Event to promote pet adoption

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

Every year in Quebec, thousands of pets are abandoned or left homeless.

On Saturday, animal welfare organizations, the Beaurepaire Village merchants and the City of Beaconsfield are getting together to encourage animal adoption and promote awareness about euthanasia of abandoned and homeless pets in Quebec. The Pawfect Match event will bring together 10 certified dog, cat, bird, and rabbit rescue organizations who will present the different animals they have up for adoption to the public.

“The animals that have been abandoned and are up for adoption, they’re not sick, they don’t have behaviour problems, and they’re not too old,” said Johanne Tasse, spokesperson for the Companion Animal Adoption Centers of Quebec (CAACQ). “There’s always that misconception that if it was abandoned, there must be a problem.”

Tasse explained many people jump into pet ownership without thinking it through: parents buy their children a Christmas puppy only to find out later no one has time to take care of it; tenants abandon their cats on moving day because their new apartment building doesn’t allow pets; that dog, cat, bird or rabbit that seemed so cute at the pet store turned out to be more work and more of a commitment than initially thought.

“This is the whole thing. They get it on a whim. It’s a nice, cute puppy or kitten, and they don’t think it through,” said Animatch founder Helen Lacroix. The dog adoption organization places over 250 homeless animals into new homes every year, but Lacroix said as soon as a space becomes free, it is filled up.

“The overpopulation is just as bad

as before,” she said. “It’s like a rotating door.”

Potential adopters attending the Pawfect Match event will be able to “interview” with the animals to find out of they are truly a perfect fit.

“We have to look at this as a long-term partnership,” Tasse said. “You are not the client. The dog, the cat, the rabbit, the bird is the client. If you change this perspective, than you have the best interest of the animal in mind.” Tasse also pointed out no animal is released without being sterilized prior to adoption, which is a critical step in controlling the animal population and reducing the number of homeless pets.

If you do not plan on adopting a pet, there will also be plenty of other activities including dog obedience demonstrations and pet safety seminars, the “blessing of

the pets,” face painting for kids, a dog fashion contest, raffles, giveaways, barbeques, and more.

The Pawfect Match pet fair and adoption day will be held between 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday on Beaconsfield Boulevard between St. Louis and Fieldfare avenues. The rain date is Sunday.￿