care of my animals," Jewett said.
Lynn Johnson, co-founder of Animal Rescue Friends (ARF), also organizes adopt-a-thons at PETCO every other Saturday.
ARF, an all-volunteer non-profit group, operates in Trenton rescuing cats and dogs and placing them in foster homes until they are adopted.
"Trenton's idea of animal services is a bullet," Johnson said.
The Trenton shelter once had a 90-95% kill rate, and their number was not in the phone book, making it nearly impossible for people to get in contact and find their lost pets, Johnson said.
"People didn't know they existed, so they literally killed everything that came in," Johnson said.
ARF volunteers strive to stop this cycle by rescuing animals and fostering them.
"If you can get animals into good foster homes, even if they spend their whole lives in foster homes, it sure as heck beats sitting in a kennel," Jewett said.
Johnson has 40 animals in her house.
Jewett also participates in fostering, many times taking in animals that would have otherwise been euthanized.
She got a call a few days ago from a woman working in Palatka City Animal Control.
"She was crying," Jewett said. "She said 'I can't kill another thing. I just killed 72 kittens and I can't do another one.'"
According to Jewett, Palatka City Animal Control puts down 100 cats a week and probably just as many dogs. They're set up by the city dump, so they can shove the bodies by bulldozer.
"Here's such a nice society, and we have this terrible blight on us because we don't take care of our animals," Jewett said.
Jewett accredits a lot of these unwanted pets to the failure of pets being spayed or neutered.
"It's so darn important," Jewett said.
Jewett and Johnson are always looking for more volunteers, more people willing to foster or adopt animals, help at adopt-a-thons and fundraisers or simply donate supplies.
"Everybody should be required to have at least one dog and one cat as far as I'm concerned," Jewett said smiling. "That would take care of the problem, wouldn't it?"
