Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center ended 2024 on a high note with one of its highest adoption numbers ever. The milestone sets the tone for 2025, which finds the center broadening its reach through its various services and events.
“We’re happy that 2024 gave us highest number of pets adopted ever after a few years of a decline,” said Molly Shannon, Marketing and Communications Manager for Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center. “It was around 2,200 adoptions, so we’re excited to keep the momentum going into 2025.”
Shannon is quick to note, however, that while an uptick in adoptions is a positive thing, other challenges remain.
“The reverse side of that is that there’s still so many pets and owners of pets that need assistance,” she said. “In many ways, 2024 has been a year of applications for owner surrenders upwards of like 30 a day. And while it’s great to have the 2,000-plus pets adopted, the pet overpopulation crisis is one that’s facing the entire nation.”
The Center hopes to thwart that in 2025, especially after coming off of a recent grant it received from Inland Empire Community Foundation through the Riverside County ARPA Fund, which will aid in its ongoing efforts.
“One way that people can help is, obviously, adopt, but I get that not everybody is ready to adopt or can,” Shannon added. “We also encourage our supporters to foster because even if they foster for one or two nights or a week, it doesn’t have to be a super long-term commitment.
“Even that makes a difference,” she added. “It opens up kennel space at our organization, which means we can take in another pet. We’ve really amped up our foster program in 2024.”
The foster process stands out, in fact. One unique component offered is the Foster to Adopt program (FTA), which allows individuals who are unsure or not fully able to commit to adoption some time to learn more about a potential pet.
To that end, all dogs and cats more than a year old are spayed/neutered. Pets in the FTA program are eligible for a three-day or a two-week trial.
“In 2025, we will really put an emphasis on growing the foster team,” Shannon said. “When you foster for the adoption center, we provide all the materials and supplies. It’s not a big commitment for a person. They just provide love and attention and a safe space, and we give them all the supplies and vaccines that are required.
It’s one of many unique components running through the nonprofit, beginning with its history.
More than 120 years ago, in 1897, The Riverside Humane Society (RHS) was formed in an effort to prevent cruelty to children and animals. The first shelter, which was dedicated in 1917, housed dogs, cats, horses, cows, birds, chickens, and other animals. In the 1950s, RHS offered full animal control services, including licensing, impounding stray animals, owner turn-ins, and investigating animal cruelty and aggressive-animal reports.
The County of Riverside Department of Animal Services took over all animal control responsibilities in the mid-1990s, and after some time known as the Riverside Humane Society Pet Adoption Center, by 2010, with a newly constructed building in place, the organization’s name officially changed to the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center.
Its services now run the gamut of everything from pet loss support groups and a pet assistance food program to spay/neutering procedures, vaccinations, behavior training, and so much more.
In the meantime, mark your calendars for April 26, 2025. That’s when the nonprofit’s “Walk with the Animals” event takes place. It’s the Center’s largest annual fundraiser and assists greatly with making life-changing impacts on pets.
And their people.
Learn more at petsadoption.org.
This article originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, January 2025
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