Good morning friends! I haven’t posted updates on this blog for a while, because I’ve been concentrating on keeping the Midnight Woofness website updated. But I wanted to give you all a heads up on what’s going on down at PetSmart at I-240 & Penn!

It’s a beautiful morning at Midnight Woofness. We have lots of beautiful, sweet dogs and a whole bunch of cats still looking for homes! The dogs we have are mostly larger breed dogs, but we’ve got a huge variety of breeds, ages, colors, etc. Please come down and meet some of these great dogs. They are starting to feel a little blue, seeing all their friends go to new homes while they are still waiting!

But on to the BIG NEWS about our new challenge! Here’s the scoop.

We are at 322 adoptions, so we’ve SHATTERED our goal of 300 adoptions by our five participating groups (Central OK Humane Society, OK Save a Dog, Heartland Lab Rescue, Red Dirt Boxer Rescue and OKC Animal Welfare). Of course, we are beyond elated at this achievement. But you know, we’ve got a WHOLE DAY left, so we are going to strive for one more goal!

The largest number of animals ever adopted in one PetSmart adoption event weekend in the WHOLE USA is 356. This was in the state of Utah, and was spread across 3 separate store locations. (So yeah, technically we’ve already kind of beaten them).

We are going to blow this record away today by finding homes for at least 35 more animals by the end of the event–to total 357 adoptions.

Only 35 more adoptions to go, and Oklahoma City will hold the NATIONAL RECORD for the most adoptions at a PetSmart adoption event!

I really don’t have the words to eloquently express right now what this means for us as a community. To those of us in the animal welfare world, it is so heartening to see people show up and take animals into their homes with love, and we are overjoyed to be able to save more lives!

But it says so much for Oklahoma City, for every citizen, whether you particularly care about animals or not! Through the efforts and achievements of many animal welfare groups over the past couple of years: opening 2 low-cost Spay/Neuter clinics, becoming the 2010 ASPCA partner community, setting aggressive goals to greatly increase the live release rate* from the OKC shelter: Oklahoma City is sending a strong message that we are a community built on compassion.

This has nothing to do with “animal rights” or your stand on fur or anything like that. We are a city of vastly different individuals with different values, but we’ve proven–emphatically, it seems, if events like Midnight Woofness are any indication–that we are a community that values and respects life (of ALL kinds). We will not stand idle while puppy mills seek shelter in our state. We will not stand idle while taxpayer dollars are spent to kill animals in shelters because there is not enough room to house them.

We are turning the tides in our community by spaying and neutering our pets, and by promoting adoption as the ONLY socially acceptable way to obtain a pet. Through these two simple steps, we will reach our goal of becoming a “no kill” city for healthy, adoptable animals.

I realize I’m waxing a bit philosophical here. But I’m so proud of our volunteers, our animal welfare organizations who have all come together to work with each other on this giant, amazingly successful event. And most of all, I’m moved to tears by my pride at being a citizen of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City. You have proven once again that this is the greatest place to live in the world!

So let me circle back…YOUR outreach, YOUR promotion through word of mouth and social media has made all the difference in the success of this event.

Now we need your help for ONE MORE PUSH to get 35 more adoptions (at least!) by the end of the day.

Can EVERY ANIMAL HERE find a home??! Let’s not make anybody go back to the shelter.

Are you with us?