RSS
Home
Cuddling with Chargers running back Darren Sproles
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Darren Sproles and friend (Photo - HWAC)
Fall brings nippy air, football, and… cuddling with Darren Sproles. That is, if you’re a puppy.
Today, for the third year in a row, the San Diego Chargers running back took an orphaned furry friend into his arms for a different kind of kickoff—the launch of the 11th Annual Iams Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption drive (IH4TH).
“Darren enjoys holding puppies as much as he does scoring touchdowns,” said John Van Zante, spokesman for Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, one of the many rescue organizations participating in IH4TH, the “largest pet adoption drive in history.”
The kickoff news conference held at Qualcomm Stadium featured Chargers (backed by support from the National Football League players union), representatives from several local animal shelters and rescue groups, and a wide selection of adoptable dogs, cats, and tortoises.
IH4TH began in San Diego in 1999 with 14 participating animal shelters, according to Van Zante. Since that time, the program has achieved more than three million adoptions worldwide at 3,200 participating shelters and rescues groups in 17 countries.
San Diego leads the charge again this year, with a goal of 1.5 million pet adoptions by January 5th.
Rescue organizations, who estimate that four million to five million unwanted dogs and cats are euthanized in the United States every year, with countless more suffering neglect, abandonment, and abuse, encourage adoption and spay/neuter as key to improving the plight of pets.
Eager to do your part? Contact your local pet adoption group and get busy cuddling up with your own new furry friend.
A few local animal rescue organizations:
Helen Woodward Animal Center
Tel. (858) 756-4117
Friends of County Animal Shelters (FOCAS)
Tel. (619) 685-3536
North County Animal Shelter
Tel. (760) 438-2312
San Diego Humane Society and SPCA
Tel. (619) 299-7012
Baja Animal Sanctuary
Tel. (619) 955-7423
A lifelong dog addict and rescuer, Katerina (a.k.a. Kathryn Makris) wrote Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know about Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press, 2007) with .jpg)
coauthor Shelley Frost. Katerina's other credits include seventeen novels, numerous newspaper and magazine articles, and a CBS teleplay.
Email Katerina at youradopteddog@yahoo.com, and visit her and Shelley at www.youradopteddog.com
Related Articles:
Comments
