JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Humane Society is adapting in an effort to get animals adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The facility is open by appointment only, however, only 70% of their animals are actually at the facility. Assistant Development Director Lindsay Layendecker says most of their rescues are at foster homes.
"We really we able to empty the shelter very quickly," Layendecker says, describing how the community opened its doors to the animals. “Often at JHS, if there is a hurricane, the community will step up. To know that they’ve done it for a prolonged period of time… in a hurricane, it is just until the storm passes, but this we are not sure when it will be over."
As foster volunteers get to know each animal and their personality, they are sharing it online through the JHS Virtual Foster Pet Meetup group. It's a public Facebook group with more than 1,700 members.
People post every day with updates on the dog or cat living with them and information on what home might be best for the animal, how they interact with people, and how you can adopt them. Members also post updates when the animal is adopted.
Foster pet parents Casey Roy and Liz Kofsky were at JHS on Tuesday to make their family official.
"I just wanted to give them a warm cozy place to stay so they can find their permanent home," Roy says. The duo took home two cats as fosters who have now become a permanent part of the family.
Layendecker even says she's fostered a cat during the pandemic.
"I found her adopter in the virtual foster meetup group, we did a socially distant safe drop off and now she’s in a loving home," she explains.
You can learn more about each animal at the Facebook group here.
You can also learn how to adopt or foster here.