Poochella 2019: 12 Local Animal Shelters Invite You to Big-Deal Dog-Adoption Festival

Adopt-a-Thon at Bea Arthur Riverside Dog Park to Feature Shelter Pups Who Need Homes

For Immediate Release:
May 10, 2019

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

On Saturday, PETA and 11 other Hampton Roads–area animal shelters invite everyone to Poochella, the annual family-friendly adoption festival at PETA’s Bea Arthur Dog Park on the Elizabeth River. In addition to the “hot dogs” up for adoption, there will be free vegan hot dogs and veggie burgers for everyone. All the four-legged attendees will be “putting on the dog” in the hope of finding a loving home.

When:    Saturday, May 11, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Where:    The Bea Arthur Dog Park at PETA’s Sam Simon Center, 501 Front St., Norfolk

“Our shelters are bursting at the seams with wonderful dogs who will make great companions, encourage you to get some exercise, and love you to pieces,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA’s Poochella festival offers a chance for everyone with room for another family member to meet their perfect canine match.”

Every year, animal shelters across the U.S. are forced to euthanize millions of cats and dogs for lack of suitable homes. Countless other animals are abandoned to fend for themselves outdoors. PETA encourages all guardians to have their animal companions spayed and neutered and never to buy animals from breeders or pet stores, which only exacerbate the homeless-animal overpopulation crisis.

Shelters participating in the regional event include Bay Beagle Rescue, Chesapeake Animal Services, the Chesapeake Humane Society, Isle of Wight County Animal Control & Shelter, the Norfolk Animal Care Center, the Norfolk SPCA, Partners Among Cats and Canines, the Peninsula Regional Animal Shelter, the Portsmouth Humane Society, Virginia Beach Animal Control, and the Virginia Beach SPCA.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.